Thought you might find this interesting...

[esteban]

UPDATE 03.08.05: Here are a bunch of photos I took...
A. Door jam split from the pressure of the explosion. We have a metal security door in front of our wooden front door, and still this happened. All of our neighbors had their front doors smashed open like this.
B. I thought it was interesting to see how the molding and nails pulled away from the wall.
1. Fire Dept. Arrives 1
2. Fire Dept. Arrives 2
3. View of Brian's house from my living room.
4. Zoomed-in  view of Brian's house from my living room.
5. View of Brian's house from my driveway.
6. Close-up of rubble.
7. Dude shaking his head in disbelief (he was inspecting large metal debris that fell on our front lawn).
8.    This huge metal panel crumpled from the blast, shot up in the air, and fell into our backyard. It is 6' long and 2' wide in its original state. Clearly, we were lucky that this didn't cause any damage. It landed INCHES from our house.
9. Ha! The explosion sent this bottle of sunscreen across the street, where it richocheted off of our neighbors chimney (you can see the smear) and smashed into our house (it left a trail of cream on our front gate). A pair of scissors flew across the block and got stuck in a tree or telephone pole (local news had footage of it).
10. Our living room.
11. Pismo. He ran back inside the house while it was still in flames (and occasional explosions going off. He was found on a bed -- with lots minor burns.
12. Bijou. Look in the lower right-hand corner. She's feisty. You can smell the smoke  in her fur.
13. Curb appeal. I didn't do the best job, but at least the rain/wind haven't pulled it down.

------ Original Post -----------
News clip starring (not quite) my family and our green minivan (this is a video link)

So, guess what? It was funny that some of use were talking about hand grenades in a thread recently. The man across the street from us blew up his house and we were evacuated from our homes (just for a few hours on Sunday while they blew up "live rounds", checked the gas lines and finished their preliminary investigations). After the house was in ruins and the fires were out, it was later discovered that Brian had buried a stash of fireworks in his backyard -- this is what prompted the evacuation... since the stuff underground had -- MIRACULOUSLY -- not exploded during the initial hullabaloo.

Anyway, the family driving away in the last MILLIseconds of this clip is my family (we are in our new green minivan -- I'm driving). On the initial broadcast on KCAL 9, they showed an extended clip, which showed us leaving and focused on my daughter in her car seat. In other news coverage (broadcast on TV, I don't know if it's online), you see footage of me -- looking like a drunken maniac --  running to firefighters as they brought one of Brian's dogs from the ruins... I'm yelling and pointing at them. If anyone finds that clip online, please send me a link! Keep in mind, the house exploded at 6:50 a.m. and I didn't have time to get dressed or brush my teeth .

The news doesn't capture the extent of it, but it was covered by all of the major channels, even the Spanish-language media. You can also search for "lakewood" (california), "fireworks", & "brian miller". My brother-in-law in Boston even saw a news report on this (on his local channel). Ha!

-------------

Press Telegram (03.06.05): Explosion Rock Lakewood Neighborhood

(03.07.05): Lakewood Resident Had Denied Fireworks

If you want to see some photos from the Press Telegram, simply click the "Online Extra" link ... there are a few photos. Many of them were taken from our driveway.

-------------

Random facts:
1. Early Sunday morning, I had just gone to the bathroom and didn't want to disturb my wife or my daughter, so I went to settle down on the couch in our living room. I was resting comfortably for a few minutes (my head facing our large picture window) when I heard the first explosion and I thought a car was crashing into our house. As the glass crashed around me, I ran to my wife and daughter.

2. As soon as I heard the subsequent explosions, I knew it was Brian. My wife and I have called the cops / fire dept. on him before (filed reports, took photos). He had an "accident" a year (or more) ago -- imagine a small stockpile of fireworks going off uncontrollably and filling the entire block with thick black smoke and ash. Unfortunately, by the time the police / fire dept arrive, there was no visible fire and Brian did not allow them onto his property.

3. Overall, we got along fine with Brian, and I've helped him chase down his dog countless times. Yeah, we hated his pre-occupation with fireworks and making loud noises (he used to hear 1-3 blasts a day, at random times, for years, but in the last few months this stopped). Outside of a few neighbors, I think most of the neighborhood despised him, since he refused to stop -- even when asked by the police.

4. We are currently taking care of the Miller's two dogs, a big Shephard-mix and a tiny little dog. They miss their family and I sing lullabies to them to encourage them to go to sleep at night (then I try to quietly slip out of the garage). I never thought the lullabies I sing to my daughter would have other applications, although the dogs probably don't understand why I'm singing about "dandelion tea" spilling on the ground .

5. Our insurance is paying for all the damages to our house, which includes two huge windows (6'x4' front picture window, 6'x6' bay window facing our backyard and a smaller window by our front door). Our front door is busted, as if a S.W.A.T. team took a battering ram to it. The force of the blast just smashed the door open and splintered the door jam. The couch, the rugs, stuffed animals, our shredded curtains (we just put them up a week ago!) ... anything that got covered in glass had to be thrown out.

6. We are having our foundation checked by an engineer. It has already been confirmed that Brian's house, and the neighboor adjacent to him, had their foundations irreparably damaged by the explosions. So, at minimum, he totalled two homes.

7. We just bought a new minivan on Friday (Honda Odyssey). MIRACULOUSLY, it wasn't even scratched, despite the fact that it was parked in our front driveway! Brian's minivan, which you can see in some of the pictures, wasn't as lucky.

8. Did I mention that my wife and I were going to have an Open House this Sunday? Yup, you guessed it -- we're totally screwed and don't know how this explosion is going to impede our plans to sell our house. Obviously, we can't list our home now. This seriously, seriously, seriously SUCKS. Needless to say, we're thankful that no humans or animals died.... but we can't help but feeling that we got the short end of the stick. If not for this insanity, our house would have sold very quickly and we'd soon be driving acros the country in our new minivan. At this point, we don't know when we'll be able to move back to NJ -- but it won't be spring / summer as we had initially planned.

9. I could go on and on....

Well, it is pretty funny that my wife had just finished repairing and painting the frame on our picture window (on the outside) a few days prior to the explosion. She had done an excellent job, and it looked really nice

I won't be posting regularly, but I will try to get a few of my photos available for you folks in the upcoming days.

[Dark Fact]

You better celebrate with a can of Miller genuine draft now that Miller is gone.

So, guess what? It was funny that some of use were talking about hand grenades in a thread recently. The man across the street from us blew up his house and we were evacuated from our homes (just for a few hours on Sunday while they blew up "live rounds", checked the gas lines and finished their preliminary investigations). After the house was in ruins and the fires were out, it was later discovered that Brian had buried a stash of fireworks in his backyard -- this is what prompted the evacuation... since the stuff underground had -- MIRACULOUSLY -- not exploded during the initial hullabaloo.

Owned.

Julia Emerson, spokeswoman for Southern California Gas Company, said the house Miller had been renting was blown off its foundation, and its roof actually popped off — like a cartoon — and fell back to place. According to preliminary reports, gas wasn't the cause of the explosion, though the house's meter had been destroyed.

                         

[Keranu]

Hah, that's a pretty cool event. My dad was on the news recently too last week; go here to find out why http://www.cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=20672@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=48   (My dad is Tim McKenna) . My family recorded the news broadcast on VHS immediately and we get a great laugh at this.

[GUTS]

Holy shit that's insane!  Sorry about your house getting jacked up, but at least you have a kickass story out of the ordeal, I mean how many people have had their windows and front door blasted in by an explosion?  It sucks though that one retard could do that much damage to your neighborhood, kinda scary when you think about it.

[NightWolve]

Hah, that's a pretty cool event. My dad was on the news recently too last week; go here to find out why http://www.cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=20672@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=48   (My dad is Tim McKenna) . My family recorded the news broadcast on VHS immediately and we get a great laugh at this.

Hah, I had one jump on my back once. But there was the fact that under my first step where I was on the stairs, she had her baby squirrels under there, so this was just a case of mamma defending her babies from the big bad human... I felt the claws and freaked out, and she jumped off right after. No puncturing or anything occured thankfully.

Anyway, stevek666, that's quite a tale. I'd be f*cking pissed. Your kids could've been outside and what not. At least it's only property damage, but this moron has caused people a lot of grief.

Exactly how much fireworks did you need to friggin' stockpile??? Really, WTF was up with that dude? This f*cking idiot has helped guarantee making fireworks ownership by private citizens illegal for the rest of the country in states that haven't yet done so! Some of us enjoyed that when we were young...

God, costing the guy next to him a whole f*cking house to boot! I can only imagine what that neighbor would wanna do to him... He's ensured his indentured servitude for life to pay off all the damage that he's caused, that's for sure, unless he tries to skip town. Congrats, you utter shear f*ck up!

What a case of "I told so" if in fact he had been warned in the past and police did nothing, too. I'd hate to be the ones that let him off the hook.

[td741]

I'm just stunned...  How much of an idiot can you be?  I don't even know what's worse:
1- That he had this stuff stockpiled with kids in the house?
2- That it ISN'T EVEN HIS HOUSE?  He rents it!

How utterly devoid of responsibility is this guy?  I mean, sure, it's nice to have hobbies but gimme a break!

I'm glad your family and home was relatively spared.  I hope all this wont stall your plans too much.  

On the plus side, you can mention to prospective buyers that chances of something like that every happening again are slim, especially with all of the peeved neighbours and the egg on the face of local law enforcement.  If someone gets caught doing similar crap again...

Oh, and good luck for the person in question to even be able to rent a home, let alone one in the area again.

[Ninja Spirit]

stevek666: It was all serious until the words "Like A Cartoon" came up.  
Now I'm loling out loud because of what I can just picture in my mind.

Hah, that's a pretty cool event. My dad was on the news recently too last week; go here to find out why http://www.cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=20672@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=48   (My dad is Tim McKenna) . My family recorded the news broadcast on VHS immediately and we get a great laugh at this.

LOL that's insane, I thought it was only natural for squirrels to run from people.

I've been on the news myself before but that was back in 2000, I may never get a chance to rewatch it. I was interviewed for a couple minutes about a grocery store that I lived 3 minutes from the morning after it burned down. It wasn't part of a major chain, there are trailer parks around where I live, so that was the most important place because it was a convenience for the trailer residents. Most of them didn't own a car and had to walk.

And last year when I was at a BYOC game convention 3 hours from home CBS and ABC affiliate reporters showed up to get news on the event. I'm in archive news footage of a crowd watching some gaming. And the best part about it, in the clip, they're playing my modded XBox which I sold several weeks later to get my Duo-R.

[Dark Fact]

Seriously, Steve.  This whole event has "karma" written all over it.  Miller knew that what he was doing was wrong, but didn't care.  It was only a matter of time before his egotistical practices turned on him.  If one of my neighbours did that, my dad would call the police and have him arrested!

As for the squirrel attack, WTF? Man, all I can say is....Nobbie needs his nuts!

[esteban]

hey, it was fun to read all of your comments. If I get a chance I'll respond to some of them. But the squirrel attack was too funny. Definitely cheered me up .

I added some photos to my initial post. My apologies to the folks with slow internet connections...

[Keranu]

Thanks for the pics and new videos, I totally love them. This is a very interesting event! I actually kind of laughed when I saw you driving your green van at the end of the video, just sort of funny that you happen to be driving by at the end.   I want to go to Lakewood.

[esteban]

Thanks for the pics and new videos, I totally love them. This is a very interesting event! I actually kind of laughed when I saw you driving your green van at the end of the video, just sort of funny that you happen to be driving by at the end.   I want to go to Lakewood.

Lakewood, the city of tomorrow today! Actually, that tagline is from Clifton, NJ (or it was during the 80's, anyway). They had a picture of the Space Shuttle taking off... it was very funny, because there is absolutley nothing that was "cutting edge" about Clifton (or was it Nutley?), NJ.

I wish they put the original news clip on the web... you'd see my wife and daughter in the minivan, followed by our neighbor in their white fancy Lexus.

[doomfarer75]

Steve,

1st, thank goodness you and your family are ok, same goes for Miller's family and his neighbors.

2nd,  Jimminy Crickets!  That is so crazy. I am glad you have a sense of humor about it, and no one is hurt, because it does make a great story. What a dumbass. -Doom