KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – An online fundraiser has been started to help a family whose home burned last Wednesday morning.
The fundraiser can be found at http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/help-my-sisters-family-get-in-another-home-after-fire-/242492 .
Nikki Wilbur launched the effort to raise $3,000 in order help her sister, Amber Alves, who along with husband, Lucas, 2-year-old daughter, Julianne, mother-in-law Gloria Alves and Gloria's boyfriend, Alex Ramirez, were displaced when their home at 8925 Soda Bay Road was destroyed last week.
“It just happened so fast,” Amber Alves said.
Amber and Lucas Alves have been living at the address for about three years, she said.
On the morning of Oct. 1, Amber Alves – who works as a dispatcher for Gossett Alarm in Lakeport – got off work and arrived at around 12:40 a.m. to the modular home, which was located at the Bayview Terrace mobile home park.
Everyone was settled in for the night. Then, she said, “We heard something crackling outside.”
She looked out to see the modular was on fire. Everyone was awakened, they grabbed the baby and got out as quickly as they could.
Firefighters were dispatched to the incident just before 1 a.m., according to radio reports. Fire officials reported that, by the time firefighters arrived, the home was fully involved.
“We don't know what caused it,” Alves said.
She credited firefighters with doing a great job of keeping the fire from spreading into the wildland on Mt. Konocti or from damaging neighboring homes.
Alves went back into the house to find a cat, which at that point she couldn't find, and managed to get out uninjured.
While some possessions were rescued, many sentimental and valuable personal items were lost, including all of their pictures of Julianne, also known as “Zabo.”
Their missing orange cat would turn up a few days later, coated with black from the fire, Alves said.
Overall, she said her family was “super lucky” to have gotten out safely.
Now, they're trying to find a new place to live.
Red Cross offered them temporary housing, but Alves said they didn't want to take it because they felt others might need it more. Instead, they are staying with her sister-in-law, but quarters are cramped, as nine people are now sharing that two-bedroom home.
“We just want to get into a new place,” Alves said.
Red Cross gave them enough money to each buy a few outfits, and they have received clothing donations and items for the baby.
“We have to replace everything,” Alves said.
Gossett Alarm, Alves said, “has been great to us, too,” and is helping them out.
For those wanting to make donations of clothes and other items, Alves can be contacted through the fundraiser Web page or at 707-245-1448.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.