For Sylmar fire victim, it's third home to be lost

Danny Rios is a native Angeleno who, until late Saturday night, loved his hometown unconditionally.

That was before Rios, 73, and his wife Mary, 71, raced away from their well-tended home at the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar even as a wildfire tore through the 608-unit complex.

By Sunday morning, the couple had gathered with dozens of other Oakridge residents who were outside the park's charred gates, hoping to be allowed back to their homes, or what was left.

Officials said Sunday that 124 only homes remained standing. The Rios' home - -with its Camellia' plants and Sago palms and lime trees -- was not among them.

Coughing from the smoke despite their white masks, the Rios tried to explain it was the people, as much as place, that made Oakridge special.

"Today we saw our next-door neighbor, it was so sad," said Mary Rios, softly crying. "We're going to be disconnected from everyone. It's hard."

Losing their home of 14 years was difficult too, but not unprecedented.

"I've owned three homes in Los Angeles," Rios said, leaning in and ticking each off the fingers of his right hand. "I lost the first one in the '71 earthquake. I lost the second one in the Northridge quake in 1994."

He paused, pointing up the charred hillside, "I lost the third one right here."

With a wry smile Rios added, "Looks like it's time to get outta Dodge."

The fire helped the couple finally make their decision to move to the midwest.

And, if their house is struck by a tornado?

"We'll run to the basement," Rios said.

--Julie Cart

Comments

[Ad Rhinehart]

This is reminescent of the Katrina Huricane. Where is the help for all these displaced people? An immediate response from the national, state, and local agencies should have been made available immediately. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I didn't see assistance from other states or communities donating time and money for the cause. Where was President Bush? What do these thousands of homeless people do meanwhile? Wait for Monday for the 9 to 4 offices to open and then take numbers? It is disgraceful because there is no excuse whatsoever for humans to have to endure negligence from our government. This is gross negligence and malfeasance. A concerned citizen, Mrs. Rhinehart

[LilyC]

With all due respect, Mrs. Rhinehart, but how do you know they are not receiving the help they need? There were fire departments from all over CA fighting these fires. Acreage-wise these were much smaller than the fires from last year. To that point, this happens every year (not to diminish the significance and heartbreak of people losing their homes). As a CA resident, I don't expect an "I'm sorry" from the president every time the brush catches fire.

Fires are covered under normal home insurance policies unlike floods. Therefore, there is little need for loans from FEMA, though I'm sure they are available. And while there are thousands of people out of their homes, I am not hearing that there is not enough shelter space to accommodate everyone.

While this is tragic for all those affected, I think we are doing pretty well taking care of our own.

[Dan]

I, too, am a displaced victim of this fire from Oakridge. We've been getting amazingly great help from the fire departments, the police, the red cross, etc. etc. Yes, we'd like more. Yes, it is frustrating not being able to go see what's left of our things. Yes, we're confused, faced with decisions we haven't even been able to imagine or think straight about yet, and uncertain about our futures. Yes, we're afraid, as are our families and friends--who, by the way, have risen to the occasion with care and concern beyond anything we could hope for.

But we don't blame the President or the Congress or the Mayor or the Governor or God or our neighbors or the media (maybe them a little for putting such astoundingly WRONG information on the air in the past few days--smile) or anyone. S**T happens! It isn't good. We survive. Thank GOD we survive and will move on and rebuild our lives. STuff may be gone, but stuff, however precious and meaningful to us, is just that---STUFF!

Please get some perspective, those of you who haven't had this experience. Grab your spouses, kids, and friends and hold them close! LOVE more, COMPLAIN less! WORK more, WHINE less! DO more, EXPECT less. ASK more, DEMAND less! All of your politics, indignation, and self-righteous b.s. is for NOTHING when the fire burns and the wind blows and the world unleashes its fury and you find out just how small, how fragile, and how insignificant all of our "stuff" and our "civilization" and our attitude really can be.

God bless the firefighters, the cops, the doctors and nurses and care-givers and volunteers and helpers. And as for the whiners and complainers? I pray for your enlightenment WITHOUT going through what we've been through in the past couple of days. May you learn the lessons we HAD to learn to survive with less pain and loss than we've had. Work on YOURSELVES, don't whine in the abstract on OUR behalves. It doesn't help us, and it only demeans you.

And give a firefighter a smile and a "Thank You" folks--not just when things burn, but in between when nobody's thinking of them. THey are the HEROES that Spiderman and Batman can only pretend to be in movies. Be KINDER to your neighbors and to strangers. Pause before you complain. Get some PERSPECTIVE!!!! Please? Thanks!

Now excuse me for ignoring more whines and posturing and politics for a while....I have a wonderful wife to love and parents to treasure and life to rebuild and live!