Boulder Creek neighborhood destroyed in CZU lightning Complex

BOULDER CREEK, Calif. (KION) 25 homes made up the Fallen Leaf drive neighborhood off Highway 236 in Boulder Creek. Following the flames from the CZU Lightning Complex, the homes have now been reduced to rubble.

”It’s just a shock," Jane Gordon said. "We’ve been there almost 37 years.”

For the first time since fire blazed through their property off Highway 236, we showed Michael and Jane Gordon the images of what's left of their beloved home.

“I think [I'm] relieved in the sense that we no longer have to guess. It's a fact our house is gone, and we got some closure,” Michael Gordon said.

"It’s not just that we lost our home, but all of our neighbors,” Jane said.

Across the street from the Gordon's, lived the Mullins who called Fallen Leaf drive home from nearly 27 years before it was destroyed Thursday.

“One of my sons was born when we lived in that house," Mark Mullins said. "We adopted our daughter there.”

It's been a week full of tears and shock, but also filled with overwhelming support.

“I didn’t realize that so many people would help us. People that I haven’t talked to in 20 years. People we don’t know,” Mullins said.

Amid the destruction, in the Gordon’s driveway there’s one item that remains almost untouched. It's a memorial for their dog that was named Freeway.

“His sign is still their and the collar. If that’s the only thing that survived I think that’s rather appropriate,” Jane said.

The Gordon’s think they’re done living in the mountains after this fire, but the Mullins say they’re now determined to stay.

“Originally when this happened I was never going to come back, but after all this outpouring and saving our town we’re going to rebuild,” Mullins said.

Nearly 600 structures are confirmed destroyed in the 80,000 acre fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains.