Sissonville , Kanawha County , West Virginia

Sue Bonham recounts a frightening scene that she said she will never forget.

“I thought I was going to burn up alive,” Bonham said. “I felt like the earth was going to open and swallow us up."

The gas pipeline explosion on Tuesday in Sissonville warped Bonham’s home. She lives across the street and was wrapping Christmas presents when the pipeline exploded.

Bonham was in the inferno’s path.

“I can’t tell you intense it was, how hot it was,” she said. “I really thought the world was coming to an end.”

Bonham said she ran to the back of her home and hid from the fire. She said she didn’t know what to do other than to stay put and “hope the firefighters get to me."

The inside of Bonham’s house was ruined; her car was melted. And her daughter’s home next door was destroyed.

But miraculously, Bonham wasn’t hurt. Her husband was out hunting with several of their dogs, and her daughter was at work.

And for Terra Price, it’s also a day of heartache. She visited the scene to see the home of her deceased great grandparents in ruins, just so she could see “what’s left of a lifetime of memories.”

“Our memories are always with us,” Price said. “This is only material things.”

These are two women, both with similar stories of surviving devastation, who are hopeful for a brighter day ahead.

Bohnam said, “I’m thankful that I’m alive.”

Price said, “The physical things are nice. But the memories in your head are something that no one or any disaster can take away.”

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