Craig and Karen Christians stand in front of a house on Nicollet Street in Blue Earth where they are living after a fire destroyed their home.

In the approximately three weeks since Craig and Karen Christians literally watched their house go up in smoke, they have been able to reflect on the tragedy and appreciate how fortunate they really are.

“We basically lost everything that was in the house,” Karen says. “But we are still here, and we are thankful for that.”

Craig began the morning of March 23 just like he has for almost every day of the past 34 years he has worked for Juba’s SuperValu in Blue Earth.

“My normal schedule is to go into work early,” he says. “Then, I went home at 11:30 a.m. for lunch.”

He and Karen finished their meal and Craig returned to work.

Karen takes over telling the story.

“I got up to take my meds and then I was going to relax for a little while,” she shares. “I heard a whoosh-like sound and looked in the laundry room and there was a fire that had already reached the ceiling. I quickly thought, should I do something? I decided no, I need to get out of the house.”

She grabbed the couple’s dog, Toby, her coat and purse and ran out of the house.

“I called Craig and told him there was a fire in the house,” Karen shares. “Our neighbor of 34 years, Jeff Alfson, was driving by and rolled down his window to say hi. I told him our house was on fire and he called 911.”

Meanwhile, Craig was already on his way home.

“Later on, some of the employees at Juba’s told me they had never seen me move so fast,” Craig mentions with a smile. “So, I am on my way home thinking it’s probably a little fire in the kitchen and that I would grab a five-gallon pail of water and put the fire out.”

He soon learned that strategy was not going to work.

“I got to our house and took one step into the kitchen and the smoke was so bad I could not breathe,” Craig explains. “I quickly got out of the house and stood back and I could see the flames from the fire were now taller than the house. Karen had to keep Toby from going back into the house.”

A police officer was the first emergency help to arrive on the scene and the Blue Earth Fire Department arrived soon after.

“We cannot say enough about the guys with the fire department,” Karen comments. “They did their job and kept the fire from spreading.”

After the fire was out and Craig and Karen were allowed to enter the house, they were surprised to find handprints on the walls.

“We found out from the firefighters that the smoke was so thick they had to feel their way around the house,” Craig says. “That was their handprints.”

Everything inside was damaged.

“The person from the insurance company went to inspect the house and write down the items which could be salvaged,” Craig notes. “When he came out, there was not one single thing written on his list. The contents were declared a total loss.”

The couple stayed at a motel the first two nights after the fire.

“We were sitting on the bed at the motel discussing where we were going to live,” Karen shares. “Within five minutes of that discussion we received a call from Ray Wigern who said he had a house on Nicollet Street we could stay in.”

Wigern showed them the house and asked the couple if it would work for them.

“We said yes and Ray handed us the keys and told us the house was ours as long as we needed it,” Karen says. “It is working out well. Since the fire, Toby, who normally would sleep in a doggy bed at the foot of the bed, has wanted to sleep in the bed with us.”

It had been a couple of stressful days, but Craig shares they still managed to find things to laugh about.

“Since all of our clothes except what we were wearing had been lost in the fire, picking out what to wear every morning was really easy,” Craig says with a smile.

“We were definitely in shock for the first couple of hours after the fire,” Karen adds. “It was hard to think of answers to simple questions.”

But help, in many forms, was soon on the way.

“Within a couple of hours of the fire, our daughter Courtney’s friend, Megan Kafka, had a GoFundMe page set up and was asking us for approval to go ahead with it,” Karen says. “Then, our three children, who all live in Spirit Lake, Iowa, showed up with clothes, shoes and bathroom stuff.”

They had other housing offers too.

“After we had already accepted Ray’s offer, we received calls from five other people telling us they had a place we could stay,” Craig mentions.

The fire and loss of their house is the third difficult obstacle the couple has had to face in recent years.

“I was in a bad car accident two and a half years ago and had to have five surgeries at Mayo,” Karen reveals. “Then, this past January I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder and I have to have blood infusions every week for 12 weeks.”

“We’ve had our share of misfortune lately,” Craig adds. “We still need to count our blessings. It has been said bad things come in threes. Maybe things will get better now.”

The cause of the fire has been determined and it wasn’t what most people thought it would be.

“Many people figured it was caused by dryer lint,” Craig says. “However, the Minnesota State Fire Marshal said it was caused by defective wiring going to the heating element in the dryer. He told us there is nothing we could have done.”

Now, while Craig and Karen wait for the insurance company to decide if the house is salvageable or if they will have to rebuild, they spend much of their time just being thankful.

“The people of Blue Earth have been amazing,” Karen comments. “We live in an incredible community. We really want to thank the Blue Earth Police Department, Fire Department and Blue Earth Light and Water for everything they did.”

“You would not believe how many people have contacted us and reached out to help,” Craig adds. “People are still asking how we are doing and we appreciate that.”

Again, the couple states, in spite of everything, they feel blessed.

“It helps to know people care and have not forgotten about us,” Karen says. “After the fire, it has just brought our family closer together and we feel at ease being in this house and not having to worry about where we would stay. You have to think of the positive things in your life.”

Craig and Karen have had some trouble receiving their mail since the fire. Their new address is 424 S. Nicollet, Blue Earth, MN 56013.