Family plans to spend holiday in new home

This year it definitely won’t be an ordinary Christmas for the Coartney family.

Still, it will be a very special Christmas for the family who lost its Nickerson home in a July house fire.

“It’s a Christmas we won’t forget, that’s for sure,” C.J. Coartney said. “Some families probably aren’t this fortunate.”

This week they took a walk-through of their newly rebuilt home and carpeting is expected to be installed soon.

“All of the furniture will be delivered by Nebraska Furniture Mart on Dec. 24. I had to check with them to make sure that was right,” C.J. said. “Things are looking real well.”

That wasn’t the case on July 17.

C.J.’s wife, Kathleen was at their Nickerson home with the couple’s sons, Zach, 10 and Seth, 5, when a strong storm moved through.

“I was watching the news and there was pretty bad lightning,” Kathleen said. “Lighting struck and I knew right away it hit the house. It was so loud.”

Power to the house went out and all the smoke alarms went off.

Through the glare of a flashlight, she could see one of the 2-year-old home’s gutters laying in the yard. When she aimed the light up, she saw smoke coming from the roof where the lightning had struck the gutter.

“It’s amazing, the boys didn’t even wake up,” Kathleen said. “I got the boys out of the house and saw a funny glow on the side of the house.”

While getting the boys into the car, she called 911 from her cell phone. She had called her husband right after the lightning had struck and he left his job in Blair for home.

“I could see (the smoke) from the highway,” C.J. said. “By the time I got there, it was pretty much gone.”

Firefighters from the Nickerson, Fremont Rural, Winslow and Hooper fire departments battled the blaze, but in the end the foundation was the only thing left standing.

When C.J. arrived at the house fire, he tried to open the garage door in an to attempt to save his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, but with no electricity he was out of luck.

A shed that housed the family’s two German shepherds and the dogs were spared, as were two rabbits in a hutch on the north side of the house.

“Shortly after I got there the Red Cross showed up,” C.J. said. “They set us up at a hotel and gave us a Red Cross card to get clothes.”

Insurance adjusters visited what was left of the house and started the claim process. Then the family moved temporarily into a Fremont duplex.

“My side of the family owned this home and luckily it was open,” C.J. said, adding most of the furniture is borrowed. “We bought the necessities. The insurance company only gives you so much up front so you have to make it last.”

Because of many summer storms tying up crews, demolition of the old home wasn’t complete until September.

“It was nice to see the house and the things we had there that were charred were no longer there,” Kathleen said.

New construction started not long after the demolition.

“Christensen Homes did a fabulous job,” C.J. said. “He said ‘If you let me start on it now, you can get back for Christmas.’ We actually figured it would be next April. When we heard the time frame, we were very surprised.”

Once the furniture is delivered on Christmas Eve, the family plans to move the rest of its belongings into the new home and continue through Christmas day.

“We’re going to have Christmas morning with the boys on the 26th,” Kathleen said.

Then it’s up to the couple to help their sons adjust.

“Hopefully things keep turning for the better for the boys,” C.J. said. “They will have some memories that live on. We’re going to have to do our best to make sure they adjust.”

The memories C.J. and Kathleen will keep are about how people came together to help them out.

“The community was so generous and came through for us,” C.J. said. “People we didn’t even know helped us out. It was very surprising. Thank you, and we appreciate all the help.”

“We are very humbled,” Kathleen added. “There are tons of people I’ve never met who signed cards and helped out. We want to thank the four fire departments.”

She said not only people from Hammond and Stephens, where she works, but the company’s owner, School Specialty, and Premier School Agendas on the West Coast have showed support. Most of them she had never met.

Wrapped gifts surround a Christmas tree at the family’s temporary home, but they aren’t what you might think.

“Most of these presents are replaced household items,” Kathleen said.

That’s not the only difference for the Coartneys this Christmas.

“In a way, I think it’s changed us a bit,” Kathleen said. “We’re more aware of when people are in need and we try to help out more.”