Community rallies in support of the Mullers

It has been three weeks since the Muller family lost their Kremlin home in a house fire and since then the Hi-Line community has rallied around the family in support.

"We live in the best community ever," Christine Muller said. "I mean, I've always know that it was a nice community, but I didn't realize how awesome it was till this happened."

"The Hi-Line community has been beyond amazing. The support, the outreach, the outpouring, has just been phenomenal," she added.

John Muller grew up in the area, he said, living in Kremlin since 2003, when he moved from Havre, and Christine Muller said she has been in this area since 1999.

John Muller said his parents have a house in Rudyard that was sitting empty, and after the Dec. 18 fire his family moved in.

"Which is nice, having someplace to go, but it's not home," he added.

"We loved our house, we absolutely loved it," Christine Muller said.

She added that they did a lot of remodeling to the house, which was originally built in 1912. She said its age gave it a uniqueness and a lot of different characteristics that no other home would have. But now that they have lost their home, Muller said, they have to look at what options are available before deciding to do anything on their property.

She said the community support has been great. Within hours after the fire, they had some clothes, Muller said.

"People just immediately started gathering things so we could leave the hospital and have clothes to wear," she said.

She added that the community concern, people calling trying to see what they can do to help, has been phenomenal.

"We would like to personally thank everybody," she said, "although we can't possibly thank everybody."

John Muller said someone organized a Pizza Hutt fundraiser Thursday for them, which he greatly appreciates.

He added that he is also thankful for his neighbors. Kody and Gabe Peterson and Rachel Berg were there the whole time, he said, and really helped lead the effort to get donations to them.

"They did an amazing job," Christine Muller said.

John Muller said numerous businesses around town have also offered replacement of basic items, such as shoes and underwear.

"It's just been amazing," he said.

Christine Muller said the whole thing is a lot to process, and she is happy that her family has the basics of what they need. She added that now it is just dealing with insurance companies and things like that.

John Muller said the fire happened on a Tuesday and by Wednesday night five garbage bags of clothes for them were on the front steps of his parents' house.

"I don't know who brought them," he said.

He added that their family has received about 10 bags or more of clothes and some people have also brought them food and provided some basics, such as hair brushes.

"It gets so overwhelming that we just have to make short lists and try to get those done," Christine Muller said.

John Muller said they are lucky they live in a small community. In big cities, community support of this magnitude just doesn't happen.

"The volume of people that have come out in support ... people that I never expected," he said.

He added that someone started a Wells Fargo Bank account for his family where people have been donating money to help support their family during this difficult time.

"There has just been so many things. I just can't think of everything, and I can't thank everybody personally, which we would like to do," Muller said.

The help has come from far along the Hi-Line, Christine Muller said. People as far away as Malta have reached out and given support.

"We live in a really great community," Muller said.

The fire

John Muller - a Kremlin volunteer firefighter - said he woke up because he heard an unusual noise and decided to go downstairs to see what it was. Once he was downstairs, he said, he saw that the deck of his house was on fire. He said he then yelled to his wife and nephew Justin, who was sleeping in the basement, to get up and get out of the house. Muller said at this time the house still had power inside but the smoke detectors were not activated, because the fire was outside the house.

As he was going to get Justin out of the basement, Muller said, an explosion cut the power and shattered the window of his office. He said that after the explosion, the house filled with smoke instantly. Muller said he knew they only had a short window of time to get his family out of the house before it was too late. He ran outside to grab a couple of breaths of air, then ran back in and up the stairs, he said, and grabbed his wife.

Christine Muller said she made it out of the bedroom by the time her husband got to her, but the smoke was so thick that she couldn't breathe or see.

"There was no power, I couldn't see, smoke was so thick that I couldn't even move. It was terrible," she said.

"I heard him yell, 'You've got to come downstairs now, whatever you do you have to come down,'" Muller said. "It was beyond terrifying."

She added that he grabbed her then carried her down the steps and outside of the house.

"If he had not come up and got me, I mean, he literally saved my life," Muller said.

"They are not kidding when they say you have seconds to get out of the house," she added.

"It felt like an eternity, but I know from the time I woke up until we were outside it was less than three minutes," John Muller said.

"You think that you're prepared for that or you know you have a plan on how to get out," Christine Muller said, "but when you can't see and you can't breathe, it's, 'What do I do? Jump out a two-story window?' I don't know how people can plan for that."

She said after she had gotten outside she tried yelling for Justin, but the smoke made it nearly impossible. She said she was very worried, but Justin had already made it outside safely.

John Muller said that we walked around the corner and Justin was already on the phone with 911.

He added that the explosion woke a few of the neighbors up.

He said that once everyone was out of the house safely, he grabbed a couple of his Carhartt bibs and his old hunting jacket and gave them to his wife before he went to the firehall. He said he then got into his firefighter gear drove the fire truck to his house and began trying to extinguish the flames.

As a volunteer firefighter - Muller said he has volunteered with Kremlin's Volunteer Fire Department for 16 years and before that volunteered with the Rudyard Department, as well - he has had to respond to several house fires, but it is completely different when it is your own home.

The house was a loss, as were the family pets.

"We are lucky to be alive and I'm grateful for that, but I wasn't able to save my pets, and that was devastating," Christine Muller said.

The Muller family lost their two pyredoodles, a bichon and a bichon-poodle cross, named Loe, Lilly, Milo and Maverick. They also lost Justin's two cats, Judy and Yayo.

"They were pretty special. They were part of our family," she added.

John Muller said the fire began before 2 a.m. and it was not long before their 3,000 square-foot two-story home was reduced to rubble.

"We don't have anything, we've lost all of our history, we lost those keepsakes and mementos you can't replace," Christine Muller said. "Children growing up, photos. The furniture, I mean the stuff that are materials, are replaceable, but there are some things that just aren't."

Justin, Muller said, is dealing very well with the aftermath of the fire, although it's been hard losing everything that he has known.

"He is such a good kid though," She said. "He's funny, he makes us laugh. I think he has helped us not fall down in these fits of depression because he can't. He has been a definite blessing."

John Muller added that his nephew has been a trooper through the whole thing

The aftermath

Muller said that before the fire, his family had already planned on going to Florida for the holidays, visiting his wife's mom for Christmas. He said his wife travels a lot for work and her passport was in her purse when the house burnt down. All she had after the fire, he said, was a paper driver's license and her birth certificate. He added that they didn't know if they were going to let them on the plane, but they found out the day before they were scheduled to leave that they would be able to go.

"I would be in worse shape now if I hadn't been able to go and spend some time with my family," Christine Muller said.

Leaving, she said, and getting away was a good thing for them to be able to do and get a little bit of a break.

She added that she works as a human resource director for CoreCivic out of Tennessee, and travels quite a bit because of the size of her district. After the fire, she said, she will not be traveling and will be working from home.

CoreCivic has been very understanding and supportive to her situation, she said.

She added that she also really has to commend the Havre, Kremlin and Gildford fire departments and the Hill County Sheriff's Office for responding very quickly and taking control of the situation during the fire.

"I don't think we'll ever know what started (the fire)," Muller said.

"We are grateful that we are alive, but we also cling to the fact we live in a really good community that truly cares," she said. "We are very lucky that way."