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Kathy Tucker: Life after the Knifley Pipeline Explosion They were living a normal, good life. . . The morning and day after, the pipeline people were everywhere, offering help of all kind. The feeling of community changed as negotiations continued for compensation for the incomprehensible nightmare her family had suffered. Just two weeks after the incident, the mood became adverserial. On Feb. 28, 2014, her chronicle entry changed: 'A new emotion comes into play---ANGER. . . We met with two pipeline representatives. They made us a monetary offer for our loss and inconvenience.' Still later she writes, 'It is not our fault our property is damaged, we are living with our son, we can't sleep, we can't concentrate, we jump every time we hear a loud noise, hide our eyes when we see a bright light/sunset or that our life has been changed forever. We were living our normal life, when Columbia Gulf took it away from us. Their offer (for compensation) was so low it was like being slapped in the face.' Kathy Tucker writes. Now, she says. Now she says, 'It looks like our only choice is to hire a lawyer and pursue a law suit. That is not what we wanted.' By Kathy Tucker Feb. 12, 2014 My husband, Bradley, and I are living a normal life. We have been married for over 39 years: own our own home and some land: have a little money put back and looking forward to retirement within the next 4-5 years. Our son is grown and married and has a son of his own. We go to work every day, come home, spend time with our family, mind our own business, get up the next morning and go to work again. Not a real exciting life, but one we are happy with. Feb. 13, 2014 Approx. 2:03 AM EST Our life as we knew it exploded. A loud boom woke us, we jumped from our bed and our house was engulfed in a bright light and a sound like I had never heard. We ran to our back door and reached for the door knob, our house was shaking so hard my husband could barely hang on to the knob. We were unable to leave because of large rocks falling from the sky. At that time my husband said, "We are going to die." I stood at the kitchen table and said to myself, "I'm going to die, but that's okay". A feeling of peace, like I had never felt before, went through my body. We decided to get dressed and try again to get out. Approx. 2:07 AM EST Our son, who lives about a quarter mile down the road, burst through our back door. He yelled for us to get what we could and get out, the pipeline has exploded. We grabbed phones, purse, billfold, some money we had put up and my cigarettes (I know, why cigarettes, let me tell you they came in very handy). Our son left in his vehicle and us in ours. We traveled a short distance down the road, when our son turned around and headed back to our house. We also turned and headed back. In no way was I going to let my son out of my sight. When we pulled in our driveway, I realized why my son had turned back. Our house was on fire and he planned on saving what he could. Also, at that time I saw what else was happening. Our neighbor's home, barn, and 4 vehicles were engulfed in flames. The pipeline, which is about 100 yards from our house, was burning at full force and that God-awful roar was still going. It honestly looked like a war scene. We grabbed some items put them in the vehicles and were planning on leaving, when we decided we could save the house. My son, husband and I grabbed buckets and carried water from one end of our house to the other and poured on the flames. When I say buckets I mean two, that's all I could find. Our house is 52 feet long, the fire was on one end and the spigot was on the other. With the help of a neighbor we were able to extinguish the fire and save our personal property. I can remember standing in our yard screaming for help to put out the fire and for someone to check on our neighbors. Firefighters, from Columbia, came up the hill to our house and stayed with it and would put it out each time it restarted. God bless you and thank you. Approx. 2:45-3:00 AM EST We were able to meet up with our grandson and daughter-in-law at our local firehouse. What a beautiful sight! Only two others sights I have seen compare: when our son burst through the backdoor and the day our son was born. I cannot imagine what went through our family's mind, our son coming up the road not knowing if his mother and father were dead or alive, our daughter-in-law not knowing what her husband was going into and our grandson waiting to see with his own eyes that we were okay. Our grandson had spent the night with us the night before, I am so thankful he was not there at the time of the explosion. He has been extremely affected by this I don't even want to think what could/would have happened had he been with us. I work for our school district, I work at the school my grandson attends. Since, the explosion he does not want to attend school unless I am there. The rest of Feb. 12, 2014 What a blur! People asking questions, insurance agents, pipeline officials, dodging the media. But, most importantly thankful we and our neighbors are alive. We were allowed back in our home in mid- afternoon. At that time we got to see how blessed we really were. There were big holes in the ceiling, rocks in the floor, ceiling joist broken, duct work hanging down, furniture damaged and insulation everywhere. How we escaped without injury I will never know. Yes I do know, the good Lord above saved us. Family and friends covered our house, barns and garage with tarps and metal roofing to keep what was left from any more damage. Thank you and God bless you. The pipeline offered us a motel room, but our decision was to stay with our son. And, that is where we remain. How long we will have to stay here....no one knows. Feb.13, 2014 - Feb. 27, 2014 These sixteen days have been filled with many emotions: thankful, blessed, overwhelmed, afraid, nervous, stressed and sad. Where do we start? Pipeline people are everywhere. Every time you turn around they are there. Over all they are being very helpful, providing us with what we need. Such as storage units, moving company and moving supplies. We are trying to clean out our house, decide what's going where. But, that is hard to do when you are sick. I came down with bronchitis and could barely function for 3-4 days. For our grandson's sake we try to be as normal as possible; it's hard to be normal when your world has been turned upside down. I take days off from work to take care of things at our house, my grandson has a bad day at school and I have to go pick him up. I go to work to help get my grandson get back into a routine and I worry about all the things I need to be doing at the house. Sleepless nights spent on the computer searching pipeline explosions. Two families in one household--it's working, but my son and family need their privacy and we need ours. Oh well, we will keep on going. Feb. 28, 2014 A new emotion comes into play---ANGER. We met with two pipeline representatives. They made us a monetary offer for our loss and inconvenience. Their offer was so low it was like being slapped in the face. We countered with an amount, so now it is wait and see. March 6, 2014 ANGER, ANGER, ANGER Received a phone call at work, the pipeline feels their offer is more than adequate. I leave work to go home (wait; I don't have a home) to collect myself and make numerous phone calls. What happened to all the bending over backwards to help us? We now have a clear indication of what the pipeline's intentions are. It looks like our only choice is to hire a lawyer and pursue a law suit. That is not what we wanted. We feel that no amount of money is going to return our life to the way it was. But, we also feel people should be held responsible for their actions. BR? It is not our fault our property is damaged, we are living with our son, we can't sleep, we can't concentrate , we jump every time we hear a loud noise, hide our eyes when we see a bright light/sunset or that our life has been changed forever. We were living our normal life, when Columbia Gulf took it away from us. March 8, 2014 In no way is this being written to make anyone feel sorry for us. We were blessed and know that are we are still being blessed. God chose to spare our lives and I believe he has a purpose for us. It is left up to us to believe and be ready to carry out that purpose. --Kathy Tucker This story was posted on 2014-03-09 11:04:45
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