Exploding Home

You don't hear about homes exploding very often, but it happens. In the last 6 months there have been two in Utah. At 3:20 this morning I got a call that a home had exploded in Pleasant Grove. It had happened the night before and was breaking news in the 10 p.m. show. That meant that my day would consist of being at the explosion site talking to neighbors, investigators, and business owners in the area who felt the blast. Now at 3:20 a.m. I am already walking out the door, so no big deal, except the fact that I had to get into the station, which is 30 minutes away, then get back on the road in 30 minutes after writing 2 weak versions of the story, and then drive 45 minutes to make it to the location in order to make the first live hit at 5:30. We almost did it! However, we hit a snag. When we got to the property, we were met by a nice police officer who did not want us there. We ended up having to park the live truck about 100 yards away and run cable to the debris. By the time we did that, the anchors had read my story. Then comes the 6 a.m. hit, all is well. 6:30, live shot dies. The signal gets lost. 6:50 a.m. It's like I never existed. No live shot, no signal. Grrr! All that rush for nothing. Well, we stayed at the site the rest of the morning gathering our story for the noon show, we talked to people who felt the blast, had their homes damaged, and were even evacuated. The one thing they all said, which I thought was cool, was that they didn't care about the damage to their property, they were just glad no one got hurt. I will echo that comment. It is a miracle no one was hurt or even killed in this explosion. The house literally blew up.

Investigators told me that the cause was a natural gas leak and that the furnace blew up.

The debris went about 100 yards in each direction, including up.

This neighbor lives about 60 yards away. 7 windows on his house were shattered. 5 seconds before it happened he was standing at the window on the left. He had just closed the shutters, sat down at his computer, and then boom! He said he was covered in glass. He also told me he is in the army and that the explosion brought back all kinds of bad memories.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

PLEASANT GROVE -- Fire officials are investigating the cause of an explosion that destroyed a Pleasant Grove house, broke neighbors' windows and prompted the evacuation of several nearby homes.

No one was in the house, and no injuries have been reported. Pleasant Grove Marshal Chief Steven Brande said late Thursday the house was vacant and a search and rescue team found no one in the rubble. But the explosion, which could be heard and felt for miles, did cause a lot of damage.

Witnesses reported the smell of natural gas after the blast a little before 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the home at 385 E. 100 South.

Some neighbors said the blast felt like a car hitting their house.

"The whole house shook," said Kevin Lindstrom. "Everything fell off the walls. I thought someone ran into my house with their car being on First East. (I) came outside and you could hear gas just pouring out everywhere."

The scene has stirred up quite a reaction from residents in the area. Many have stopped by Friday morning to see the damage after feeling Thursday night's explosion. Neighbor Daryl Peterson, who lives about 60 yards from the house, said he had seven windows shattered.

"It was literally a foot behind me where one of the big windows blew in and got glass on me," he said. "I was just glad I wasn't at the window when it happened."

Investigators have been on scene all morning trying to determine what caused the explosion. They say they believe it was a natural gas leak because of the way the debris pattern follows the openings in the house. They pinpointed it to an old furnace that was buried deep in debris in a crawl space near the back of the house.

Overall, the explosion caused damaged to at least five buildings. It also blew debris about 100 yards from the house in each direction. There was even debris stuck about 100 feet in the air in a tree that sits on the north edge of the property.

No one was injured during this explosion, which is remarkable considering where the house is located and the fact there are businesses and homes that surround it. There is the Purple Turtle restaurant across the street that sits along 100 East, a popular street in Pleasant Grove.

Investigators say their next step will be going through that debris, removing it a section at a time, hoping to find more answers.

Lindsey Vonn

On 2/18/2008 I had the opportunity to do a story about Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey trains in Park City a lot, and during this particular trip she was cool enough to let me meet her on the slopes for the story. Lindsey is exactly what she seems like on tv. She is down to earth, nice, and very respectful. You can also tell that she works really hard at what she does. Watching the 2010 Olympics in Canada is so fun knowing I had the opportunity to talk with one of the best skiers in the world.

Story Note: When I went to Park City to do this story, I didn't actually think I would be on top of the mountain with her, but as it turns out I was, at least until I got back on the ski lift and rode it back down. You see, I didn't exactly come prepared to ski. I had on jeans and a pair of cute dress boots. Looking back, I am sure I looked so unprepared. But, I think it worked out. The photographer I was with did all the skiing with her. I just watched from the bottom.
(Photos courtesy AP)

The story is 4:18 in.

Baylee Bragg

On February 16, 2010 I had a story air about a 2-year-old girl with a rare condition called OMS. It is a story I had been sitting on since December, when I first met and interviewed Baylee's parents. My producer wanted to hold it for sweeps, which I think in the end was the best idea. The piece aired in the 10pm show right after the Olympics and we had a huge rating.

The story with Baylee is one I hope no parent ever has to experience. When I met Britany and Harvey Bragg, they had just spend the last two weeks at the hospital going through just about every emotion known to man. Their beautiful daughter had gone from being completely normal, to losing all motor skills in about a day. Her eyes would dart back and forth, her arms and legs would shake, and she lost her ability to talk and walk. Doctors didn't know what was wrong with Baylee until she came to Primary Children's Medical Center. Once there they found the tumor that had caused the OMS. Now, after surgery, she is slowing getting better, though she will never fully recover.

Looking back on the interview I did, I remember walking into the family's house and Baylee immediately got scare of me and the photographer I was with. I was wearing a white coat, which we figured out must have scared her because for the past two weeks, doctors with white coats had been poking her, and doing tests on her in the hospital. After about an hour she warmed up, and sat on the floor with her dad and tired to play with the marbles. You could see just how hard it was for her. She was trapped in this body that wouldn't work. I will never forget Baylee or her parents. Over the last few months they have kept me updated on her progress, the medications she is taking, and now the on-going media attention that started with this story, and the determination from the Bragg family to get the word out about OMS.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

February 16th, 2010 @ 10:45pm

By Shara Park

SALT LAKE CITY -- Imagine your child happy and healthy one day and then falling over, twitching uncontrollably and losing all ability to speak the next.

It happened to a couple from Idaho and their 2-year-old daughter. Doctors had no idea why, until they brought the little girl to Utah.

When Baylee Bragg was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center doctors from Idaho thought her symptoms might be the result of bleeding in her brain. But that wasn't the case. Once at the hospital she was diagnosed with a rare condition that affects as few as one in 1 million people each year.

Two months ago it was difficult for Baylee to do simple tasks, like holding a Popsicle and putting a marble into a hole. Her father, Harvey Bragg, said, "It's hard to hold her head up. It's hard to pick something up without shaking."

Harvey and Britany Bragg say their daughter's symptoms appeared overnight. "She was very physically active," Britany said. The next thing they knew, her eyes were darting back and forth, her hands and legs were shaking, and she began throwing violent temper tantrums. "She tried to strangle me. I was trying to calm her down, and she put her hand on my neck and just started screaming," Britany said.

Doctors first thought Baylee's symptoms were the result of an inner ear infection, but then as more tests were done, an MRI showed what looked like bleeding in her brain.She was immediately flown to Primary Children's Medical Center where they found something else. "The first doctor that walked in was a neurologist, I believe, and he said, ‘No, her symptoms don't match up with anything in the brain, but I've treated something like this three times before.' He said it's called OMS."

After 15 minutes of playing with Baylee in the hospital, the doctor confirmed his suspicions. It was Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome, or OMS. It's an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks its own healthy brain cells. It's usually caused by an infection or a tumor called a neuroblastoma. Baylee had the tumor. "They said it was where her aorta branches off into the major arteries in her legs, right on her tail bone and into her spinal cord," Britany said.

In most cases it takes months to diagnose OMS. With every wrong diagnosis, the effects become more irreversible. In one week Baylee was diagnosed, had surgery to remove the tumor, and was on her way to recovery. It was nothing short of a miracle. "It just seems like things were just falling into place where we could get her treatment as fast as possible," Britany said.

Baylee is now back home, but her struggles are far from over. There are the monthly trips to Primary Children's for chemotherapy and daily injections of an extremely expensive hormone drug called ACTH. There is also relearning how to walk and talk, something she has already begun to do.

According to the National Pediatric Myoclonous Center Registry, Baylee is only the fifth child with OMS to be diagnosed in Utah. There may be more children out there, but because the syndrome is so rare, it is often misdiagnosed.

E-mail: spark@ksl.com

So it begins...

Last night during a discussion with my father about a Bill O'Reilly book he recently read, he mentioned to me that I should be writing about some of my experiences as a reporter. I thought about it all night, and decided he's right. There are so many times as a reporter that we tell the story that needs to be heard. But we often don't tell about the things that go on behind the scene, the conversations, the chase, and often times the hearbreak that comes with telling some of the stories. Most people see reporters at their best. When we are composed. But it's not always like that.

So, as a way to document my journey and career, I have decided to write it all down. A friend of mine told me his professor told him that real journalist don't have blogs, and if they do they are not credible, unbiased journalists. But I disagree. I think the story I tell the general public is unbiased. The story I tell here doesn't have to be. Times are changing. People want to be able to connect with the person on tv. They want to know that they too are upset about things, or feel passion. I can say, I do.

Now, sometimes I may just post the story I did for the day. But if something significant happens, I will add more. I just want this to be a way for me to look back and say, I remember that, and here is why it impacted my life.