CLEVELAND, Okla. — A Cleveland, Oklahoma, family says they lost everything in the March 2025 wildfires and later discovered their mortgage lender had stopped paying their homeowners' insurance without telling them.
David Dekker and his wife, Cassandra, have lived outside of Cleveland for 17 years, surviving their fair share of close calls with fires. But March 14, 2025, was different.
"Until my granddaughter points out the door and says, I see flames. And the front yard was on fire," David Dekker said.
The family grabbed their belongings and fled as the flames closed in.
"You couldn't see the road. It was covered in flames, and then the wind broke for just a second, opened, and we managed to drive through," Dekker said.
The Dekkers watched their home, trucks, and belongings burn in real time.
"We literally watched it in real time burn until the camera burned," Dekker said.
When they were allowed back on the property, the full scope of the devastation became clear.
"We lost, I mean, everything, jewelry boxes, safes, two-gun safes full of guns. It's all gone, nothing but work barrels," Dekker said.
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The family alleges they had a homeowners' policy when they first obtained their mortgage. When they refinanced in 2020 through First Bank of Hominy, they say the bank agreed to keep the same insurer, American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, and handle premium payments through an escrow account. The Dekkers say they believed they were covered.
They say they did not learn otherwise until days after the fire.
"It wasn't until Saturday when we went to the bank and started inquiring about stuff and found out that we weren't covered," Dekker said.
"They said that our policy had been canceled due to nonpayment, and you had no idea," Dekker said.
The Dekkers say the bank placed a force-placed insurance policy after the original policy lapsed.
They say that type of coverage protects the loan balance but does not cover personal property or additional living expenses. They allege they were not informed of the policy change until after the fire.
"It's like, OK, do you have proof? Do you have copies of anything? And it's been radio silence," Dekker said.
The family has hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit in Pawnee County seeking records of their escrow funds from the bank.
2 News reached out to the First Bank of Hominy and American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, both of which declined to comment, stating they do not speak on pending litigation.
David built a garage before the fires and saved it. For the past year, the family has called it home, a space roughly half the size of the house they lost.
"It's been stressful, and then to go from, I mean, almost 2200 square feet down to 1200 square feet is a chore on myself," Dekker said.
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Through it all, the Dekkers say they have leaned on each other.
"My favorite thing to tell him is it's a good thing we love each other, and we're as close as we are because we would have already killed each other," Cassandra Dekker said.
The family plans to rebuild just feet from where their home once stood and clear the rubble that has served as a daily reminder of what they lost, something Cassandra says she is ready for.
"I'll be glad to see that gone. I can only imagine a constant reminder," Cassandra Dekker said.
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