On November 7, 2019, in the early morning hours, the Trujillo family of Colton lost their home in a tragic fire. The fire began in the back yard and when they opened a sliding door in an attempt to extinguish it, the fire pushed its way into the home and began to consume everything in its path. The family has received support from the local community; however they are still without a home to call their own. Read below as one of their brave children recounts the night their lives were changed forever.
Running through the house and becoming face-to-face with something so bright, red, and orange. It seemed so surreal. With only the clothes that we had on, we were out in the freezing cold weather. Us kids just ran to the next door neighbors and knocked on their doors to wake them up to warn them that there was a fire right next door to them. Carlos Trujillo (Dad) rescued my little brothers from the room that was currently on fire. He himself got 2nd degree burns on the back of his head and the bottom of his feet. Carlos and Nino Joe both grabbed a fire extinguisher that worked only for about 2 seconds, but while at that Nino Joe also got 2nd degree burns all on his arms and his neck. After that everyone ran outside and Jazmine grabbed everyone’s hands and instantly started to pray, asking God to be there for them in this time and for His help. Just remembering the whole family and seeing everyone sitting on the curb and couldn't do anything but just watch their own house burn. When the firemen came it was some sort of relief for everyone, like a small breath of fresh air. Then the firemen allowed us to go inside the house when it was all over but only two at a time. The first two that went into the house was Isaac and our mom, Stacy. What Mom thought when she entered that house was that they lost everything, she felt broken hearted, yes of course she was happy that there wasn't a life to mourn and happy for their lives, but we had lost everything that we cherished inside of that home. Stacy had her mother’s jewelry, whom passed away when she was 17-years-old. The feeling of devastation was within everyone. The only thing that we all though was, "where are we going to live now?" we didn't have a home, because the place that we called home was currently gone into ashes. We stayed with Ralph and Tisha Garcia for about 3 months and we moved because Ralph was currently going to go into his 2nd surgery and we wanted to give him his rest time. Now we are currently staying at our Tia’s house who welcomed us with open and loving arms. The fire gave everyone PTSD in some way from seeing a bonfire to even having a lit candle inside our rooms. With the little ones, John and Jesse, they wake up every night at the same time to look around to see if there is a fire or not and when they realize that there isn't they go back to bed. Stacy and Carlos cry every single night just replaying the night of the fire and get nightmares. Our dog Beethoven goes to every room to check on everyone before he goes to bed to see if they are all okay, he was actually the one who woke up everyone the night of the house fire.
The Trujillo family are still in search of their forever home, a fundraiser dance scheduled for March 14th, 2020, has been organized by your local VFW and Entertainers of the Inland Empire. If you would like to help or purchase tickets in advance please contact them directly at (909) 693-9208.