Mountain Fire destroys Hummingbird Music Conservatory in Camarillo

Robin Wallace has so many memories of her parents teaching art and music classes inside their hilltop home for decades. 

"It was art and music always," Wallace said. 

It was a haven with views of Camarillo that included a darkroom, sound booth, printing studio, drawing studio and small farm. 

"The students would go from the ceramic studio down here to sketch the chickens," she said. 

They called the scenic sanctuary the Hummingbird Music Conservatory since it often filled with the sweet sounds of students singing. 

"The idea that you could have world-class art and world-class art instruction in a place 60 miles outside of any metropolis," Wallace said. 

However, it was all wiped away on Wednesday in less than an hour when the Mountain Fire came roaring over Highway 118 and burned it down, reducing years of art and music to ash. Wallace said what was once an oasis turned into a hellscape.

Her brother Brian, a music producer named DubRobot, record the chaotic moments as they packed to leave their home. 

"We realize we were in danger, at like 9:45 a.m. and then we were all gone by 10:15 a.m.," Wallace said. 

Wallace's brother left a lot behind, including what he called his "art car," which was a performance art piece. 

Luckily, the fire spared two of the fish from their koi pond. However, there wasn't much else that survived. 

"The structure itself shaped our ideas," she said. "We felt like we were living in a living work of art."

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The Wallace family has created a GoFundMe to rebuild the Hummingbird Music Conservatory. It is called "Help Dubrobot and Miss Tara rise from the ashes."