SILVER SPRING, Md. — Five days after a gas explosion and fire at Friendly Garden Apartments in Silver Spring, firefighters finally packed up and clear the scene, just in time for the building's residents to return for the first time to collect any remaining belongings.
Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein ruled the fire accidental Monday, saying a maintenance worker inadvertently cut a gas line when he was sent to work on a tenant’s plumbing issues. Goldstein officially turned things back over to the property managers Tuesday, leaving the charred remains of the complex fenced in for safety.
Despite the piles of rubble still very present, small moments of hope and joy could be seen at the apartment complex.
Karen Linette stood just outside the fence perimeter, laughing with family and friends. She said she returned to retrieve some of her music memorabilia.
“Family and friends have been holding me up,” she said. "They’ve been a true blessing. I was so thankful to learn my neighbors were OK."
The popular singer, who was at work at the time of the explosion, once appeared on our own Great Day Washington in 2018. Linette said the show must go, believing her music will lift her in the tough times. For her, the show literally goes on, with her performance at the end of the month at Bethesda Blues and Jazz.
“Sometimes we need music to get us through,” Linette said. "Life goes on, regardless of the circumstances."
Josephine Gyasi-Baaye, a mother of four, saw the flames from her third-floor window, grabbed the car keys and her baby and ran out of the house. Sitting in her car outside what used to be her home, putting her 7-month-old son to sleep, Gyasi-Baaye said her faith and family sustain her.
Gyasi-Baaye said her aunt, who lived next door, was safe as well as her three older children who were at school during the explosion.
“When the incident happened, [my 10-year-old daughter] called me from school and said she’s going to be ok, so I shouldn’t cry,” Gyasi-Baaye said with a smile and a hint of tears in her eyes. "She’s such a strong girl.”
Gyasi-Baaye and her family are living in a hotel. She said the county is paying for a 28-day stay. But with her building deemed unsafe, she’s hoping to be placed in a new home soon.
“Initially I was unable to sleep,” she said. “I wake up and say, ‘am I going to be homeless?’ That’s what I’m scared of.”
Gyasi-Baaye was hoping to get inside her apartment Tuesday to retrieve her school books. She’s studying to become a social worker.
“Now I can really understand what people go through when they are frustrated, when they are stressed, when they are traumatized, because I’m experiencing it," she said.
WUSA9 contacted the property manager of Friendly Garden Apartments to learn more about the maintenance worker and if he was properly licensed, but at the time of publication had not heard back.