A photo of the Berlin fire from the Town of Berlin website.BERLIN, N.Y. - The explosion happened in the Rensselaer County Town of Berlin 50 years ago Wednesday, killing ten people and burning the center of the town, destroying homes and churches.
At 5:28 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, the Town of Berlin's fire chief sounded a siren, a stark reminder that 50 years ago, a tractor-trailer carrying 7,000 gallons of propane slammed into a tree, rolled down a hill, and exploded.
Video from 1962 shows the destruction that laced the small town.
At Wednesday evening's memorial, family and friends of the victims of the explosion gathered at the First Baptist Church. Dan McCumber lost his parents in the explosion, they were two of the ten victims.
Kenneth and Florence McCumber's house sat 80 feet from where the tank blew up.
"Even though it was 50 years ago, it's still very painful to think about," says McCumber.
During NEWS10's conversation with McCumber, Doris Reichelt approached him, saying 50 years ago she and her mother had gone through the rubble of his parents' home after the explosion. Wednesday evening, she presented McCumber with one of his mother's plates.
While the images from 1962 are distant memories for some of the tragic day, the people of Berlin say 50 years seems just like yesterday.
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