Sheila Lear

I was lying in my bed asleep. All of a sudden, I heard a screeching sound. There was this noise that was so different that I fell out of my bed. I staggered through the house. I noticed my doors were open on the inside. I hollered at my husband, Rodney. He was lying on the floor. It was very scary. 

I had no idea what was going on until my husband said there was a gas explosion. When we bought that property 25 years ago, we did not know there were gas lines there. So, when he told me that's what it was, it really scared me. We were running out of the house. We ran down the steps, and I fell. It was hot. We couldn't breathe. Our skin was tingling. Stuff was falling on us. My husband helped me and threw me in the car. It was terrifying. 

The gas lines were old. They said it's as old as 1942. It was wrapped up in asbestos and tar, and it was rotted. It just exploded. The company came to our door, and we invited them in. They were nice, but their demeanor was very downgrading by the way they acted. They just didn't really want to be there.

They treated us like we were “trailer trash.” Because in their minds, these big companies, people live in mobile homes—that's what they think. They left us there to die. They did. They knew it was going to blow. They put flags around the hole three days prior to the explosion. All they had to do to save all this—and save all this money that they're out and all the humiliation and all the deaths and the pain—all they had to do was come and knock on our door saying that they knew it was leaking. Say, “We'll provide y'all a place to stay. We have a problem, we're going to get it fixed, and we'll move you back to your home.”

But they didn't do that. They did not do that. They were scared to come out there themselves and knock on the door and say, “Everybody, get out.” We didn't mean anything to them.

We heard about Arnold & Itkin from a neighbor. We gave Arnold & Itkin’s name to our son. He looked him up. He said, “Mom and Dad, you better go with them. I hear that they're the best. I read up on them. I pulled their background up. Out of five stars, they're a five-star. They're the best in the United States.” So, we went with them.

I talked to them on the phone—and by talking to them on the phone, I knew right then that they had our best interests at heart. We were not just a number. We were not just a dollar bill.

Arnold & Itkin, they were so nice. They care about you as an individual and not a piece of paper with numbers on it. It means a lot to me. It does. It means they cared about me and my family. They cared about what was going to happen in the future, and they cared enough about us to take on something of this magnitude. I really appreciate them. I'm very pleased to be with Arnold & Itkin.