Over a dozen families still searching for housing help after North Highlands apartment fire
NORTH HIGHLANDS - Around 40 people in North Highlands are still searching for a roof over their heads this Thanksgiving after losing everything in an apartment complex fire.
A fire that injured three on November 19 on A Street displaced 20 households, including children and babies.
"I had to drag my son, we were all asleep," said single mother Katelyn Clark who escaped the flames with her three-year-old son, Jackson. "I had to drag him out and go to the balcony and we both jumped down."
She was desperate to reach safety, but now it's been difficult to find housing.
"Chaotic. It has been very chaotic," Clark said.
Clark is grateful she has family she has been staying with, but most neighbors are not as fortunate.
"We have families that were sleeping in cars, bouncing from house to house, that had nothing except the clothes on their back," Clark said.
The walls of the complex being burnt to a crisp is what some would call a nightmare, but Jade Nicole who was also displaced by the flames, calls it an opportunity.
"I see it as a rebirth, a new beginning," Nicole said.
Nicole is now channeling her own loss to help others.
She is working alongside Steffen Gilbert, vice president of Good Life Construction, a faith-based group collecting clothes, furniture and dollars to give to the 20 households who lost everything to the flames in a flash.
Nicole said only two of these 20 households have been placed in apartments.
The Red Cross and Salvation Army initially stepped into help, but now many of the hotel vouchers are running out leaving some families with no choice but to sleep in their cars or on the streets.
"This is part of my therapy," Nicole said.
Nicole told CBS13 she had been in the spot before.
"I was widowed during the pandemic," she said. "I was homeless for two years."
She had just had cancer surgery the night before the fire, but she is an overcomer and can't stand to see her community getting caught up in what she calls a broken system.
"We want people to love each other," Gilbert said.
Gilbert's group secured an apartment for Clark and her son to move into by the end of the year.
For now, Jackson is spending time with his cousin, playing with cars, and he is not fully comprehending the complexity of what he just survived.
"And I am thankful for that because if he did, if he was a little bit older, then this would definitely be with him forever," Clark said.
The trauma from the fire may stick with Clark, but so will the kindness of strangers who are stepping in to help.
"To see how the community has responded, it's given me faith," said Nicole.
Good Life Construction on Madison Avenue in North Highlands has two large bins out in front that are emptied every hour. The group is looking for clothing, shoes, furniture and anything else that can help.
It also started a GoFundMe page to raise $100,000 to give directly to the families impacted by the fire.
