Bell Family homeless after devastating fire

Our daughter Allison, her husband Chris, and our 4 precious little grandchildren are homeless and without a vehicle after a devastating fire occurred on the property they lived on.

On May 27th our daughter and son-in-law were working on a bus in a shop located on the property where they live. A spark from the engine ignited fuel on our son-in-law which started a fire that caused first and second degree burns to his face and arms. He attempted to put the flames out with a fire extinguisher and nearly did, but the extinguisher ran out before he could get it fully under control, and the fire began to spread in the shop. There was a significant amount of propane and diesel stored on the property and Chris made the wise decision to evacuate everyone from the property. In minutes the tanks ignited and two homes and 7 vehicles were destroyed. The home in which Allison and Chris were renting was saved, but water and power cannot be restored at this time, nor for the foreseeable future. Chris was self-employed and lost his tools, dump truck and snow plow as well as his personal vehicles. The kids are without a home and without transportation and have lost all the equipment they had recently invested in for their business.

My heart breaks for these kiddos. Life has thrown them some real hardship. In 2020, their youngest daughter, Juliette, was born with an obstructed bowel and spent the first month of her life in the NICU at Sacred Heart, then, in 2022, Chris, his father, and his 4 younger brothers were logging near Priest River and in a freak accident, Chris nearly lost his life trying to save his youngest brother from a rolling log. His brother was killed, and Chris spent weeks in the ICU at Sacred Heart and rehab in Post Falls. And now this.

My goal in doing this fundraiser is to give these guys a breather. They will need to buy a vehicle, arrange a place to live, figure out employment and pay their bills in the meantime. I thank you for any help you can give.