Recent remodel work to exploded NKY home may have saved homeowners' lives
Alexandria, KY Home Explosion
WCPO
ALEXANDRIA, Ky. -- Keith Farley said he feels lucky to be alive after an explosion nearly leveled his home and damaged several others in southern Campbell County late Saturday night.
Farley was taking a shower, and his wife Barbara was asleep, when the blast rocked their quiet neighborhood near Beiting Drive in Alexandria at about 11 p.m. The explosion caused their bedroom and much of their home to come crashing down around them.
This pile of rubble now sits where the Farleys' bedroom used to be.
Both Keith and Barbara, along with another neighbor, were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries shortly after the incident.
Mike Combs, who lives nearby, had a home security camera running seconds before the blast, which captured video showing two small flashes before a larger flash at the moment of the explosion. The video feed then cuts out from the force of the blast. (Check viewer above to see Combs's footage.)
Neighbors said the street has never seen anything like what it saw Saturday night.
“We rarely even hear cars coming by,” said neighbor Andrew Koenig. The blast was so strong that, even across the street, Koenig’s home suffered some cosmetic damage.
Another neighbor, Eric O’Bryan, told 9 On Your Side that he was relaxing in his home when the explosion happened. The residual damage to O’Bryan’s home was more severe: the force shattered one of O’Bryan’s windows and even buckled his garage doors.
After hearing the blast, both Koenig and O’Bryan ran to help.
“We just couldn’t believe they were alive,” O’Bryan said. “When you look at that rubble and see that their bed was beneath that pile of wood, you just don’t know how they walked out.”
Keith doesn’t quite understand it either, he said. “Until I saw it on the news this morning, I had no idea how big a deal this thing was. I saw it this morning and thought, ‘How could I possibly have survived that?’”
The Farleys are currently staying at a hotel, provided by the American Red Cross.
Among his injuries, Farley suffered abrasions from glass shrapnel during the explosion. “I’ve got holes all over my body and my feet hurt really badly,” he said.
According to Koenig, Farley had spent considerable time improving the home that Saturday’s explosion reduced to rubble. “He’s put a lot of work into that house. He’s rebuilt the roof. He’s done a lot,” Koenig said.
In fact, it might have been a recent bathroom remodel that helped save the Farleys from further injury. The bathroom had heavy tile that may have reduced the force of the blast and helped shield Farley while he was in the shower.
"I don't know that it was the concrete, but there were some tiles and it's sturdily built," Farley told WCPO's Tom McKee in an interview on Monday. Asked if he thinks the integrity of the construction helped, Farley said, "Absolutely."
The fact that Barbara was lying in bed at the time of the blast may have also prevented further injury, according to Alexandria Fire Chief Jeff Pohlman.
"If she would have been standing, there's a possibility of her being in the line of the explosion and could have been knocked in the backyard," Pohlman said.
Estimates on property damage are not yet available, and officials are still working to determine the cause of the explosion, a process officials say could be a lengthy one.
Keith Farley said he feels lucky to be alive after an explosion in his home Saturday night.
Saturday night’s explosion was not Farley’s first close call. Two and a half years ago, he was involved in a serious accident on the AA highway, one that he said effectively put him into retirement.
Now, a misty-eyed Farley told 9 On Your Side’s Jordan Burgess Sunday afternoon that he and his wife are trying to figure out how to move on from the tragedy.
As it happens, he and his wife had already been preparing for a transitional phase, Farley said. Barbara, a photography instructor at Northern Kentucky University, will be retiring this May after 41 years of teaching.
The two plan to open a photo exhibition gallery together in June.
Mapping out their retirement now has added meaning, as the Farleys appreciate still being alive.
“My time didn’t come last night, nor did it come two and a half years ago,” Farley said. “So I count myself as being very lucky.”
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