Fort Worth hotel blast could have been much worse. Thank heaven — and first responders | Opinion

A suspected gas explosion tearing through a downtown hotel is never good news.

But let’s pause and appreciate the minor miracle that Fort Worth witnessed Monday: The Sandman Signature Hotel blast could have killed or maimed dozens of people. The fact that no one died and more didn’t suffer grievous injuries is worth noting.

Just look at the photos of the damage: walls blown out, debris strewn for yards, nearby buildings rocked. The time, 3:30 on a slow Monday coming off the holidays, meant the area wasn’t nearly as crowded as it could have been.

Consider if the blast had been a few days later, with hotels packed with Stock Show visitors, or in the mid-evening, with patrons filling up bars and restaurants, including the one where the blast was centered, Musume.

Weigh the words of those who survived: “Everything fell, the walls, the floor, everything,” Josè Mira, a worker inside the building at the time, told the Star-Telegram.

Listen to the professionals who deal with such challenges day by day: “When you pull up on the scene … there’s a lot of destruction and stuff that’s going on, not only when you look at the building itself, you can tell there’s been some windows, looks like maybe some walls and stuff that’s been blown out. … It was chaos,” said Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Craig Trojacek.

Our first-responder heroes surely deserve credit for the limited human toll of the explosion. Crews responded quickly, not knowing what they might encounter — raging fire fed by gas? People trapped under immovable rubble? The danger of another explosion?

Yet, as they always do, they put themselves in peril and worked hours to bring survivors to safety. The rescue of one woman hours after the blast, captured in dramatic photos, demonstrates how much worse it could have all been.

Thank the heavens that it wasn’t and for all those who stepped up to ensure it.

Here on earth, accountability for the blast will also be a must going forward. Did a worker err, and if so, what can we learn about that for future safety protocols? Was there an undetected gas leak, and if so, how should Atmos, the gas provider, be held responsible? What can we do to help the injured and displaced workers and nearby businesses, who will lose days’ worth of revenue?

For now, we can patronize downtown. Yes, investigators need you to avoid the immediate area. But don’t assume the entire area is off-limits. Let’s hope authorities can find a way to stage a robust Stock Show parade, too.

The rest are questions for the days ahead. It’s best now to pause in gratitude that there isn’t more tragedy to mourn and to thank those who risked themselves to ensure it.