Lake Worth homeowner says home destroyed, cat killed in fire after propane tank explodes – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

A Lake Worth homeowner caused disaster after he lost power and turned on his backup power.

Cameras showed Steve Jackson standing in the home where he and his family have lived for more than two decades.

“There was a sideboard, you could see it on the wall,” he said. “The heat here melted the screen off the TV.”

But now everything has disappeared after a fire completely destroyed the house on Friday night.

Jackson said his ordeal began when his neighborhood, the Winston Trails community, lost power that evening.

“It was hot in the house, so I said, ‘Well, I’ll hook up the generator and you can run the air conditioning,'” he said.

While his wife and son were sleeping, Jackson said, he soon heard the generator shut off.

“As I come around the corner I see flames, faint flames,” he said. “I go into the garage, get the fire extinguisher, run back out, come back out the door, and just as I pull around the curb the tank explodes.”

Everyone rushed out of the house as bright red flames filled the sky.

“As we were crossing the street, really loud, big, tall flames just exploded,” a family member said.

The Jacksons were able to grab their family dog, but unfortunately their cat did not survive.

“She didn’t make it, but she didn’t suffer. She wasn’t in (part of the house) where the fire was,” Jackson said, as he struggled for years.

The Palm Beach County Fire Department responded and was able to extinguish the flames.

Now the community is coming together to help, including neighbor Annalize Wellman.

“Growing up with them, I would have been devastated. Your family means a lot to me. They know that,” she said. “You always give something to the community, so now we’re giving something back.”

The family is staying with relatives for now while they take life one day at a time.

“It was definitely really scary, but I’m just glad we all made it out,” the family member said.

The neighboring house was also damaged by the flames.

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