By Lori Ehde
Harvey and Tamara Horn welcomed a new addition to their family last weekend but didn't have a home to bring her to.
While Tamara was in Luverne Community Hospital recovering from Friday's C-section delivery, a fire destroyed their home in the early morning hours Sunday.
The Horns' boys, Tanner, 10, and Tucker, 6, were staying with their cousins while Tamara was in the hospital.
Horn was home alone Saturday night. He had fallen asleep with his clothes on and was awakened at about 3 a.m. by a loud popping noise.
It was spray paint cans exploding in the hallway outside his bedroom door. "We had done some Sheetrocking and used the spray paint to mark the studs," Horn said.
"I took a minute to look and I saw a flash of flames. It looked like it had come up through the floor."
After that, he said things happened quickly.
"This big cloud of smoke rolled in, and I jumped out of bed and immediately went to the boys' rooms, but then I remembered they weren't home," Horn said.
From that point he said the only way out was through the bedroom window. "I threw up the sash, took a step back, and dove out the window," he said.
He landed first on the garage roof and then jumped to the ground below. His landing was cushioned by a fresh layer of snow.
"I stood there in my bare feet and remembered the dog was still inside," he said.
So he went to the door and called for Scamper, who escaped safely.
Then, he remembered his cell phone was in the pickup, parked out front, but it was locked. "I threw up my hands, and when they came down they hit my leg and I could feel the keys in my pocket," Horn said.
The call to the Luverne Fire Department came in at about 3:30 a.m., and firefighters were on the scene until about 5:30 a.m.
"The fire department did a heck of a job," Horn said. "They were real considerate and did all they could."
Smoldering debris in a wall reignited at about 4:30 a.m. Monday, calling firefighters to the scene again for a few hours.
Tamara and the baby, Katarina, were discharged from the hospital at noon Monday, and Horn said his sister, Valarie Schomacker, is letting them stay in her home near Beaver Creek.
"She just started a new job in Lexington, Neb., and is staying in a motel out there until she can find something," Horn said. "All her stuff is still there, and she told us to go ahead and move in. That was a really good deal. It was really nice of her."
The fire apparently started in the living room, and the cause, Horn said, is likely electrical.
He said insurance adjusters deemed the damages beyond repair, and the house will be removed from the lot on the corner of Dodge and McKenzie streets.
He said some possessions in the Horns' garage are salvageable, but most everything in the house is lost. Yet to be found in the ashes is Tamara's wedding ring, which she had stopped wearing when pregnancy caused her fingers to swell.
"We can't find it, but we're not done looking," Horn said.
"The best part is everyone's here. We can live without a ring. If we lost someone, that would be worse."
He said State Farm Insurance wrote them an emergency check for $1,000 so they could buy clothes and necessities. And he said the community has been supportive, especially with baby items.
"A lot of people have been real nice about this deal and really willing to give," Horn said.
A fund has been set up for the Horns at First Farmers and Merchants Bank, Luverne.