Two weeks in the past, Brittanie Bibby, husband Kenneth and their 15-month-old child moved from Arizona to Camarillo to reside within the house she inherited from her father, maxing out their bank cards to show the dilapidated property right into a protected place to reside.
On Wednesday, that protected place burned to the bottom, leaving the household with no house, no financial savings and no clue what comes subsequent.
The following day, the shellshocked mother and father struggled to return to grips with the monetary toll of the incident and the catastrophic sentimental loss.
“We lost everything,” mentioned Brittanie. “All of our family memories, all of our possessions, Social Security cards, death certificates, birth certificates, my husband’s father’s ashes, my father’s ashes and my mother’s ashes.”
Brittanie Bibby holds her child, Ken. Brittanie and her husband misplaced their Camarillo home to the Mountain hearth two weeks after transferring in.
(Brittanie Bibby)
Their property was among the many 132 buildings destroyed by the fast-moving Mountain hearth, which ignited Wednesday morning and scorched greater than 20,000 acres within the mountains of Ventura County by Thursday night.
The household began to gather donations on GoFundMe on Thursday and was in a position to get diapers and contemporary garments for child Ken. Brittanie deliberate to sleep within the evacuation shelter Thursday evening and take a contemporary stab at her mountain of duties Friday morning.
“Being a mom, I don’t really have a choice to panic or to not think through the steps, because I have a tiny human that is 100% dependent on me,” she mentioned. “So while I feel a whole bunch of things, I have to try to keep a clear mind so that I’m giving him the best care.”
On the prime of her precedence checklist is looking for a pediatrician; Ken suffers from bronchial asthma and his well being is put in danger by the thick wildfire smoke.
“We have been doing everything in our power to keep him in filtered air and clean air so he doesn’t get triggered by the ash,” she mentioned, “because all of his medication and inhaler burned up.”
When Brittanie acquired the evacuation alert round 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, she ran to the nursery to attempt to pack up the child’s necessities, reminiscent of clothes and medication. However, glancing out a window, she was met with a terrifying sight — large flames leaping from buildings only one road away because the wind swept smoke up the hill and towards her home.
There was no time to pack; the precedence now was getting everybody out alive.
The Mountain hearth destroyed properties on each side of Outdated Coach Drive in Camarillo.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
She grabbed her child and helped her mother-in regulation, Denise Bibby, her grandmother-in-law, Huguette Doucette, and her two aged canine get out of the home.
As she sped away, flames from burning brush leaped up and lapped over the automobile. A darkish thought went by means of her head — “I’m not going to survive.”
The Bibbys made it safely to a good friend’s home. About three hours later, Brittanie felt herself going into shock.
“I went from being somewhat comfortable to absolutely freezing,” she mentioned. “Even though the house was like 75 degrees, my fingers turned blue and I had to be covered in blankets and sweaters.”
Child Ken has additionally been affected and is having difficulties sleeping in his complicated new environment.
“We’re very sleep-deprived, because he spends a lot of the night crying,” she mentioned.
His mother and father are additionally on edge as they face an unsure future.
They’re nonetheless awaiting info from their belief lawyer on whether or not the house was insured and are researching reduction grants they could be eligible for.
On Sunday, Kenneth is planning on returning to work as a crew member at Dealer Joe’s. On Monday, Brittanie is scheduled to begin a full-time customer support job at Walmart.
After feeling so blissful to lastly be settled into their new house, it’s exhausting for the couple to regulate to this post-fire actuality.
“It’s a big system shock, almost like you’re in a bad dream,” mentioned Brittanie. “You just want to wake up.”
