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John and Cathy Sayers say they are waiting to accept an offer from Tennessee Gas after a pipeline exploded behind their Morgan County house. 

 

The couple have not had their own home for five months.

 

Though Tennessee Gas has given the Sayers' several offers, John says none has been to his liking.

 

"We're not going to accept an offer that they've tendered for 40 years of my life, I'm not doing it," said Sayers.

 

John says the gas company is forgetting what he calls the "human factor."

 

"It was a near death experience for her," he said, referring to his wife, Kathy, who was in their home at the time of the explosion. "And I guess that doesn't mean anything. Someone would have died they probably would have been stepping

and fetching."

 

Cathy survived the explosion and fire but says emotionally, she is struggling.

 

"It's very hard. But we'll make it wherever we end up at," she said.

 

Not only did the Sayers lose their house in the explosion, but they will also lose their property and this pond they built over 20 years ago because the land has been deemed unbuildable.

 

While the Sayers' have been waiting to put this catastrophe behind them, they say they can't help wonder why they weren't warned of the potential danger.

 

John says two pipeline ruptures on the same pipe had occurred before the explosion behind his home. 

 

He says he wonders why residents living near the pipeline hadn't been told.

 

"You would know what to expect. We didn't know that was the same pipeline," said John.

 

The Sayers have survived financially because of John's retirement.

 

They have been living in their son's home since the explosion.