Californians who fled fire reflect after losing everything
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — They had run for their lives by the thousands when the devastating wildfires raced across a huge swath of brush-covered Southern California hillsides, and they had survived.
But hundreds had to flee so quickly they left literally everything behind.
On Wednesday, heartbroken people began to take stock of everything they lost in a manner of minutes, from their beloved four-legged companions who got separated from them during the chaos to a lifetime of memories encapsulated in photos, jewelry and other keepsakes.
"Everything burned," Marolyn Romero-Sim said as she sat on a cot weeping at an evacuation center at the sprawling Ventura County Fairgrounds. "Everything is ashes. Everything. We don't have a place to live.