Marla Cone had no time to get her coat that January morning.
An explosion ripped through the Hotel Pathfinder and sent her tumbling into the basement, where the Fremont woman later feared she might drown.
It was terrifying experience she still remembers 45 years later.
Many local residents like Cone recall the natural gas explosion that tore through the grand six-story Hotel Pathfinder on Jan. 10, 1976. The blast claimed 20 lives and injured at least 40 more.
No one knows what ignited the blast, but former owner, Boyd Hammond, told the Tribune years later a coupling popped off an underground plastic pipe, which had contracted each year as it froze during the winters, letting gas seep through the dirt under the street and into the hotel.