The blast killed homeowner Carl Sneed and seriously injured his wife, Merna. As of 5:00 a.m. on Monday, Merna Sneed was listed in critical condition at University Hospitals' George Peak Burn Center.

On Saturday, friends, family and neighbors began to pick up the pieces of that home. In a moment, the home was lost.
 
Carl and Merna Sneed's family said they are trying to stay strong and hopeful during this difficult time. They are comforted by the love and help neighbors offered by coming together to clean up the debris that littered their neighborhood.

"I could hear the flames from my front door three houses down. It was immediately engulfed," neighbor Scott McGarvey said.  

The neighborhood was broken in a minute.

"It's bad enough to have a house destroyed, but people destroyed is a whole other level of awful," neighbor Jill Raitt said.

Now, all that remains is a memory of what was once a home.

"It was a little ranch house, build in the '50s. Pretty typical 1950s ranch house basement underneath and I think three small bedrooms originally," said Dan Kelly, the Sneed's son-in-law.

It is not the walls, doors or windows that once made this a home, but the warm hearts of Carl and Merna Sneed.

"He was a guy with a smile on his face. He often looked like he heard a good joke, or something. Maybe it was at your expense. Still he was laughing. She was also a person with a big smile, a very can-do person. A person who, if you needed something, she's the first in line to help you with it," Kelly said.

For years the Sneed's pulled into their driveway which is now covered in rubble. Saturday, their grandchildren climbed the trees that were singed by the fire. Everything has been swept away.

"No, there's not anything worth keeping. Pam has found a few things out scattered along the ground but there's certainly not anything valuable to anyone else," Kelly said.

It seems the value is in the friends who offer their love and the neighbors who'll piece it back together again.

"Always remember your family and friends because you don't know when you're going to lose them. You never know," Kelly said.

The Columbia Fire Department says that investigators still need time to determine a cause for the blast. The department says that if you smell gas (described by most as having a rotten egg smell), exit the building immediately and do not turn on any lights or appliances.