Columnist Mike O'Callaghan: Remembering the devastating PEPCON blast

THE windows rattled and the glass panes surrounding my desk at the Sun building in Las Vegas bent inward. I knew something had blown up with great force some place nearby. I gave no thought to the possibility the explosion took place as far away as Henderson.

Out in Henderson, on Water Street, at the News office the staff was working feverishly to meet the deadline for the printing of the Thursday newspaper for Boulder City and Henderson. A call had come in about a fire at the Pacific Engineering facility (Pepcon) and reporter Katherine Scott and the late John Dailey were responding with their cameras. It was May 4, 1988, 10 years ago, and within minutes they knew they were covering more than a fire.

The News readers were fortunate that Scott and Dailey had their cameras because a regular photographer fled home without shooting pictures. Dailey and Scott, both professional news people, more than made up for the fleeing photog.

In the meantime, out in the back shop of the News, my wife, Carolyn, was hustling to produce the next day's newspaper. She recalls, "I know it was a Wednesday afternoon because we were pushing deadline to put the paper to bed. In a weekly paper that means everyone works regardless of physical or mental condition. It's organized chaos! Ten years ago we still did everything by hand. I was leaning over a page doing one of any number of items that seem unimportant until it's missing after the paper is printed. When the first one of two booms hit, dust flew and it felt like the roof lifted and dropped." The old building never did recover from the shock.

Following the first blast, the people working in the shop were excited because something had happened on their weekly newspaper's deadline. Weekly newspaper people get tired of seeing "their" stories showing up in the daily papers. Although usually a day or two late, the stories in daily papers are seldom in depth but steal what the little newspaper workers feel is theirs to report. Not this time. Editor John Dailey's photos were used around the world.

With the dust still in the air, Carolyn recalls, "I ran to the front of the building out on Water Street for a better view. I noticed several people across the street looking out of their windows. I cleared the corner of the building complex by Henderson Realty just in time to see a massive explosion belching and rolling up like a mushroom, lavender orange and blue in the center, then spreading out at the base. It looked several miles away so I started counting one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three ... then thought the heck with that and covered my ears because I could literally see the sound waves coming as the trees, bushes ... everything was quivering and dancing towards me. It hit my body like a blast of wind, sound and sand at the same time. My eardrums hurt like they were being pierced followed by the sound of breaking glass, squeaking and groaning sounds, a dull roar and then silence."

Then she looked across the street and saw, "One man standing where he was before like a mannequin, sans the store window. Almost all other windows along the street were also missing."

Upon returning to the office, she recalls that the staff was in shock and starting to worry about their own families and homes. "I went to the back of the shop and saw some crushed beams. Although unnerved, most of the staff continued to function and we were saving pages for what we didn't know."

The Sun news staff came in and informed me that the blasts had come from the BMI complex in Henderson. Immediately I called the News office but couldn't get through as all of the lines were continually tied up and emergency calls had priority. Driving south on Eastern I missed one roadblock and had to skirt another to reach our offices in Green Valley. All of the windows were broken and there wasn't a person in sight around our offices or any of the adjoining offices.

The Green Valley area of the city sustained more damage than the area east and south of the explosion. I didn't know this at the time and it took another hour to learn that the News staff was safe. Three hours later I was able to get over to Water Street and found the staff working to produce one of the most exciting newspapers in the nation.

BOOM read the headline which ran down one side of the paper. Actually it could have been called a sideline. It was truly the product of unselfish and fearless reporters, editors, photographers and backshop people dedicated to producing the best newspaper possible under difficult conditions.

Tim, Paul, Donna, Anne, Virginia, Goldie, Carolyn and all of the present day staff are still carrying on the traditions of John Dailey, who later lost his life when editing a newspaper in Hong Kong. The spirit of Dailey combined with the reporting skills and new production methods continues to provide local readers with firsthand news first.

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