New video shows girl, mother rescued from debris after Porter house explosion
PORTER, Ind. (WLS) -- New video of a Porter County home explosion was released Wednesday.
The video from September shows the immediate aftermath and rescue of a child.
On Sept. 10, the Porter Fire Department said it received a call after neighbors reported hearing an explosion in the 400-block of North First Street.
When firefighters arrived, a rescue effort was already underway to free the 3-year-old girl.
"We had several bystanders in law enforcement that had shown up, and through collective effort of all of them, they were able to find the 3-year-old and get her out into an awaiting ambulance," Porter Fire Chief Jay Craig Jr. said.
Neighbor Randy Ragon said he felt his home shake from the explosion and ran to help.
Ragon, a former Marine, said he saw people helping a woman out of the house and she was screaming, "the baby, the baby!"
WATCH: Dramatic rescue caught on body cam
Ragon said he ran back in and could hear the girl crying.
"I busted through a wall, dug through a bunch of debris, found her and pulled a door up off of her," Ragon said. "Her leg was trapped under a two-by-four and I couldn't hold the door up and pull the two-by-four off of her, so I started yelling as hard as I could. Finally, someone heard me, a police officer. He ran in and got the two-by-four off the child, got her out. Then he came back and helped me out because I was in a bad spot there with the door."
Ragon then helped carry out another woman, he said.
Rescue crews were able to pull the girl and her mother from the debris. They both recovered.
Lt. Kevin Van Kley was honored for his heroic actions in the rescue, and awarded the Medal of Honor by Porter County Sheriff David Reynolds. It is only the third time in department history an officer has received the Medal of Honor.
"It was nothing short of a miracle that we were close by," Van Kley said.
The home exploded because of a natural gas leak. A total of seven people were hurt.
