In Episode 3 of The Blast, The National’s Finbar Anderson recounts the day of the explosion. As The fire in Warehouse 12 grows in intensity, a fire crew arrives to try to tackle the blaze, but it’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before. They call for backup. Ghassan Hasrouty and his colleagues are still working in the silos next door, offloading grain from the ship that docked earlier in the day. They’re just metres from Warehouse 12, and the deadly stash of explosives inside it.

Bystanders living in the neighbourhood around the port come to their windows and onto their balconies. They watch the blaze as it grows and grows. Others are completely unaware of what’s happening down at the port. Like Sarah Copland, an Australian UN employee who’s feeding her 2-year-old son Isaac his supper next to the big glass windows of the family’s dining room in a quiet Beirut neighbourhood less than a kilometre away from the fire.

This is Zero Hour. It’s the story of what happens when a city blows up, told by the people who were there. This episode includes accounts that some listeners may find upsetting.