VIDEO: The nation is remembering the victims and survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, 30 years after what remains the worst homegrown terrorist attack in the United States. April 19, 1995, is a day Phoenix Fire Battalion Chief John Mure still remembers all too well. โIt was a mess,โ Mure said. Mure said he was on duty in Ahwatukee when a truck filled with a deadly mix of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel and other chemicals exploded in Oklahoma City. โWe got the call that morning and we were in Oklahoma working at the site that night,โ Mure said.
The site was the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Most of the structure had been reduced to rubble. “If you can imagine a high-rise building cut in half, and half of it on the ground and half of it still standing with all the chairs and desks and things hanging out and blowing in the wind,โ Mure said. Mure said he worked 12-hour shifts amongst search and rescue teams. โWeโre going through debris, finding portions of bodies, sometimes whole bodies, and searching, trying to find somebody whoโs still alive trapped in a void,โ Mure said.
Unfortunately, Mureโs team didnโt find any survivors. โThey were sitting there enjoying their life, doing their daily routine, and it was instantly stopped,โ Mure said. The bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children who were in the buildingโs daycare center. Hundreds more were injured. โ30 years ago, I thought I was going to have a very different day when I woke up,โ Former President Bill Clinton said. Clinton returned to Oklahoma City for the 30th Anniversary memorial, where he recalled a day of his presidency that he said he will never forget.
