Homeowners return to burned homes after devastating Mountain Fire
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CAMARILLO, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Camarillo homeowners have started to return to their scorched neighborhoods after the devastating Mountain Fire ripped through the area earlier this week.
While some homes remain standing, many others have been reduced to rubble, with random pieces of furniture and appliances left behind.
The fire, which has so far engulfed more than 20,000 acres and destroyed over 100 homes, broke out on Wednesday and quickly grew with the help of strong winds blowing through the area.
It began in Moorpark before jumping SR-118 and entering neighborhoods in the foothills of Camarillo, where Jamie Randall and her husband Tyler Farnworth returned earlier this week to find that their home was gone.
“I feel like the shock if wearing off a little bit,” Randall said. “It’s hard to see this. It’s harder today for me then it was even a few days ago to wrap my head around the gravity of what has happened to our home.”
The couple lived at the home with their children and were among the more than 10,000 residents forced to gather what they could and flee at a moment’s notice as the fire ripped through the neighborhood.
Randall said that she packed two suitcases and grabbed some important documents, anticipating that they would be able to return home after the blaze was handled by firefighters.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams this would be the last time I would be standing at my house,” she said.
They say that the fire hollowed out their home, reducing everything inside to ash.
“There’s a few things that we wish we would have grabbed. Some things from my parents that are no longer with us,” said Farnworth. “Silly little things, you know.”
They say that it was more than just their home, but a community for the family, who owns a dance studio named Bobbie’s School of Performing Arts.
After news was spread about their home, they say that they were contacted by an overwhelming amount of friends and families showing them love and support.
“It spread so wide, the amount of love they’ve shown us and they continue to show us,” the family said.
While they’re still unsure what their next steps may be, they’re taking one sign from the rubble as a bit of positivity — a smiling Buddha statue that survived the flames.
“This is our home. This is our home, this is our street, these are our neighbors,” Farnworth said. “Everyone, I feel like, feels the same way.”
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