AUSTIN, Texas — Six months after a house exploded on Double Spur Loop in northwest Austin, the debris remains in place — fenced off and uncollected — as legal and insurance battles delay cleanup and accountability.
The explosion, which occurred when the home’s new owner flipped a light switch, was caused by a buildup of propane, according to the Travis County Fire Marshal. The owner had not yet moved in.
Next door, neighbor Carol Schacherl was gravely injured in the blast. “I had just done a three-minute plank,” she recalled. “I was so excited, and then five minutes later everything blew up.” The explosion knocked Schacherl unconscious. She spent several days on life support, followed by weeks in rehabilitation. “The house and the rafters and all the trussing and everything just collapsed,” she said. “Furniture in my bedroom had just exploded.”…