Steve Holett surveys the aftermath of the Elmo 2 fire at his property, where he has spent the past 18 months building.
Lisa Holett
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Lisa Holett
Steve Holett surveys the aftermath of the Elmo 2 fire at his property, where he has spent the past 18 months building.
Lisa Holett
After 18 months of construction, Lisa and Steve Holett are almost ready to move into their dream home in Dayton, Montana. It took them a lifetime to build the four-bedroom bungalow, which sits on a hill above Flathead Lake.
It took a wildfire to burn it down in minutes.
The Elmo 2 Flame has passed 21,349 acres of land since July 29, leaving a trail of devastation. Last week, 150 neighborhoods were evacuated, and four main mansions confirmed to have been burned.
On August 1, many people told Holetts that no matter how hot the fire was, it wouldn’t reach their homes. They left to run some errands.
On the way back, the couple saw black smoke rising from the property area. The two ran to their house. The sheriff follows them and tells them they have five minutes before they need to leave again. With the help of the sheriff, the Holetts said, they managed to get less than their dogs, Lisa’s passport, work computer and a handful of clothes from a barn and camper. in which they were living while the house was being built. Both the camp and the barn were destroyed.
Ten minutes after they left, Lisa said, they watched their house burn.
Make dreams come true
Nearing retirement, Steve and Lisa Holett, who are in their 50s, purchased land in Dayton in 2019.
They were living in Austin, Texas, at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa, who works for a semiconductor company, started working remotely, so they could move into early retirement.
To save money, they move to a campsite on their campus, where Lisa works from the kitchen table. During the winter months, water regularly comes out when the pipes freeze, she said.
Lisa and Steve Holett of Dayton, Mont., say they are about six weeks away from moving into the dream home Steve built.
Lisa Holett
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Lisa Holett
Lisa and Steve Holett of Dayton, Mont., say they are about six weeks away from moving into the dream home Steve built.
Lisa Holett
Meanwhile, Steve spends 12 to 15 hours a day building their dream home. Formerly a prosecutor, he has never received a sentence like this. He said he would watch YouTube videos at night on how to do things like wire and install the roof and then do it the next day.
The Holetts’ goal is to pay no rent in retirement.
“So we took all our money, bought the land – and that would be every penny we had [that went] into the house,” Steve told NPR. They pay cash for materials as often as they can.
“We saved and saved and saved for this dream,” says Lisa. “We haven’t taken a vacation in five years.”
Including land, the Holetts said they put nearly a million dollars into their property. Knowing wildfires were a risk in the area, they invested $50,000 in a fire-resistant metal roof. They finished it at the end of May.
According to Lisa, one of the most painful parts of this experience was the construction loan they took out for more than $90,000. The term of the loan was only one year and they planned to refinance into a mortgage. But because they don’t have a home, they won’t be able to get that mortgage.
Steve Holett worked 12 to 15 hours a day building their home for retirement.
Lisa Holett
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Lisa Holett
Steve Holett worked 12 to 15 hours a day building their home for retirement.
Lisa Holett
Holetts said the local bank has been great – the bank’s president even gave them an RV space in his home – but the disaster means they face earlier repayment of their construction loan more than planned. Not to mention, they’re paying for a home they’ll never even live in.
Homeowners insurance is not available until a home is built. They say they can only insure the risks to the builders.
“It’s a weird, little policy – it covers products that haven’t had any work in my 18 months of labor,” Steve said. “At most a third of our savings that we would cover.”
They had a small loan left on the land, so combined with their construction loan, he said, the insurance money was gone. And they still have to buy back all the household items they use every day.
Community engagement to help with recovery efforts
Even just 18 months after moving to the area, the Holetts are feeling the support of the community.
Initially, they were against crowdfunding. An old classmate of Lisa’s started a GoFundMe . Campaign Anyway, and donations have started rolling out. As of August 9, 426 donors have contributed a total of $42,521.
Lisa and Steve Holett are still debating whether to rebuild their property after the Elmo 2 Fire destroyed their home and surrounding trees.
Lisa Holett
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Lisa Holett
Lisa and Steve Holett are still debating whether to rebuild their property after the Elmo 2 Fire destroyed their home and surrounding trees.
Lisa Holett
The Holetts were surprised to see so many names they didn’t recognize on the donation list.
“When I go through the names, I know maybe 30%. So these 70% are just communities or people who want to remain anonymous,” Lisa said.
She said they would write a thank you note to those who donated.
Local businesses are also getting involved, donating equipment to help clean up the burn. But there is still the question of where the Holetts will live long term.
“It’s sad, because there are some things where I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m going to want this in 20 years,'” Steve said. Knowing that one day he wanted to have a wood shop, he spent extra time doing small things like running electrical wires in places where they weren’t needed.
“It’s just hours, hours and hours. Worthless. Gone. Doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s just sad. Because, you know, I know every hole, every screw, everything in that house.”
Holetts still isn’t sure what happens next. Currently, while they are staying in an apartment with a garage above owned by a friend’s neighbor, they are looking to rent out for themselves and their two dogs for the next year. They said they didn’t have the budget to rebuild their dream home, and they weren’t sure if they wanted to build something smaller on the same property and be reminded daily of what they’ve lost.
Since he spent so much time building their house, Steve worries about living in a miniature version that doesn’t match what he originally created.
More and more, however, he’s starting to feel like a new home will be symbolic of how their community has helped them, so it will come with fond memories.
