Family gets new start with new home
<p>Alex of D & V Construction of Columbia Falls crouches as he guides the truck driver pulling a two story house under power lines as it pulls onto Wishart Road on Tuesday morning, March 29. The house is being moved to a new site on Sandy Hill Lane near Whitefish. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>The crew from D & V Construction makes last minute adjustments as they prepare to relocated a two story house over to Sandy Hill Lane near Whitefish on Tuesday morning, March 29. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Five months after their home was destroyed by fire, Alex Shestak and his family of 13 on Tuesday moved back into the neighborhood west of Columbia Falls, bringing an entire new house with them.
“We’re very happy,” Shestak said.
The new home is now located on the same property where the family’s house burned down last October. The family was at church when the fire began in the back of the house. When they returned heavy smoke had claimed everything inside.
Shestak said the family has been living temporarily in a mobile home since the fire.
A Flathead Electric Cooperative crew followed the home the entire way to its new property, lifting power cables as needed. Occasionally a power line had to be cut, but lines were quickly reconnected after the house passed through.
Shestak and four of his sons skillfully placed railroad ties at each ditch or low point in the road to avoid tipping the house off the 18-wheel trailer.
Shestak’s firm, D & V Construction, has a 25-year history of relocating houses. Five years ago, his crew used a barge to float one home across Flathead Lake.
In an effort to reclaim their lives and property, the family started a GoFundMe account online. The account, along with generous donations from churches around the area, raised enough to purchase the new home, he said.
Throughout the last five months, residents from the Flathead Valley and people from surrounding states poured in donations of winter clothes, furniture, mattresses and more.
Shestak said the next step will be moving their new belongings into the two-story home on Sandy Hill Lane. Their neighbors are happy to see them back in the neighborhood, he said.
Shestak thanked everyone who made donations to his family during their time between homes.