BERLIN — When Officer Molly Plante pulled up to a Pleasant Street home on April 14, she was greeted by devastation — an explosion had leveled the house that sat on the property.
Neighbors were signaling to her for help and Plante, 26, sprang into action.
“My brain just kind of switched off and just acted,” said Plante, a Marlborough native and 2015 Marlborough High School graduate. “I got flagged over. I was lucky to get the car parked and I moved quickly to the building.”
Plante, as well as neighbors Brian Clemmer, Dylan Clemmer and Bobby Wheeler, were credited with saving Jill Christensen, who was trapped under debris after 3:30 a.m. explosion that destroyed the home at 71 Pleasant St.
Jill Christensen’s mother, Judy, 79, died in the explosion. Investigators are still investigating the cause of the blast.
“Without the actions of these individuals, there is no doubt in my mind that the outcome would not have been as positive for this trapped person,” Fire/EMS Chief Michael McQuillen said in a statement after the incident.
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Plante said responding to the explosion has been the most memorable call in her year and a half as a full-time officer in Berlin, a Worcester County town of fewer than 3,000 residents that borders Marlborough, Northborough and Hudson.
“We’re (the police) still kind of processing it,” Plante said. “It felt… it’s hard to describe how it felt.”
Plante said she grew up wanting to be a police officer, watching the show “Cops,” and wanting to be a member of a SWAT team or a canine officer.
Nevertheless, she began studying nursing at the University of Alabama.
“I did well, but I just wasn’t as passionate as I thought I would be, so I switched to criminal justice and I absolutely loved it,” Plante said. “It confirmed to me that that’s what I wanted to do.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, with a minor in cyber-criminology, at Alabama in 2019. She was hired in 2021 as Berlin’s first full-time female officer, and has been on patrol since graduating from the academy in October of that year.
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Plante said she has had a chance to meet with Jill Christensen briefly since the explosion and said she may see her again later.
“I ran into her at her mom’s services,” Plante said. “It was pretty emotional. We hugged and she thanked me. I gave her my business card and told her if she ever needed anything to call me.”
Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.