Loved ones raise money to help Holt family who lost their home in a fire
HOLT — GoFundMe fundraisers have been established to help a Holt family whose house was recently destroyed by a fire.
The home of Glen and Jen Arne on Wilkerson Bluff Road was deemed a total loss after it was ravaged by the fire last Monday afternoon. No one was home at the time, but the family’s two cats died in the blaze.
“It was ruled an accidental electrical fire,” Jen Arne’s sister, Cindy Boatner, said Friday. “There’s nothing left” of the house.
Boatner, who lives in Winter Garden in Central Florida, said her sister and brother-in-law lived at the home with their two daughters, ages 17 and 19, and their older daughter’s 1-year-old child.
Glen and Jen Arne both are volunteer firefighters with the Holt Fire District, Boatner said. She said Glen works as a welding instructor in Pensacola and Jen is the fire marshal for the Ocean City-Wright Fire Control District.
Glen was the first person to respond to the fire, but Jen was unable to get there quickly, Boatner said. In addition to firefighters from Holt, crews from Crestview, Baker and Munson battled the blaze.
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Boatner said Glen and Jen built their house in 2016. She said her 19-year-old niece and her niece’s infant are now living in their own place, which they had arranged for before the fire. Boatner's sister, brother-in-law and other niece are staying with family in the area.
Her 17-year-old niece will graduate from Baker School in May.
“The worst part of all of this came yesterday (Thursday),” Boatner said. “As if losing everything wasn’t enough, the insurance adjuster came out yesterday to say that the insurance company went bankrupt last week. There is no coverage, no policy. What they thought would pay off their mortgage and pay for the contents of the house isn’t in existence.”
She said Jen continues to work on getting help with her claim.
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Shortly after the fire, Boatner and her sister, Chrissy Hartley, set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to help the family recover. The money raised will help the family pay for temporary housing.
“They also still have to pay the mortgage and bills on a house that doesn’t exist,” Boatner said.
As of Friday afternoon, nearly $2,500 had been contributed to the GoFundMe account, which is online at www.gofundme.com/f/nfakfz-house-fire-recovery.
Boatner said many people also have given restaurant gift cards and clothing to the family, and that other people replaced her younger niece’s prom dress and laptop computer that were destroyed.
She said a friend of her nephew, both of whom go to college in Kentucky, also began a GoFundMe account to assist the family. It had raised almost $2,500 by Friday afternoon.
In addition, Shelly Chestnut, who is a first responder and lives in Galliver just east of Holt, organized a third GoFundMe account to help the family. As of Friday, almost $3,800 had been contributed.
“As first responders, we are trained to handle any type of call we receive,” Chestnut said on her GoFundMe webpage. “You never expect to get a call that two of your fellow firefighters’ house was on fire.”
She also said that the Arne family “has devoted countless hours in our community, and I hope we can come together to help them.”
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: GoFundMe fundraisers help Holt family who lost their home in a fire
