A business that stood for 50 years in Luzerne County is now destroyed. Thursday's fire just the latest in a series of hardships for the owner.
For more than 50 years Richard Kubasti worked in his garage on Lambert Street in Pittston. He built it from the ground up, but his garage is no more.
A fire, which officials believe started from a coal stove inside the garage, quickly destroyed his business, Richard's Upholstery.
"We came up the house and we seen smoke coming from the windows and Frank said the shop`s on fire," said Kubasti said.
He added he's lucky he wasn't inside when the blaze started. He's confined to a wheelchair, and the fire is just the latest in a series of hardships over the last year.
"Had the legs cut off and had open heart surgery, the kidneys went after open heart surgery so now I`m left here doing nothing just me and the wife," Kubasti said.
He added after he lost his legs it was only recently that he started coming back into his shop. He said all his friends helped move the tools and the cabinets to a level where he could reach them.
As Kubasti surveyed the damage, he said he probably won't rebuild unless he gets a new pair of legs. He added that most likely won't happen because his insurance company won't cover the prosthetics.
"I got a chair in there I was finishing up but I won`t do that now. Yeah, I won`t do that now," he said.