AMERICAN FALLS — A local police lieutenant is urging community members to research contractors carefully after an October furnace repair by Right Now Heating and Air resulted in what he describes as an explosion that has left his family homeless and living in a camper trailer.
George “Robby” Engle, a 14-year veteran of the American Falls Police Department and a K-9 officer, said a Right Now technician’s attempt to repair his diesel furnace this past fall caused an explosion that blew the chimney off his century-old American Falls farmhouse, cracked the furnace, contaminated his home with fuel vapors and sent him to the hospital with gas exposure.
Right Now Heating and Air has acknowledged causing the ignition of pooled diesel fuel but disputes the full extent of damages and liability, according to company emails obtained by the Idaho State Journal. The company has retained legal counsel and is seeking to settle the matter outside of court.
“I’ve never been so angry in my life,” Engle told the Idaho State Journal during a recent interview. “In 14 years of law enforcement, I’ve never experienced that anger. We’re put in all sorts of crazy situations dealing with bad people where you think you would get angry, but I’ve never been so angry before.”
Engle’s case is among dozens of complaints filed against Right Now with the Consumer Protection Division of the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. The AG’s office launched an investigation last spring and settled with the company to begin the new year. Right Now agreed to change its business practices and denied wrongdoing as part of that settlement.
The incident involving Engle unfolded after he contacted the Chubbuck Right Now Heating and Air branch on Oct. 28, 2025, when he started experiencing difficulties lighting his red diesel oil furnace. A Right Now technician arrived the next morning to resolve the issue but quickly left after determining he was unfamiliar with Engle’s specific furnace type, according to Engle’s complaint.
Engle said the technician unknowingly left the broken furnace running, which caused it to flood with fuel.
After the technician left, Engle discovered the furnace was flooded with red diesel fuel, including standing fuel visible on components and the basement floor. He said he called Right Now three times that day to warn them about the fuel spill before a second technician arrived later that afternoon.
Engle said he specifically questioned the safety of lighting a fuel-flooded furnace, but the technician assured him he had been doing the work for years without incident. The technician said he needed to “burn out” the residual fuel from inside the furnace, Engle said.
“I questioned this method in my head and backed away from the technician and the furnace, however I trusted that he knew what he was doing,” Engle said. “At one point, the tech even stated, ‘Yeah, it may not be a bad idea to step back.’”
According to Engle, the technician began lighting paper towels and dropping them through a tube into the furnace, and on the seventh or eighth attempt, the furnace exploded.
“The sound of the explosion was deafening and made my ears ring,” Engle said. “I saw a bright white flash as the technician was blown back from the furnace.”
Engle said the blast scorched the technician’s eyebrows and eyelashes off, burned his beard and forehead hair and left him with concussion-like symptoms. Engle’s 4-year-old son, who was outside at the time, rushed into the house and yelled into the basement, “Daddy, the chimney just landed in the pasture,” Engle said.
The technician asked to use the restroom to clean up and regain his composure, then left in his company truck, according to Engle, who said he never heard from Right Now again that day or night.
Engle said the explosion cracked the cast-iron furnace, spilling fuel onto his basement floor and blowing unburned fuel throughout the ductwork of his entire house. His family, including his wife and three children — ages 7, 4 and 2 — slept in what he describes as the fuel-contaminated home that night.
The next morning, a Right Now salesman arrived offering a discounted furnace system for $19,000, Engle said. When he contacted a Pocatello chimney company for an inspection, technicians discovered extensive damage in addition to the leaking diesel fuel — the chimney liner was blown out and his home’s ductwork was separated at its joints, he said.
American Falls Fire Chief Cecil Sweeney responded with gas detection equipment the day after the explosion and quickly detected volatile levels of fumes in the home. Sweeney ordered the family out, saying no one should remain in the house until the hazardous conditions were remedied.
“I wasn’t in that house longer than 30 seconds and I told him he had to get out of there immediately,” Sweeney said. “He’s lucky he didn’t go to sleep that night and never wake up. The outcome could have been a lot worse.”
While working a patrol shift following the explosion, Engle began experiencing symptoms Sweeney said are commonly associated with exposure to fuel vapors — lightheadedness, extreme forgetfulness, a headache and fatigue. Engle drove himself to Power County Hospital, where he was treated with oxygen and IV fluids for several hours.
“Sweeney advised me of the dangers of toxic gas exposures and symptoms, even after being in a clean environment,” Engle said.
Since vacating their home following the explosion, Engle’s family has been living in a small hunting camper in their driveway. A restoration company removed every item from their home — from appliances to the last spoon and fork — to determine what could be salvaged, Engle said. All carpeting and linoleum were removed, and the walls are being tested to determine the full extent of fuel contamination, he said.
“Everything with an electronic component will automatically be determined to be a complete loss,” Engle said, including the microwave, washer, dryer and all other appliances.
Engle said his family’s monthly power bill jumped from about $200-$250 to $1,000 because of the space heaters and restoration equipment running in the house. The family eats out frequently because cooking for five in the small camper is almost impossible, he said.
“Our Christmas tree was 14 inches tall on this little itty bitty kitchen table,” Engle said. “The washer and dryer is the size of a five gallon bucket. When you have three kids, you can’t keep up.”
During a December windstorm, the family lost power and had to rely on generators, Engle said.
With no clear timeline for when his house will be habitable again, Engle said he doesn’t know whether the home will need to be demolished or whether it can be renovated.
“There is no light at the end of the tunnel at the moment,” he said. “I don’t know what the end outcome is going to be.”
Engle said Right Now Heating and Air later offered him a $2,000 check, a $250 gift card and a free furnace in exchange for a mutual release of liability, but he declined, saying damages were already in the six figures.
In a Nov. 14 email to Engle obtained by the Idaho State Journal, Right Now President Kevin Werner noted the company “did cause the ignition of the pooled diesel fuel in the furnace” but disputed liability for the full extent of damages, saying that it was “highly unlikely that a single ignition of diesel fuel and single instance of leaked diesel fuel in the basement caused compromise to the entire home.”
In a second email sent to Engle 12 days later, Werner said the company was “very interested in reaching a settlement” with Engle but had obtained legal counsel.
“We’ve spoken with our internal counsel and retained counsel in Boise, Dave Leroy,” Werner said in the email. “As soon as you obtain and provide restoration, forensic and other damage reports, my legal team will promptly review and provide you with a settlement offer with full release of claims.”
Werner sent the Journal an email Dec. 30 that said Right Now has been “reaching out to Mr. Engle since early November to learn more about the situation and his claims.”
Werner’s email to the Journal also said Right Now has “been actively working with the Attorney General about items which have been brought before them and are working together collaboratively.”
Engle said Right Now never personally reached out to ask how he was doing or show genuine concern after notifying him they had retained an attorney. Engle said this prompted him to obtain his own legal counsel from Pocatello attorney James Ruchti.
Werner sent Engle a text message Jan. 6 stating the company wants to resolve the issue outside of court.
“We want to provide you (with) a resolution, which is why we requested your damage reports to produce a number,” Werner said. “Are you willing to provide them? Do you have a number in mind? It’s difficult to navigate this without something to base off of. Can you help us with that? If we settle this without attorneys it will save us both a lot of money.”
Engle’s case is among dozens of complaints filed against Right Now with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. According to public records obtained by the Idaho State Journal, Right Now has received 43 complaints since 2022.
In April 2025, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office Consumer Protection Division opened an investigation into Right Now, according to an investigative demand letter obtained by the Idaho State Journal that cited allegations against the company including failing to provide written contracts before work, misrepresenting damages, refusing to honor warranties and “intentionally damaging or sabotaging customers’ systems.”
On Jan. 2, 2026, Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador announced Right Now had signed an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, or AVC, on Dec. 19, settling the investigation. The company agreed to pay $6,500 for investigative costs and adopt nine requirements that included transparent advertising, providing contracts before beginning work, ensuring employees are properly licensed and promptly delivering refunds and rebates to customers.
Right Now denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Werner did not respond to multiple requests for comment after the settlement was announced.
Five more complaints against Right Now have been filed with the state since the company signed the AVC on Dec. 19. Two of those complaints were filed earlier this month.
Though the Consumer Protection Division investigation, which included Engle’s complaint, is now closed, the AVC does not insulate Right Now from facing civil lawsuits from private consumers.
When informed of the $6,500 settlement, Engle said he was frustrated and angry.
He said, “$6,500 is nothing compared to what they’ve done to us. A settlement tells me there is clearly some wrongdoing on their part to other consumers. But it certainly doesn’t affect us at all, because our situation is still very much under litigation.”
Despite his personal ordeal, Engle said community support has been overwhelming. The American Falls Police Department and Power County Search and Rescue, where he also serves as vice commander, raised money for his family — and local residents have provided anonymous gift cards and other assistance.
“I can’t thank the community of American Falls enough for how much they helped me, helped us, our family,” he said. “I’ve never had so much support.”
When he sees Right Now’s pink trucks driving around town, Engle said his blood boils and that what he wants most is to ensure no one else experiences what his family has endured.
“I’m not asking for handouts. I just want people to be aware and think twice before they hire these guys,” Engle said. “Do your homework. Think twice before you hire them. This is what happened to me.”
Leroy, Right Now’s attorney, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.