Gold Hill family homeless after tree slices trailer in half

Jan. 7—A local family is homeless but thankful to have escaped uninjured after a massive pine tree crashed down on their single-wide trailer during a recent windstorm, nearly slicing it in two and rendering it uninhabitable just two days after Christmas.

Having lived in the Gold Hill Mobile Home Park across from Dardanelles Market in Gold Hill for just over two years, Casey Shafer and Carrie Arnott were used to limbs and other debris falling from trees on the park property and from the grounds of the Laurel Hills Golf Course next door.

Following a busy holiday with extended family, the couple's two children, ages 4 and 5, were put to bed in their tiny bedroom but woke up later and ended up in the living room with their parents.

Not long after, the room where the children slept was obliterated when a large pine tree sliced through the trailer.

Arnott said the couple awoke to the sound of debris outside and winds that seemed to be "tearing the roof off of our home." Shafer said the couple went outside to check on neighbors just minutes before the worst of the damage occurred.

"It was about 5 o'clock in the morning. Me and my fiancée woke up because we heard stuff hitting our trailer, and then we heard a big crashing sound, which I assumed was another tree falling. It shook our house, and the whole park was awake at that point. Car alarms were going off; it was like a scene out of a horror movie. All our neighbors were outside to see what was going on," Shafer said.

"Our neighbor had got hit first. A big branch fell on their place, so we went out and were checking on them, and then we went back to check on our trailer."

They had just walked back to their own lot, after promising to help neighbors with cleanup, when they decided to check on a small tarp put in place to keep water out of a leaky section of roof over their children's bedroom.

"As soon as we walked back there, we heard a loud snap, crackle, pop sound. When it happened, it was pitch-black out here. We didn't know which way it was coming down," said Arnott.

Shafer added, "There was debris hitting our backs while we were running. It was absolutely terrifying. And our first thought was that our kids were still inside the house."

Shafer said water from the home's shattered plumbing rained down in the children's bedroom and the decimated bathroom, which now had a hole in the floor after the tree sliced clear through.

Hearing the couple's cat trapped on the damaged end of the home, Shafer tore the bathroom door off and waded through water to get to the animal before the family evacuated.

Down the small tree-shaded lane, at least three other neighbors incurred damage from falling trees or branches. Another family, a single mother with a 4-year-old daughter, was displaced.

Neighbor John King, who has lived in the park for a half-dozen years, had a tree from inside the mobile home park fall on his home and damage the roof. By Wednesday, a series of tarps covered almost the entire roof of his home. In King's case, the tree that fell on his rented home was located inside the mobile home park's property.

Last spring, King said, a tree from the nearby golf course fell on his red Grand Am in his driveway, shattering the window and leaving a series of dents.

"It's been pretty scary to never know what's gonna come down on your head," King said. "Every time the wind blows, stuff falls out of the trees."

Gesturing toward Shafer and Arnott, King added, "These guys came real close to getting hurt."

Shafer said the family is currently staying with Arnott's mother and trying to figure out what's next. The couple paid $650 a month for lot 33 at the park, and they had been offered a small private loan from owners of the park to purchase the 1970s single-wide for just over $18,000 in June 2020.

Shafer said the family was determining whether they would be liable for removing the destroyed home or finishing repayment of the loan but were informed Friday the park would work to find a solution to help the family move forward without debt for the destroyed home.

"It's basically uninhabitable. We put a few of the panels that got ripped off back in place to keep the weather out, but I don't know why. It ruined the plumbing and electrical. When the tree came down, it was raining water from the broken pipes. It destroyed the electrical. The electrician told us we can't live there anymore. He cut the power off," Shafer said Wednesday.

Shafer said the home "hadn't been much," but it was something they could own.

"It was a private loan through the park. Pretty much like a mortgage, but through a private lender," he said.

"When we moved into the place, we were basically going to be homeless, so we didn't have much choice of being picky, but we had been living in it for a few years, and we were trying to fix it up, trying to remodel it."

Brock Kaveny, president of Cascade Community Management, which owns the park, said it's not uncommon for inhabitants of mobile home parks to be uninsured, though park rental agreements do require it. Kaveny said his company had spent "quite a bit of money" fixing up the property and trimming trees.

"We've had lots of tree guys come in there and address anything that would be considered dangerous but, unfortunately, when you have big trees and you have high winds, big branches fall and things happen. We operate in a lot of different areas, and there are always trees around, and we always encourage families to have property insurance," he said.

Kaveny, whose company owns a slew of parks and housing developments on the West Coast, said if the family had purchased insurance, their home could have been replaced.

"It's one of the most prevalent things in the homes we operate. A lot of people have homes that don't have insurance because they own them or whatnot. If there was a law that would allow us to require them to have it, we'd be able to enforce it," he said.

"Rental agreements do require it, so to speak, but there's no teeth behind it."

Shafer said extended family had set up a GoFundMe to help the family figure out their next step and help them find a new place to live. They said they were thankful their two little ones were safely chattering away inside their warm car nearby.

"That big window next to where it sliced through the house, that was our kids' bedroom," said the dad.

"It's scary to think of what could have happened. A house can be replaced, but I'm relieved our family is OK."

"It was like something out of a horror movie. There are several trees that are still in really bad shape, and who knows when they'll come down," Arnott said.

"I'm just really afraid for our neighbors."

To see the family's GoFundMe campaign, go to, https://tinyurl.com/yvejzeu8

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or bpollock@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.