CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — Two local AEP Texas workers recently had a Father's Day they will never forget.
Amadeo Salinas, of Kingsville and Kevin Rivera of Corpus Chirsti were in Shreveport, Louisiana helping restore electricity to thousands of homes. The area was hit by a powerful storm on June 16.
On Father's Day, Salinas and Rivera were driving to their next assignment when they ran into a different type of emergency.
"(We) started heading down the road to head back toward the substation," Salinas said. "Kevin's driving and he yells out 'Fire!' And I'm like 'What, fire?'"
The fire was in a garage and was putting the rest of the home in danger.
"The garage door was open and you just saw a big ball of fire inside the garage," Rivera said. "As soon as I saw it and I made it known, we put the vehicle in park."
The fire had been started by a generator that the owners of the home were using to provide electricity.
Rivera and Salinas quickly grabbed fire extinguishers and ran to the home. They got the fire under control then used a nearby hose to put out some hot spots.
The owners of the home, Sammy and Sandy Maranto weren't hurt and they couldn't thank their two Coastal Bend heroes enough.
On the day of the fire Rivera and Salinas were running behind schedule. If they had been on time, they would have never spotted the fire.
