NEODESHA, Kan. (KSNW) - They're a tough group of firefighters, the men and women of Neodesha. "It kind of felt like the earthquakes we had been having in Oklahoma. That is what everybody thought it was at first." The group proved it on November 22 when a gas plant explosion shook the town.
For Landon Woodard, it was up close and personal.
“It took out a portion of the wall, the entire roof, it picked me up and threw me against the fire truck,” says Woodard.
The blast threw him face first into engine 632, and he left his mark.
Some gauges on the outside of the truck were not damaged or melted by the heat of the flames because Landon was covering them.
He literally had to pull himself off of the truck.
Woodard recovered but old 632 never really did. The fire left it with melted lights, finicky gauges and a damaged electrical system used to raise the ladder.