Family of 8 loses home to house fire before the holidays
SEASIDE, Calif. (KION) It was another Friday morning on Nov. 19. Elaine Feala, a mother of 5, had dropped her kids off at school. Her mother, who was living with them, was babysitting at her sister's house. Elaine's husband, Sepulona, was sleeping with their 2-year-old son after working the graveyard shift. Elaine was getting ready to go to work when she heard a loud sound coming from the garage.
She saw flames coming from the corner and when she opened the door, the fire spread.
"I tried to grab something to put it out and nothing happened," Elaine said. "The smoke and the flames grew really fast and we couldn't breathe."
When she realized the fire wasn't going to be put out so easily, Elaine ran to get her husband
"Everything happened so fast," Sepulona Feala, Elaine's husband said. "I was confused. I didn't know what was going on. And the first thing that was on my mind was the kids."
Elaine, Sepulona and their 2-year-old boy were able to escape, but the house was scorched by the time firefighters were able to put the flames out.
"What we lost, thankfully, was just, you know, replaceable but also sentimental to him, and you can't really explain to a boy why he can't have the things that were lost inside," Elaine said, explaining how her youngest son has been having a harder time after the incident.
"He'll wake up in the middle of the night just screaming, 'home.' He wants to come home. And it's hard because you can't really explain to him what had happened," Elaine said.
The family had moved to the Central Coast almost two years ago from Oregon, with everything they could fit in a U-Haul truck. Elaine moved to be closer to her sister in Seaside. They were renting the place and now they have to come up with a backup plan.
Their goal: "Try and get the kids into a house before Christmas," Elaine said. "We just want them to be able to make new memories quick. So then they can, you know, forget about these ones here."
Elaine and her family had been staying at hotels at night and going to their sister's during the day while they're looking for a new place to live.
Their sister Leone Sanders started a GoFundMe Campaign to help and they're close to reaching their goal, raising $13,000 in a week. They're hoping to use the money for a deposit on their next home.
"It feels really good to know that people care," Elaine said. "The majority of them, we don't really know. They're just anonymous donors. We just are so thankful that there are people out there willing to help us out."
