Long road ahead to healing after Mandan home explosion

MANDAN, N.D. (KFYR) - When a Cortez Circle area home in Mandan exploded last week, a couple was pulled from the flames by a neighbor. The family has opened up about the accident. They said it’s going to be a long road to healing for those injured as well as the family.

The damage was not limited to the home. Doctors told the family that 85-year-old retired truck driver Levi Hawks had burns on 15% of his body and Susan Hawks suffered burns on 82% of her body. A dog named Blue died after the incident.

This explosion came just a few months after a serious car crash left several members of the family injured.

“It was pretty traumatizing for my kids. And now another one, you know,” said Mary Cuba, daughter-in-law.

The family said it was difficult to tell the grandkids of the latest accident.

“They’re like, ‘Daddy, can we go to grandma’s place?’ Because grandma likes to bake. There’s lots of snacks at grandma’s place that we don’t let them have, they’re spoiled with grandma, so that night we had to drag our family up to Minnesota because they’re sad about that too,” said Kevin Cuba, son.

The family says Levi is doing well but still needs some skin grafts. Susan had her second surgery on Monday.

It’s expected to be a long road ahead. They say doctors said it will be about six more months in the hospital.

To help with medical expenses and share updates, Kevin started a GoFundMe that can be found here.

The Mandan Fire Department believes the cause of the fire to have been accidental in nature.

Copyright 2023 KFYR. All rights reserved.