Family Was 8 Days Away From Selling Home Until Creek Fire Destroyed Everything
SHADOW HILLS (CBSLA) -- A family was eight days away from selling their Shadow Hills home until the wildfires completely destroyed it
CBS2's Kristine Lazar showed photos of the lovely home before and after the Creek Fire burned to the ground.
The home, on McBroom Street, had been in the family for 30 years.
The only thing left standing -- the brick chimney. Everything else is gone.
Lazar spoke to the son of the original owner and the son's wife. They said the son's father died last December and they were glad he didn't live to see his home burn down.
It was the home the man raised his children and now it's reduced to rubble and ash.
After rummaging through the rubble, the family was only able to save some ceramic pots that the son had made as a hobby years ago and a couple of ceramic bunnies.
When they left the home to evacuate, they said fire was already engulfing all the trees surrounding the property.
They told Lazar they noticed the fire around 11:30 a.m. and then watched it as it hopped the 210 Freeway.
Lazar showed pictures of the home, before the fire, listed in the MLS. She explained that any home being destroyed is sad, but when you get to see what it looked like before, somehow that makes it even sadder.
"It takes your breath away," Lazar reported. "It's hard to see. It's hard for me to see and I have no emotional attachment to the home."
The sister of the man who owned the home, recalled sitting on the porch since she was 5 smelling the orange trees while sitting with boyfriends.
Lazar spoke to the woman who was living in the home, the daughter-in-law of the man who had owned it.
She appeared to be in shock and was not emotional.
"I don't know," said Judy Hofmann Sanders, "We'll get through it. It was a very quaint, cozy neighborhood. The house was just wonderful. I don't know what's going to happen."
And then she paused.
"I have to sit down."
