Fire victim, family, uplifted by community support

TERRA BELLA — The Carlos Gonzalez Sr. family, devastated by a house fire that last month gutted their home, has risen from the ashes on the wings of hope and community support.

The family’s kitchen stove exploded on Oct. 22, causing a fire that destroyed the family home that was located on Avenue 90, and left Rosa Hernandez Gonzalez with first- and second-degree burns on her arms an legs.

The mother of three children was driven by ambulance to Carl Smith Middle School where there was sufficient room for a helicopter to land.

Rosa, 37, was quickly airlifted from there to Fresno Community Medical Center — frightened and wondering if she would live and what would become of her family.

Her husband was in disbelief; daughter Lorena, 10, was scared; sons Ricky, 14, and Carlos Jr. were in shock. Everything the family owned, except what was on their backs, was destroyed.

Worse than material losses was the prospect of the loss of the family matriarch. The family, according to Carl Smith Middle School Principal Lupe Roman, was inconsolable.

Now, three weeks later, Rosa is home, in the family’s new rented dwelling, nursing her bandaged arms and legs, all which received the initial brunt of the fire.

Each family member now has clothes to wear and food to eat and a stipend from which to live as they work together to make things better.

And they are all smiling.

That, said Carlos Sr., 38, is because of the outpouring of love and support from a community, from people who did not know them, but cared enough to help.

“I can’t say enough. I don’t know how to express the feelings of sad and happy at the same time,” Carlos Sr. said, the tremor of his voice a give-away for the emotions surging through his body. “The people, the community, really cares about us, and we are so grateful to everybody. If this happens to another family, and we hope it doesn’t because it’s sad, but if it does, we will do all we can to help.”

He glanced at his wife. Rosa set in a chair with her bandaged legs raised on another chair. Her bandaged arms resting on the rests provided by the rocking chair. Her right arm was the most severely burned.

Spots of blood seeped through the sterile white bandages. Her round face alternated between smiling and grimacing when the pains came. Their son Ricky translated her thoughts and feelings from her native tongue, Spanish, to English for The Recorder.

She was making tacos that day, cooking carne for the tacos when the four-year-old stove exploded.

“I didn’t know I was on fire at first,” she said through Ricky. “My clothes caught on fire, but I didn’t feel it right away. When I felt it, I looked down and started to run. I ran past the dryer and saw the phone. I grabbed the phone and ran. I thought my whole body burned because my whole body ached.”

Within two days, surgery was done on her burns. She will heal, doctors told her, but will always have scars to remind her of the day her stove exploded.

On that day:

“I was in shock,” Carlos Jr. said. “I thought she was dead.”

“I was in shock,” Ricky said. “I was in school and I started to cry when I heard my house was on fire and my mom was inside.”

“I was scared,” Lorena said. “I felt sad.”

“I saw them with my wife in the ambulance when they were putting her in the helicopter,” Carlos Sr. said. “I couldn’t see her. I was afraid. I said, ‘Man, oh man.’”

Coming through, being there — whatever adage comes to mind — the words apply to those who were able to respond to the needs of the Gonzalez family.

Donation items were brought to The Recorder and cash and checks were taken to Love INC to be processed there.

Love INC’s Elva Beltran praised the community for its response in a family’s time of need.

They have new beds, coffee table with matching end tables, kitchen utensils, bedding, dishes and money to help pay the rent.

“We’ve had very generous donations from a few families, [including] two donations of $1,000 each,” Beltran said. “Carl Smith Middle School had a Halloween dance and raised $500 from that, and another $340 from a yard sale. People continue to be generous. Even as late as today [Thursday], I went to get the mail and there was a $50 check designated to the Gonzalez family.

“They, I think, are doing very well with the donations to help them get back on their feet. I know close $3,000 has come in just for them. Lupe Roman comes and picks up the donations and takes them to the family.”

Roman continues to be a facilitator for the family, in addition to his duties at school. He saw the family from beginning, when the fire first broke out. One of the sons, Ricky, attends Carl Smith Middle School.

It gives him great joy, Roman said, to live in an area where people who don’t know you will step up when there is a genuine need, especially with the economy being such as it is.

“I thank everyone for the family,” he said. “It gives me great joy to live in this area with people like that.”

Roman said the first check that came in for the family was for $125, the second was for $1,000. Then there was another $1,000 check. The Lions Club of Terra Bella, The Exchange Club, businesses and individuals, some desirous of remaining anonymous, made donations to help kick-start the family’s future.

Their transformation from the day the tragedy happened until now is dramatic, from Roman’s point of view.

“I’ve seen a lot of sadness in their eyes,” Roman said. “The mom seemed to be in shock all this time. The dad would just well up with tears, it was so overwhelming to him that he was receiving so much help from people who don’t know them. Now they’re smiling, laughing, eating, kids smiling, mom laughing, that’s where I see the turnaround. I can see the sparkle back in their eyes.”

Still, some things — memories — bring back sadness from time-to-time. The fire consumed irreplaceable items dear to them.

Lorena, who attends Terra Bella Elementary School, longs for her Communion dress. Her mother would love to have back her wedding photos and photos of her family. Carlos Jr., who attends Prospect Education Center, wishes he had back his favorite San Francisco 49ers sports jersey. Ricky used to enjoy his PlayStation PSP.

Carlos Sr. misses the three bedroom home he worked hard for, and was buying for his family. The time will come, he said, when he will be able to purchase another home from his wife and children.

American Reliable Insurance company, with whom the house was insured, has been cooperative in providing initial assistance to help the family get relocated, Carlos Sr. said.

His employer, Rick Pierce of the Rick Pierce Road Siding/Hay Harvesting, afforded the necessary time off from work (about 15 days) with pay. That was a tremendous help for the family. Rosa’s employer, she has worked at a pistachio plant since April, has also been generous, as has been her previous employer for whom she picked grapes and has not worked for three years.

“We cannot thank everybody enough,” Carlos and Rosa said, via Ricky’s translation. “We have more now than we did before. We’d like to say thank you to the community, to everybody who helped, even the kids at school.”

-- Contact Anita Stackhouse-Hite at 784-5000, Ext. 1043, or stackhouse-hite@portervillerecorder.com.