Koltin Heuser, 21, started a new life in Juneau last fall; he’s starting over after losing his trailer home in a fire
- Mark Sabbatini
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Kansas native came to Alaska for a volunteer project, decided to stay and was working on opening a mobile car-detailing business until fire at Auke Bay RV Park on Friday night
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Koltin Heuser, 21, came from Kansas to Juneau last October to do some volunteer work and, in a not-very-unique twist, liked the area so much he decided to stay. He took steps toward launching a mobile car-detailing business and, thanks to some friends, bought a trailer as his first home for about $3,500 at Auke Bay RV Park.
His aspirations got a jolting shock last Friday night when the trailer and virtually all of his belongings were destroyed in a fire whose cause remains unknown to him. The fire occurred at about 11:20 p.m. while he was asleep.
"I wake up, I see smoke in my bedroom, I grab my phone right away because it's right there and then I go take a look," he said in an interview Wednesday night at Forbidden Peak Brewery, located a few hundred yards from where his home was. "And all my cardboard right by my couch that I burn was just on fire. Even if I could think of where my fire extinguisher was it was too big for me to put out, and so I just kind of cut my losses and ran out right away. The door was right there and I called 911 immediately, and five minutes later they got there, but five minutes later the fire was in the bedroom and the entire place was burning."
Heuser said his passport, birth certificate and a few other critical personal documents in a fire-safe lockbox were saved, but the fire destroyed everything else.
"My laptop that I was using to work on my business, I can't even find where it is," he said. "There’s just ashes where my desk used to be."
Among the other personal items he lost was his recipe book from his parents’ restaurant in Kansas City he worked in while growing up, and a collection of vintage soccer scarves and jerseys from the World Cup.
A report on the cause of the fire was not completed as of Thursday afternoon, but "it was accidental and electrical in nature," according to Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Sam Russell.
Heuser said he’s been staying with friends since the fire and is planning to return to his family’s home in Kansas on Saturday while he figures out his next steps.
"It'll probably be a few months of slow recovery, getting back into a state where I'm able to fully function as my own person living alone," he said. "But, yeah, it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of preparation, but I know how to prepare better this time so hopefully it won't take as long to get on my feet here and hopefully I can get back here in less than six months. That's kind of my goal."
His family has set up a GoFundMe to assist with recovery expenses, which as of Thursday morning had raised $2,185 from 25 donors.
Heuser said he’s long been interested in Alaska, so he signed on for a volunteer project last fall when the opportunity arose. He had saved enough money from working over several years that he decided to stay, continuing to volunteer for a few months before deciding to launch his own car detailing business.
"I was going to have a fully self-sustainable service out of my Subaru Forester," he said, adding he was trying to keep the initial costs low by not getting a custom vehicle or fixed location. "I was going to have my own water supply, my own power supply, all my own equipment…My whole aim was to be a very eco-friendly, self-sustaining and biodegradable business."
A website for the business he named Golden Glove Auto Detailing — a tie-in to his fondness of soccer — lists a planned opening date of August.
However, after talking to his family the day after the fire, Heuser said he decided to put those plans on hold while he returns home for a while. He said he plans to both save up some more funds and make more specific plans for what he hopes will be a return to Juneau in the foreseeable future.
"There's a really supportive community here," he said. "There's, there's a lot of good people that come here for their own reasons, whatever reason that is. There's good people in Alaska, in Juneau especially — it's just beautiful. The scenery and the way of life here is just so calming and stress-free compared to other things. It's a place to be happy."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
