“It’s not just a job. It’s so, so sad” said Angelina Mangiamelli.
As devastating as the scene is.
“That’s so many people’s anniversary spots, birthday spots,” Mangiamelli.
Continuing Coverage: Crews continue to try and contain flames at M's Pub
M’s Pub employees say things could have been much worse.
“I smelled a pretty strong smell of natural gas and looked at the other two girls and said does anyone smell gas and they said no,” said Mangiamelli.
Server Angelina Mangiamelli followed her nose and instincts and went outside to question some workers drilling in the area.
“I said 'did you guys hit a line or something?', and they said yes. So I ran back inside to tell our chefs they hit a line, you need to act fast,” said Mangiamelli.
Angelina says the chefs worked as quickly as possible to shut off all the gas in the building, including the main source in the basement.
“Nobody knew it was just a ticking time bomb,” said Mangiamelli.
Time was not on the restaurant’s side.
“And just like that, it blew up,” said Mangiamelli.
Employees say smoke filled the building and flames started shooting from the basement.
“The explosion was loud and glass was breaking everywhere, but we are okay,” said Emily Brewer.
Server Emily Brewer says a chef who was coming up from turning off the gas in the basement was injured and another had a tooth knocked out by the explosion, but everyone is alive.
“I want to give Angelina so much credit, because if she hadn’t insisted that something felt wrong, kind of instinctively, we wouldn’t have gotten the gas lines turned off,” said Brewer.
Angelina says she is no hero; she just really loves her job.
“I think instincts kick in an you’re working in a restaurant where you really care and love everybody who is there and I think safety is the biggest thing,” said Mangiamelli.
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