Worker tells 911: Powell ‘exploded the house’
A growing memorial of candles, toys, and balloons are placed in back of the home, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday, in Graham, Wash., in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire. Powell, the husband of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, died along with his children Sunday in Washington. An autopsy showed the children also suffered hatchet wounds to their necks. He was a person of interest in his wife's 2009 disappearance. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Karen Livolsi , upper left, walks with her daughter Katie, 16, center, and friend Alex Ramirez, 17, right, as they view a growing memorial to Charlie and Braden Powell, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, at Carson Elementary School in Puyallup, Wash., where Charlie attended school. Charlie and Braden were killed Sunday, along with their father, Josh Powell, in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire by Powell at a home in Graham, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
A child's drawing in tribute to Charlie Powell is shown posted at a growing memorial to Charlie and Braden Powell, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, at Carson Elementary School in Puyallup, Wash., where Charlie attended school. Charlie and Braden were killed Sunday, along with their father, Josh Powell, in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire by Powell at a home in Graham, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Pierce County Sheriff's deputies and Graham Firefighters work around the smoldering remains of a house near Fredrickson, Wash., Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012, where, according to a sheriff's spokesman, three bodies were were found. The bodies are believed to be Josh Powell and his two sons. The explosion occurred moments after a Child Protective Services worker brought the two boys to the home for a supervised visit. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
SEATTLE >> A 911 call recording reveals a social worker’s attempts over a more than six-minute call to get a dispatcher to send authorities quickly to the home of Josh Powell after he locked himself and his two sons in the home he then set ablaze.
The social worker seemed to try repeatedly to relay the gravity of what was going on to dispatchers. Josh Powell was scheduled for a supervised visit with his sons Sunday. Authorities said he locked the door, used a hatchet on his kids, and lit the house on fire, killing all inside.
In the first minutes of the 911 call, released late Tuesday, the woman laid out the situation.
"Something really weird has happened. The kids went into the house and the parent — the biological parent — whose name is Josh Powell will not let me in the door. What should I do? … I could hear one of the kids crying, and he still wouldn’t let me in."
The social worker told the dispatcher she "was one step in back of them (the boys). He shut the door right in my face."
At one point the dispatcher asked the social worker what address she was at. The social worker didn’t know and needed to look for it. It took her about 1 ½ minutes to find it in her car. At one point she asks, "You can’t find me by GPS?" While she’s still looking for the address she says, "But I think I need help right away."
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The woman also explained that she smelled gasoline, saying four minutes into the call that the boys have been locked in the home for 10 minutes. Authorities later said Josh Powell spread a 5-gallon drum of gasoline around the home to ensure the fire he set burned faster.
After six minutes on the call, a dispatcher says: "We’ll have somebody look for you there."
"OK, how long will it be?" the woman asks.
"I don’t know, ma’am. We have to respond to emergency life-threatening situations first. The first available deputy …"
The woman responded: "This could be life-threatening … I’m afraid for their lives."
After the home erupted in flames, the woman screamed in a separate call: "He exploded the house!"
Also Tuesday, authorities released a 911 call Josh Powell’s sister made Sunday, saying she received emails from her brother explaining what to do with his property and saying he couldn’t live without his sons. Alina Powell told a dispatcher she feared her brother was going to do something because of pressure he faced after his wife, Susan, disappeared two years ago. Josh Powell was a "person of interest" in Susan’s Utah disappearance.
Crying, Alina Powell told the dispatcher: "I’m terrified to drive over there. I’m not afraid of him. He’s never hurt me. I’m afraid of seeing something I don’t want to see."
