Through The Fire

Dave Tarrant and Sarah Mervosh: He sat alone in the dark, the tip of his Marlboro glowing red with burning ash.

After the fire and the explosion and the mushrooming black cloud that spread over the town like a shroud, C.J. Gillaspie found himself in his office. It was the one place in all of West where he could be alone.

It was several hours after he and the other firefighters had responded to the most dangerous call of their lives. Gillaspie didn't want to see anyone. He didn't want to talk, or explain what he'd seen.

Gillaspie, who is West's public works director and a captain in the fire department, had been a commander at the scene of the fire at West Fertilizer Co. that night.

He thought ab…