Julie Woyma and her chihuahua Lucy found their home fire-damaged after the duplex next door caught fire and blew up in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. Julie and Lucy's home is the one in the background immediately next door to the blown-to-bits building.

The house blew up with upstairs resident Caroline Davis lit a cigarette, igniting a gas leak. She sustained burns to her face, hands, and other injuries, but was able to stagger with hair aflame to a window, leaping from the second story, landing on a wrought iron fence. God hates smokers!

It was three a.m. in the morning when the explosion occurred. Downstairs resident Kenneth Diaz was up in the wee hours making coffee when the wall of the explosion blew out his wall. As he helped his wife and kids out of bed and safely outdoors, he said, "I thought the world had come to an end!" The upstairs smoker was at her window screaming, "Help me! Help me!" Diaz said, "Jump! I'll catch you!" but she hit the fence instead, and was soon rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile the duplex next door had caught fire. Downstairs residents Steve Stanaszek and Julie Woyma got out of the house with only their chihuahua, and nothing else. [June 2009. Photo by Marvin Fong]