My girlfriend Hailey and I have been living in our new apartment together for less than four months. Putting our new home together with our pets, photos of our families, and all of our belongings. We haven’t even gotten renters insurance yet. We both work at Paradise Intermediate with special needs children. The day of the fire we were at work when the smoke started rolling in, we eventually got the news to evacuate the students and relocate them to the gym to be evacuated on busses and picked up by parents. Hailey and I eventually got the news that our section was being evacuated so we left to get what we can from our apartment. There was already fire around our neighborhood once we arrived. We grabbed our pets and their food, some family photos, some clothes, and whatever else we could fit. We didn’t want to be separated in the chaos so we only took one car leaving the other behind. We left everything else behind hoping things would be alright, praying the best for our home and others. We evacuated to Livermore CA to stay with family. Two days ago we got visual confirmation our apartment complex was destroyed. We are grateful for still having eachother, our health, and our pets. Because we didn’t buy renters insurance yet, we aren’t getting money back to start over from the things we lost. Lucky with family and supportive friends, their has been donations of clothes and even some donations to buy food and anything else that others spare. I am reaching out to ask for anyone who could, anything from kind words to the smallest donation, anything you could offer is immensely appreciated. 

Thank you for your time reading this, I hope the best for everyone else experiencing this horrible tragedy.

- Shane & Hailey