I am a friend of Kim Barta and Katie Carter of Polson, MT. They had a house fire Thursday night, September 4th, 2025, at 1 AM. Thankfully, they both escaped unharmed. Their beautiful home, a car, and most of their belongings were lost in the fire. What did survive has severe smoke damage.

They learned yesterday that they were greatly underinsured, 100s of thousands, and will not be able to afford to rebuild their home as it was. They're not even sure if they can afford to build a new home at all.

Katie's car burned. She has no way to get to and from work. Kim's car survived the fire since he happened to be traveling at the time of the fire.

Most of us are probably underinsured. If you haven't updated your home insurance with your agent recently, especially with the increased costs in building supplies and fees please consider making an appointment with your agent soon.

Update 1. Kim and Katie were allowed to enter their "home". They were able to recover some of their instruments that were kept in an enclosed area that didn't seem to receive as much smoke damage as other areas of the home.

Life goes on, they are trying to work, serve their clients and patients while also struggling with all of things on their very full "to do list".

Update 2. Our hearts hurt for our friends as they morn the loss of some of the things that were gifted to them by their two children. Some of the pain and loss is being healed little by little as friends of Kim and Katie's help them with finding good quality used shoes, pots and pans, or the gift of an apartment by Flathead lake to stay in during this challenging time.

A big thank you to all of you who have given your love, hugs, financial contributions and items the past two weeks.

Thank you for your consideration and for your contribution in advance!