Mobile home considered a total loss before Christmas; husband and wife thankful for what they have.

SALMON — A mobile home belonging to a husband and wife turned to ashes due to a fire just a week before Christmas.

Chloe Russell-Evans and her husband, Andrew Evans, live in Tendoy, which is approximately 20 miles away from Salmon.

On Tuesday morning, Chloe was in Jackson Hole while Andrew was at home.

“I was about to board a plane. My father has congestive heart failure. I was actually flying back to Texas to take care of him,” Chloe said. “Then I got the call right before I was about to board that the house was on fire, and so I booked it out of the airport and drove home.”

According to Lemhi County Fire Protection District Fire Chief Mike Warner, firefighters responded around 5:40 a.m. The mobile home is near the old Lemhi back road.

It is a total loss. Warner said the cause of the fire was from a heat lamp in a chicken coop.

“The homeowner had stated that they had a chicken coop right next to the house. The chicken coop caught on fire and caught the house on fire,” Warner told EastIdahoNews.com.

Andrew was asleep at the time the fire began, Chloe said, and his cat named Larry alerted him.

“He woke up to Larry clawing at him, trying to wake him up because something was wrong, and then he figured out there was smoke in the house and then started to try and get (the animals) out,” Chloe said.

Andrew got out of the house before it became fully engulfed in flames.

Chloe said all of the dogs made it out. Their pigs and chickens are okay, too. Their show rabbits died in the fire and the cats, including Larry, are missing.

“All the cats are gone … we can’t find them. We are in that waiting game to see if they come back,” Chloe said. “We are very thankful for Larry! He was the only one out of our five dogs and our five cats that woke up and knew something was wrong.”

Chloe said the home is replaceable, and so are clothes and food, but what they are most sad about are the memories.

“All of our possessions were in there … like all of the photos of Andrew’s mom are gone, and she passed when he was in his 20s,” she said. “I had a postcard that my grandpa wrote before he passed. All those little things that are just not replaceable because those people are gone or things that have been handed down through your family.”

For now, she and her husband are staying in Salmon with family.

A GoFundMe has been set up by Chloe and Andrew’s friends. Part of it reads, “Chloe Russel-Evans is a pillar of the community. She helps children in need, works with disabled children, and is a 4-H leader. She and Andrew both are very kind people who have done all they can to help the youth in our community.”

Chloe told EastIdahoNews.com they had renters insurance; however, it doesn’t cover much. There is a $50,000 goal on the GoFundMe, and so far, over $5,000 has been raised.

“I have had a lot of support,” she said. “We have really appreciated all of the community that has helped us so far, and we appreciate any help that comes later, no matter what it is.”

It will be a bit of a different Christmas this year. Presents were inside the house and most are now gone. However, Chloe is glad that Andrew is safe and she remains optimistic.

“We are very thankful for what we have and we are kind of at peace with it,” Chloe said. “We are trying to push forward and focus on what comes next.”