Gallatin woman begins to build her life again following neighbor’s home explosion

GALLATIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — A woman remains in the hospital after a home exploded in Gallatin last Friday.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is still investigating the incident, but they said that the explosion appears intentional.

The blast damaged several homes. One of those homes belonged to Brenda Strong. Now, she is having to start over again at 62 years old. On Tuesday, she moved into a new home.

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“I have been told that I’m probably not going to get anything out of there,” Strong said.

“It was nothing but splinters in there,” Strong said. “What I could see in the bedroom window and it was blown out and it was crooked.”

The home that exploded last Friday was on the other side of her duplex.

“I’ve lost all my family pictures, my grandparents’ pictures, my great grandparents’ pictures. I’ve lost all of the pictures, ” Strong said. “All of my mama’s jewelry that she had.”

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Strong added that despite all her loss, she is trying to stay positive.

“When the explosion happened, I was probably a mile and a half, maybe farther, from my home,” Strong recalled.

Strong said that she left for her morning walk an hour earlier than normal. She also told News 2 that she heard and felt the explosion, but didn’t know what it was until a friend called her with the news.

“He said ‘You need to start walking back,’ and said ‘It’s your place,'” remembered Strong. “I said ‘Oh no!’ and I just started crying and screaming.”

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Strong said that this is a challenge she wasn’t expecting but she is thankful to be alive. The TBI is still trying to figure out who and what caused this explosion.

Strong mentioned that friends are helping her out with furniture for her new place, but she also said that she still needs a way to do laundry.

If you want to help out, you can find a GoFundMe link here.

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