Home explosion survivor rescues neighbors after their home explodes

DENVER (KUSA) - A Denver man who survived a home explosion five years ago jumped into action and helped save the lives of his neighbors when their home exploded.

Adam Landmark’s story involves two home explosions, separated by 1.5 miles and five years.

“A crackle, a pop, a loud sound of debris,” he said. “Ran out of my apartment. Knew immediately what happened. I knew the sound of it from experience.”

Several people and two dogs were in the home next door to Landmark’s when it exploded at about 6 p.m. Thursday. He pulled two men from the rubble and tried to get everyone away from the scene. He said he could hear a woman crying for help but couldn’t see her.

“Ran through, grabbed the guy out of this area right here. Pulled another guy over here to bring him down. Tried to evacuate everyone from the scene,” Landmark said. “We heard a woman crying for help. We couldn’t see her because of the smoke. We knew she had a dog, as well.”

The woman was later rescued, but the Denver Fire Department says her dog did not survive. Fire officials say the dog was the only fatality from the explosion.

Call it fate or a remarkable coincidence, but Landmark knew what to do because he and his girlfriend survived a home explosion in 2018. In that case, a handyman was convicted of attempted murder for intentionally blowing up the apartment building in retaliation for being fired.

The 2018 explosion took place about 1.5 miles away from Thursday’s explosion.

Landmark says he did what anybody else would have done to save his neighbors. He adds the recent explosion resurfaced some hard memories.

“It’s extremely tough for me right now. I’m dealing with a lot of emotions. The smell, the sound, the sheer optics of everything is awful,” he said.

A fire department spokesperson said natural gas is the likely cause of Thursday’s explosion, but investigators will have to sift through the rubble to find the ignition point.