01:49 Oct 17 2023
Times Read: 545
Friend of mine is getting new kitchen appliances. Gas. I am not a fan of gas. While I like cooking on gas, I would never have gas in my home.
Back when I was in my late teens, my parents was leaving town for a weekend trip. Saturday. Storms. But they had the motorhome and was going to just get away for a quick trip. It was just after noon as we was closed, the business.
We got a call from a insurance agent we knew- telling us he needed us to come to the next town as he had a home that had a gas fire, but it was only a small area. But due to the damage to the home, it needed packed up and taken out. Dad shocked us, as he said we could handle it, and he and Mom, along with our puppy, left us to deal with it.
Its nothing new- bad storms? Insurance calls. Tornado? Insurance calls. Fire? Flood? Yeap, we are up. And it is always on weekend or nights it seems. But they know it will cost overtime, and they paid well. And- well let's face it folks, this was before a lot of health/ job rules. We tracked in flood water, mud, over debris, into unsafe homes and business. But when they called- we went. Never turned down a job. Have we not had the men power? Yes. But that is when a tornado hit and we just kept taking out trucks. "I got a truck, but you will have to load it." Many a time you had to deal with the police not willing to let you into the areas, but small town... they knew we wasn't there to just sightsee.
This time it was just us- me and my oldest sister. We made some calls to our crew and one agree to come in. The others said they would be in a few hours. So it was decided we would go, start packing. The rest will catch up with us in a few hours. So we load up packing cartons into the packing truck, and off we went. I should point out- insurance adjustors always tell you its nothing big, then you find out different.
We pulled up to the home and it has police, gas company, fire department vehicles and men around it. See- while it had a fire, it was a small one in one bathroom. Seems the family had called the gas company the day before, saying they had a leak, smell the gas. They sent a man out, found nothing, but he turned off the gas. Hours later they called the gas company again as the rotten egg smell had not gone away. They refused to come out again as the gas was turned off. Told them it just lingering in the air.
So the family went to bed. The hubby, father of the family went into the bathroom on the main floor of this 2 story beautiful home, and seems he lite a cigarette. And BOOM! We stood, outside that home, and see the bathroom blacken, fire damage. But it wasn't the bathroom that shocked us. What shocked us was the ends of the home, on both side, was blown out. You can look right into the home, see everything. Seems the build up of gas made a explosion.
Seems the gas line into the house was leaking, so the 'turn off' did not stop the leak. And this man was burned horribly, 3rd degree burns. He passed away as we was packing up his home, trying to save what we could for the family as storms moved in. The fire department stayed with us, the police too. They used the headlights, lights to light up the home as the power was off to it. The gas on the street, off from a junction it seems. It was a busy place as most came to just see it, such a stunning image. This big beautiful home, sides laying in the yard.
I remember well being upstairs, in a bedroom, and opening the closet. To see the red lights of the police cars, the fire trucks, behind the clothing as no wall was behind the clothes. It was surreal, that we was in a home with only a front, roof and back. I felt so sorry for the family. Such a nice home, now a horror for them, the loss of a life.
This was in the early 80's. Before they would never let us in the home due to the danger, the OSHA stopping it. We worked into the night, in the rain, and saved what we could for the family. But it has always stuck with me. That power of gas and what it could do. And how lucky the family was, really, that it did not just blow up the whole house.
I would drive by the home, see what became of it. It stood, just the front, back, roof for many years. Grass grew up. Lawsuits, after lawsuits. I know the family, minus the father, husband- they bought a new house, moved in as we moved them in. I had one firm rule for the crew- do not ask, do not bring it up- keep your mouths shut. And they did as far as I know. It is just something you don't talk about with the family. And besides- it was in the news enough.
Years later the house finally fell down. Then it came the time I drove by to see the lot had been cleared off. Sell sign. It was finally sold to a company that turned it into the parking lot of a business they built on a lot next to it. In a way I was glad no other home was built.
Anytime anyone talks of gas in a home- I still think of that bathroom. Of standing there, thinking--- why am I seeing the bathroom from the outside? Why is the wall laying on the ground? What the hell happened that could do that? And why I will never have gas in my home.
COMMENTS
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EstrangedOne
03:57 Nov 01 2023