FLORISSANT (KMOX) -- An elderly Florissant man is being treated for burns suffered in an explosion in his home early Sunday morning.Florissant Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Randy Ray tells KMOX when crews arrived in the 400 block of Paddlewheel, the victim was on the front porch and was already being checked out."We had a neighbor that came across and tended to the patient, he actually did quite a bit before we got there," Ray tells KMOX. "He put out several fires, shut the gas off to the house... he did quite a bit before we ever arrived."That neighbor is Justin Koester."No, not at all," Koester said when asked if he ever had second thoughts about running over to help. "I've saved two other peoples' lives before, it's just another day."Koester says he grabbed two fire extinguishers and checked on the neighbor, who was already outside by the time he got there."I started hearing a hissing sound so I was like 'I know that's gas,' I looked at the front stove, one of his burners was on, shut it off, ran home, grabbed an adjustable wrench, ran back over there and shut off the gas meter because I still heard it hissing after I shut it off."Koester says he saw the blast lift the roof, push out a wall and blow out several windows.The definitive cause of the blast hasn't yet been determined, but investigators think it might have been caused by leaking flex tubing.Additional editing by Alex Degman© 2020 KMOX (Entercom). All rights reserved.
