Two weeks ago, Brittany Bibby, her husband Kenneth, and their 15-month-old baby moved from Arizona to Camarillo to live in the house they inherited from their father, making the dilapidated property a safe place to live. I made the most of my credit card to do this.
On Wednesday, that safe haven burned down, leaving the family without their home, savings and no idea what would happen next.
The next day, the shocked parents struggled to come to terms with the financial and devastating emotional toll of the incident.
“We lost everything,” Brittany said. “All of our family memories, all of our property, Social Security cards, death certificates, birth certificates, my husband’s father’s ashes, my father’s ashes, and my mother’s ashes.”
Brittany Bibby holds baby Ken. Brittany and her husband lost their Camarillo home to a wildfire two weeks after moving in.
(Brittany Bibby)
Their property is among 132 structures destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that started Wednesday morning and had burned more than 20,000 acres in the Ventura County mountains by Thursday evening. contained within.
The family began collecting donations on GoFundMe on Thursday so they could get diapers and fresh clothes for baby Ken. Brittany planned to sleep at the shelter Thursday night and tackle a new pile of work Friday morning.
“As a mother, I don’t have the option of panicking or not thinking through the steps, because I have a little human that is 100% dependent on me,” she said. “So while I’m feeling a lot, I have to keep my mind clear so I can give him the best care.”
At the top of her priority list is finding a pediatrician. Ken has asthma and the thick smoke from wildfires puts his health at risk.
“We’ve been doing everything we can to keep him in filtered air and clean air so he doesn’t get triggered by the ash, because all of his medication and inhaler burned up. ” she said.
Brittany received the evacuation order around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and ran to the nursery to pack her baby’s essentials, including clothes and medicine. However, when she glanced out the window, she encountered a horrifying sight. Huge flames were shooting from a building just one street away, as the wind pushed the smoke up the hill and toward her house.
I didn’t have time to pack my things. The priority now was to get everyone out alive.
A wildfire destroyed homes on both sides of Old Coach Drive in Camarillo.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
She picked up the baby and helped her mother-in-law Denise Bibby, grandmother-in-law Huguette Doucette and two elderly dogs out of the house.
As she sped away, flames from the burning bushes shot up and blazed over the car. A dark thought crossed her mind – “I won’t survive.”
The Bibbys arrived safely at their friend’s house. After about three hours, Brittany felt a shock coming on her.
“I went from being somewhat comfortable to completely freezing,” she said. “Even though it was about 75 degrees in the house, my fingers turned blue and I had to wear blankets and sweaters.”
Baby Ken is also affected and has trouble sleeping in his chaotic new environment.
“We are very sleep deprived because he often spends the whole night crying,” she says.
His parents are also nervous, facing an uncertain future.
They are still awaiting information from trust lawyers about whether the home was insured and are investigating what relief grants they may be eligible for.
On Sunday, Kenneth will return to work as a crew member at Trader Joe’s. Brittany will start a full-time customer service job at Walmart starting Monday.
Although the couple felt very happy to finally settle into their new home, it is difficult for the couple to adjust to this post-fire reality.
“This is a big system shock and it’s like a bad dream,” Brittany said. “You just want to wake up.”
