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Two years ago, author Elaine Bailey attended the 50th anniversary remembrance of the Dec. 5, 1957 Villa Rica gas explosion which killed 12 people and injured more than 20. She decided that day she would write a book about the tragedy so the story wouldn’t be lost to future generations.

Bailey has completed her book, “Explosion in Villa Rica,” just in time for the 52nd anniversary. She unveiled the book at a noon Tuesday Douglas County Historic Society meeting at the Douglas County Cultural Arts Center.

Berry will be holding a book signing Dec. 5 from 2-4 p.m. at the Forever Berry’s shop on Montgomery Street in Villa Rica, the location of the explosion. She said the original 1895 Berry’s Pharmacy Building has recently been replaced by a similar structure known as the Marchman-Powell Building. The price of the book is $17.

Bailey said she interviewed as many people as she could find who recalled the event. One was her husband, John Bailey, who worked part-time in Berry’s Pharmacy where the explosion originated. He recalled Tuesday that he was pulled out of high school class to help firemen at the explosion scene.

“I used the actual expressions of the people whenever possible,” author Bailey said. “I wrote it as a story and I can see it as a movie.”

She said members of the National Guard in Douglasville were among the first rescuers on the scene.

“One of my most interesting interviews was with an 85-year-old man, who was head of the National Guard in Douglasville at the time,” Bailey said. “He was on the scene 30 minutes after the explosion and stayed for three days. After the story hit the news, National Guardsmen put on their uniforms and took off for Villa Rica.”

She said the Guard troops provided security to prevent looters from stealing from the damaged stores, including a jewelry store whose merchandise was scattered all over the street.

“Many years later, people were bringing back jewelry” because they felt guilty about taking it, she said

A druggist, Don Bohannon, who survived the explosion but suffered burns, was taken to the hospital that day by Bailey’s husband, John.

John Bailey, who was 18 years old at the time, said nurses were using helpers, such as himself, while they took care of the more seriously injured victims. He said he was asked to scrub a burned patient’s skin.

“They gave me a brush, some antiseptic cream and told me to scrub,” he recalled. “I was doing it real easy because I was afraid I’d hurt him. The nurse came over and started scrubbing it really hard. She said with the extensive burns, the patient had no feeling left.”

The book includes photos and biographical information in the back about the 12 victims who died in the explosion.

Bailey said a video, which can be accessed on the YouTube Internet site, shows the International News film of the Villa Rica explosion which was shown in movie theaters nationwide in 1957.

Bailey has written several poetry books and a not-yet-published fiction novel, “Tracks.”