VILLAGE OF ROME, Wis. — New cell phone video shows the seconds after a massive explosion. Now the family has a GoFundMe set up to help the wife of the victim from the blast.
On Wednesday, a hole is all that is left from where Mike and Sharon Revolinkski's home stood. Sharon's sister Holly Broedlow says Sharon was not home at the time of the blast, but her husband was. Mike, the former Village of Rome Fire Chief, was killed in the explosion.
"Mike did a lot of stuff for a lot of people. And he was always willing to lend a hand whenever anyone needed someone to help,” said Kevin Broedlow, Mike’s brother-in-law.
Mike was a surrogate father to his sister-in-law Holly.
“Mike is my brother-in-law but I was also raised by my brother-in-law,” said Holly. "I think I was in fourth grade when my parents divorced and they took me in and raised me."
Emergency crews believe the explosion was caused by a gas leak. Besides destroying Sharon and Mike's home, it also sent debris flying into other nearby houses.
The family is now sorting through the debris, but they say almost everything is gone.
"It's where you grew up, it's where your roots were. It was where you gathered. It was just as much home as my own home,” said Holly.
They lost almost every photo, school project and family heirloom. Sharon and Mike just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in their home.
“There is a lot of loss here. We can all get new clothes and new dishes. But we won't have new memories with him or time with him,” said Holly.
The family set up a GoFundMe to help Sharon with the expenses of starting over.
