Rebuild Jill Vig's Home and Life After Fire

I am Jill Vig and my house, along with my entire neighborhood, burned to the ground in the January 6 Altadena fire.

We evacuated at 4:00 in the morning on January 7. A friend had come to my house earlier in the evening when she was evacuated from an area close to the fire. We kept watching but the fire seemed to be going far north of me, in the canyon, and while the winds were howling and smoke was thick, we felt we were safe. All of my neighbors felt the same. I had talked to my friend next door and he said unless the fire marshals came knocking on the door, they weren't leaving. In the end, no one came to the door. They couldn't possibly have had enough people to do that, with fires raging everywhere.

My friend and I each decided to get some rest, but woke about 3:30 with the house full of smoke. Then we saw an ember go by. She said we needed to get out there and get hoses to put out flying embers. We opened the door and could hardly walk out. The winds were clocked in that part of Altadena at 90-100 mph and the smoke was so thick we could barely see. Even so, we ran to the hose and turned it on but then a whole cluster of embers came by and we started hearing explosions as gas tanks or power lines exploded. She yelled that we needed to get out of there. We had to scream to hear each other and could barely see with all the debris as well as smoke in the air. Tree limbs were falling and more explosions happening.

She had parked her car behind mine and she shouted that we should just take her car. In danger, and terrified, that made sense. We started down Altadena Drive intending to turn south towards Pasadena on Santa Anita, a street three houses away, but we missed it. We then planned to turn down Christmas Tree Lane, but missed it too. We could not even see the front of her car, the smoke was so thick. We finally came to Lake, the main street in Altadena, and headed to Pasadena. As we were driving, a neighbor called to warn me to evacuate and said they were on a street west of us and everything one block south of Altadena Drive was on fire.

We ended up at an all-night Denny's and waited for it to get light. At 7:00 we tried to drive up but could not get close. At 1:00 in the afternoon a neighbor called to say they had gone up, dodging the blockades, and she said that at first she didn't think they were on the right street. She couldn't recognize it because every single house, as far as she could see, was burned to the ground. Not even the trees escaped. She said it looked as though it had been bombed.

So I ended up with what I was wearing--jeans, a tee shirt, sweater, a jacket and my purse--when we ran for our lives.

My deepest regret is that I didn't take a few minutes to load some of the things most precious to me--photos, art, keepsakes--the memories of a lifetime, into the car and drive out. But as another neighbor has said, I was lucky to get out.

People are always reminding me that "it's just stuff." For most of it, that's true, But too much of it was what formed the fabric of my life, and made my house a home that I loved. That can never be replaced.

However, God is good and I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of friends, one of whom has loaned me a car, another her computer, and best of all, a friend has made his workshop in a house available for me to stay in.

Many of you have also asked what you can send, or what gift cards might be useful. And one friend insisted I set up a gofundme because he wants the tax deduction!

So here it is, and the funds will be used to start rebuilding from scratch. But let me add, just your support, love and prayers are enough. Please keep praying for me as I go through the nightmare of trying to recover from this horror story.

Thank you all.