'Fixer Upper's' Chip and Joanna Gaines come to the aid of paralyzed firefighter
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The "Fixer Upper" couple is "Chip-ing" in.
Chip and Joanna Gaines have joined together with their community to help build a new home for a firefighter who became paralyzed just hours after working on a prop for their show.
Garth Goodwin of Waco, Texas, left his part-time job of putting together a panel the Gaines' reveal portion of "Fixer Upper" to work on a billboard. At his next job, he was electrocuted in a freak accident, as first reported by KWTX.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Goodwin's tools touched exposed electrical wires and he was sent flying 12-13 feet off the billboard's platform and wasn't found until an hour-and-a-half later, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down, local contractor Wes Waller told Fox News.
Goodwin's firefighter buddies reached out to Waller of UBI Products and asked for his help.
"The firemen called me and they said, 'Hey, we're firemen and we don't know how to build a house...Can you help us?'" Waller told Fox News. "I said 'absolutely.'"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Waller posted on Facebook asking people to donate their time, money and materials to help put together a wheelchair-accessible home for Goodwin.
Goodwin also has a 19-year-old son who was born missing a portion of his brain.
"Within a week, 80 percent of the house was donated," Waller said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The only thing left was the cost of the lumber which had a $20,000 price tag, according to Waller.
That's when he reached out to Chip and Joanna for help.
"Yesterday, I [decided] I'm just going to ask [the Gaineses] for it and 30 minutes later, they said yes," Waller said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Waller also had the help of his famous cousin, country singer Wade Bowen, who told Waller he will "fill in the gaps."
While Waller is thankful for the HGTV stars' support, he does not want to forget the people of Waco who came together to support Goodwin.
"I know Chip and Joanna, they're huge, and they did connect the last dot, but none of these dots would be connected without the great people from central Texas," he said. "If anything, this would not be happening if the firefighters wouldn't have called and asked, 'What can we do to build a house?'"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We want him in there by the holidays," Waller told us.