The New Richland Community, the New Richland Care Center,and the UPS drivers of Owatonna all pitched in to help the Services in their time of need. Pictured here is Shane Service with UPS drivers: Carl S., Ed W., Corey, Paul M., Mike C. Mike M., Jay V. and the rest of the Owatonna team helped donate and help in many other ways to get us through this time. Thank you." - Shane Service on the UPS drivers in the photo.
By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Staff Writer
Shane and Olivia Service and their four boys, Matthew (17), Ethan (14), Shane Jacob (13), and Benjamin (10), lost their house on Nov. 21, 2021 when 30-mile-an-hour winds carried an out-of-control fire in a nearby trailer to their home.
“It was just an accident,” said Shane.
A family friend had parked his trailer on the Service property when he had nowhere else to go. “We told him he could stay with us as long as he helped out,” said Olivia. That included mowing the lawn, felling trees and helping to clean up the woods. Shane signed over a Ford Expedition to him for helping, which, because it had been jacked up to service the transmission, would shortly go up in flames.
According to Shane, the trailer had a wood burning stove inside it that didn't have a proper top on the exhaust, but the fire was lit that evening to warm the trailer in preparation for the chilly night. Suddenly, Shane noticed that there were red embers coming out of the top of the chimney. When the two went into the trailer to inspect it, the fire was roaring. They hurried out to get a bucket of water, but the top of the trailer had already caught fire.
“We got buckets, and we put the top of the trailer out,” said Shane, “so I thought everything was good.” Shane went into the house to tell his wife about the incident. Meanwhile, Shane Jacob was looking out the window and saw that the trailer was still on fire.
Shane still wasn't worried, but Olivia dialed 911, telling the dispatcher, “I think my house is going to catch fire!” The dispatcher told her all the dispatch units would be released to the house.
Shane continued: “By the time that I walked into the house, [my friend] went back into the trailer and the whole inside of the trailer was engulfed.” Shane ran back downstairs to put out the fire, but the dried leaves around the Service's propane tank had caught fire. He tried to put out the fire with buckets of water, while the family friend was nowhere to be found. He had run into the woods to get Shane's 4x4 with the idea of pushing the trailer away from the house. “It's a good thing my quad was stuck, because he probably would have died,” said Shane.
Shane battled the flames around the propane tank until it was safe enough to stop and scream through the window at his family, “Everybody get out!”
Olivia had just had bone surgery on her foot and was unable to walk. By the time Shane yelled through the window, their 14-year-old, Ethan, had picked up his mother where she was sitting by an upstairs window and carried her to the stairs. She scooted down the stairs and everyone got out. Shane brought Olivia and their children to the lawn by the chicken coop.
“By the time I ran out of the house, I wasn't even looking at the fire,” said Shane. “The garage was engulfed. The flames were hitting the house. I had to go back into the house to save Olivia's photo album.”
“I didn't know there were flames in the house,” said Olivia, who had asked Shane to rescue her photo album from the bottom drawer of their dresser. “That's all I could think about was pictures of my kids, and everything that we worked for.”
As Shane grabbed the photo album, the glass window in the room exploded. He ran downstairs and handed Olivia the photo album, and that's when he remembered the cars, which were still parked in front of the flaming garage. Olivia's 2019 Jeep Cherokee keys were still in their bedroom with the shattered glass. Shane ran back upstairs to get the keys, which he threw to the family friend, who got the car out of the way. Shane's 2014 Silverado truck keys couldn't be found, but they found a spare set to drive it out of harm's way.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family was by the chicken coop, and their son, Benjamin, was crying. Olivia held onto their dog, which had tried to run after Shane into the fire. “I remember Benjamin just looking at the fire and holding his head and just screaming, and he dropped to his knees. It was horrible! Horrible!” said Olivia.
The firefighters told Olivia to get into the truck next to the chicken coop, because the family needed to get out of there. But it was so hot that a tree next to the chicken coop began to smolder. Olivia honked the horn and screamed that the tree was going to catch fire. She didn't know what to do. Shane and the family friend, who had been felling trees, had deposited a large branch in front of the truck, so Olivia, who, in addition to that impediment, wasn't supposed to drive after her foot surgery, couldn't move the truck forward.
Shane's body surged with adrenaline, trying to accomplish anything possible within the short time he had, but suddenly he saw the smoking tree above the chicken coop. He got the firefighters' attention to get them to douse the flames in the tree, because Olivia was sitting in the truck below it. Spray from the fire hose burst onto the truck, and Olivia panicked. She put the truck in reverse and hit the gas pedal with her big toe. nearly running over Shane's log splitter in her haste. Shane yelled, 'STOP!” He got into the truck and backed it safely around the log splitter.
Olivia choked up as she said, “To see your house go into flames... And you have to watch it. It was the most horrific thing I've ever seen. And until you go through that, you can't understand how that feels.”
Some of the things the family lost were irreplaceable photos, Shane's drum set, his basses and guitars, one of which had been a gift from his wife 18 years ago. “I played it nearly every weekend,” said Shane. They also lost all the cabinetry and furniture that Shane had built from maple and cherry over the last six years, and the music studio he had just completed, but Shane is dismissive, wanting to move forward rather than dwell on their losses: “I'll worry about that later. I'll rebuild the new house.”
Though other things, such as Shane's musical instruments, were not insured, fortunately the Services' insurance company came through on the insurance for the house. “Thank God for homeowners insurance,” said Olivia.
The house the Services lost was a four-bedroom, 2,700 square foot house built in 1900. Rather than bulldoze what remains of the house, they plan to let the fire department do a practice burn on it to assist in demolition. Shane has already arranged for someone to haul off the debris once it's burned.
Following that, the Services want to build a new, slightly larger four-bedroom house on the same property. They will have to hire contractors to draw up blueprints. “I have no idea where to begin,” said Shane.
“It's a lot of things that we don't know how to do yet, but we're going to try and figure it out,” said Olivia. “If the community wants to help, that would be awesome.”
Meanwhile, the family has been living in a two-room suite at Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. “They've been so accommodating,” said Shane. “They cut our rate in half. They're super nice. They know our situation. They've just been awesome.”
The Services will shortly move into a rental property on South Broadway in New Richland.
“It's going to be hard,” said Olivia. “I know in my heart I want to go back home, but that's not an option anymore.”
An old adage says that, when the going gets tough, you find out who your friends are. The Services have experienced that in many positive ways since the fire. They are truly grateful to the community of New Richland and of the Care Center, who have donated and helped in their time of need.
In addition to the local community, from Shane's place of work, the UPS drivers of Owatonna drove to New Richland to help clean up. “It was so intense going through all your personal stuff,” said Shane. “I [was] trying to be in every room at once, but I couldn't. But they came through and helped me tackle it in about five hours.”
“That's a big one,” said Olivia. “They really stepped up.”
There are still a number of items that Services need, including carpeting, TV stands, bed sheets, and other household items. Anyone wishing to donate to the Services' cause can make donations in the name of Olivia Service at the State Bank of New Richland.
The Services hope they will never again experience the destruction of their home. “I want every single room to have a fire detector,” said Olivia. “I don't want a fireplace in the new house. I don't want to ever see fire.”