Minnesota newlyweds lose everything in houseboat fire while getting married in Mexico

By ALLEN HENRY

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     INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minnesota (WCCO) — For the last five years, Craig Lade says he’s enjoyed living on his houseboat “River Belle” in Inver Grove Heights.

“It’s like going to your cabin every night after work instead of going home. I mean, it’s tiny home living…but relaxing living.” Lade said. “Take it out every summer, we go down river and just spend weekends out on an island someplace just getting away and…just a relaxing life.”

Lade docked the boat last week and flew to Mexico for a destination wedding with his now-wife, Mi.

Tuesday was the final night of their trip. It’s also when they received a life-changing message.

“We were just sitting down to have dinner and we got a text from one of our neighbors that they had heard an explosion and they went out and our boat was in flames,” Lade said. “Both her and I were, I think, just kind of in shock and awe about it. The rest of the night was long and quiet”

According to the Inver Grove Heights Fire Department, they received a call just before 7 p.m. Tuesday evening about a boat on fire in the marina. When they arrived, River Belle was engulfed in flames which had spread to a second boat.

IGHFD says it took two hours for the fires to be extinguished with one firefighter falling into the Mississippi River during the fight. He was pulled out uninjured.

Lade says nothing could have prepared them for what they found when they returned.

“You sit there and everything you own is gone. You know, your life is gone. Everything. You have no place to call home anymore and you don’t crawl into your own bed at night anymore,” Lade said. “It’s so much to try to grasp all at once and it’s just taking little steps at a time.”

The Inver Grover Heights Fire Marshall is investigating the cause of the fire, something Lade says he’s trying not to dwell on since it may never be known.

“It’s a miracle we were gone. I mean our friends that were with us are like ‘Who’d ever think your wedding saved your life?'” he said. “It could’ve been something we would have noticed before it went up in flames but we won’t know. All we know is we’re still alive. We could have been in bed and didn’t even know it til it was too late. So we count our blessings.”

Community members have been rallying to help the Lade’s through the tough time. A GoFundMe for the couple raised $6,000 in just two days, helping them not just financially Lade says, but emotionally and spiritually.

“The support that we’re getting from our community at castaways and all of our friends has just been incredible. I mean, you find out you got friends you didn’t know you had. You know?” Lade said, growing emotional.

Just don’t expect to see any of the funds going toward a new houseboat.

“We loved it but…I don’t know that I could be on one again you know, after seeing this,” Lade said, gesturing toward the burnt-up remains of the River Belle.

Another one of those blessings he’s focused on is, of course, his new bride. He just didn’t expect the ‘for richer or poorer’ vow to be tested so soon.

“If we can survive this, it’s probably not much that could happen in our relationship from here on out that could be this bad. So it’s a true test of our love,” he said.

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