Bullard, TX- Imagine saving up and finally being able to buy your dream home. And then, five months later, tragedy strikes.
“We checked everything with soapy water, no leaks,” said Robert Quakes, a disabled veteran. “We turned the fireplace on, got it running, it was going for about 10 minutes and then all of the sudden, my dad goes I smell propane and then as soon as he said propane, it exploded in our face.”
Leaving the disabled veteran with a house he and his family cannot use.
“Since the explosion, we have no propane to the house, which runs our hot water tank and runs our stove,” said Quates. “So it’s pretty hard on the family right now, we can’t cook on the stovetop and we have no hot water, with a 4-year-old, that’s extremely tough.”
Th explosion was especially tough for Quates.
“I’ve worked hard since I got out in 2011 to kind of not think about the things that I’ve been through and the guys that we lost, but when stuff like that happens it just throws you back there, so you get kind of depressed again,” said Quates. “You just relive all those memories.”
He feels helpless since he can’t help raise the $8,000 insurance deductible.
“I rely on what my wife makes at work and she busts her butt all the time,” said Quates. “I can’t work, so I can’t make that extra income.”
Income that could get the Quates family back into the home they worked so hard for.