Family loses home, not resolve

DIXON — A fire may have taken their home and everything they owned, but the Elverud family hasn’t let the tragedy break their spirits.

The day began like any other. On Oct. 21, Justin Elverud dropped his two oldest kids off at school and the second youngest at preschool. He stopped to grab coffee on the way home.  When he got there, something was very wrong.

The home was engulfed in smoke and flames.  Elverud ran to the back door but the smoke was too heavy for him to enter the house.  

“Everything I have is burning up,” Elverud said, recalling his thoughts as he tried to enter the house that day.

With his adrenaline pumping, he grabbed the fire extinguisher from his father-in-law’s camper near the home and ran back to his house. He went to a window with an air conditioner and pushed the unit into the house and climbed in through the window.

He sprayed as much as he could on the fire then evacuated to wait for the fire department to arrive.

“It didn’t look like it did anything,” Elverud said.

Marilyn Athearn with the Dixon Volunteer Fire Department said it was Elverud’s quick reaction that helped save the structure. Athearn has been with the department for about 25 years. She said the department typically sees a fire of this magnitude about once every three years.

The department responded around 9 a.m. Athearn said by knocking the fire down quickly, she and other firefighters were able to save the structure, but most of the contents were burned. What wasn’t burned, was damaged by either water or smoke.

The cause of the fire is unknown but Athearn said it may have been caused by electronics.

“It looked like it might have been electrical but who knows,” she said. Electronic stuff around the television was totally melted, Athearn added.

The fire ravaged the interior of their Dixon home, leaving nearly nothing for the Elveruds to salvage. Elverud said from the outside the home looked as if nothing had happened, but the inside was decimated.

“What wasn’t burnt was damaged by water or smoke,” he said. “It melted all the outlets, charred the walls and it looks like the inside of a barbecue.”

Elverud said his kids didn’t believe him when he told them they had lost their possessions. He said he picked each child up and showed them through the windows that all their stuff was ruined.

Elverud, his wife Julianna and their four children had been staying in one room in a hotel in St. Ignatius but the family is now back in Dixon, living in a camper provided by Julianna’s father.

Ronan resident Wilma Bick is Justin Elverud’s grandmother. She said thinks it was started from an electric heater, but she said Elverud saw flames coming out of the outlets while he was in the house.

“I don’t know what started it, but I do know they lost everything,” Bick said.

Bick has been spearheading relief efforts for the family. Mission Mart has put out a jar to collect donations for the Elveruds. Bick said they’ve had friends who have donated items to the family, but the couple is determined to get back on their feet.

“Justin and Julianna are not the type to ask for handouts or help,” she said, adding that the couple initially didn’t want their story told in the media.

Justin, who recently had surgery on his shoulder, works construction. He said construction jobs in the area are pretty hit-and-miss. Julianna stays home with their 3-year-old son. While it has been a tough time for the couple, Justin’s perseverance is almost tangible.

“It bothered us, but I’ve come to the conclusion that if you sit around and think about it, that’s when it bothers you. So I’m trying not to think about it,” he said.

The couple plans to move and are currently looking for a home to rent around Charlo, Ronan or Polson.

“We’re moving on,” Justin said. “Starting over, I guess.”

Any articles for donation can be delivered to the Bick’s home at 619 Second Place Southwest, Ronan, Mont., 59864.