SEELEY LAKE - After moving nearly everything she owned into her new apartment, Seeley Lake resident and owner of Moose B’ Mornin Espresso Laura White never expected to get the call that there had been a fire. White intended to sign the lease agreement for her new apartment on SOS Road on Monday, Jan. 4. But a fire started Sunday morning, Jan. 3. Arson is the suspected cause.
The property manager approved White to start moving her belongings into her new place prior to signing the lease. This gave her the opportunity to clean out her existing rental, whose landlord is part owner of the tri-plex on SOS Road.
White had moved 95 percent of her belongings including most of her furniture and all of her clothing except two outfits.
“It’s everything except a couple of dishes,” said White.
As of the Pathfinder press deadline, White had not been able to get into the apartment to see if anything was salvageable.
White had not yet applied for renter’s insurance since the rental agreement had not been finalized or signed. She intended to add renter’s insurance to her existing policies as soon as she moved in. She did not have renter’s insurance prior to her move because she was living alone.
“I was in a [house] fire when I was 10 years old and so ever since then I’ve been extremely cautious about things,” said White. “I thought if I’m living in a tri-plex I can be responsible for myself but I don’t know if the others will be as responsible as I am. I didn’t want to take the risk. I thought that insurance would be a good deal.”
White has been amazed at the support she has already received from the community. “I’ve been approached by so many people that are just so kind,” said White. “I feel very blessed that I live in a community like Seeley Lake. It’s times like these that you can either give up, lie down and lick your wounds or you can brush yourself off and carry on and realize that there are other people that have it worse. You just start over.”
White continued, “Maybe someday I will find the humor in it but not right now. But at the end of the day, me and my cat are fine and that’s really what it comes down to.”
To make a donation to White, checks can be made out to Laura White and dropped off or mailed to Citizens Alliance Bank, PO Box 720, Seeley Lake, MT 59868.
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