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Home in Prunedale deemed total loss by North Monterey County fire

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PRUNEDALE, Calif. (KION) - A structure fire broke out at a home in Prunedale off Manzanita Circle.

According to North County Fire, the fire broke out around 8:15 a.m. on Manzanita Circle for a single-story home.

There, a woman is left grieving not only the loss of her home and possessions, but also the loss of a loyal companion, her dog, who never made it out.

Fire crews are deeming this home a total loss.

Lenore, who has been living in this home for 13 years, says she does not understand how this fire could have started.

Just after 8 am on Monday, Lenore, who lives in this home, was warming up her car in the driveway when she noticed flames pouring out of her home.

"I don't know what happened, but I lived there for 13 years for my whole life in there. And I said, it's childhood," said Bishop

Nearby neighbors who saw the black smoke a few houses down say the flames moved fast.

"My daughter and I were backing up out of our driveway to go to school, and I looked over and saw a big plume of black smoke, so we drove over there real quick," said Stockton.

Fire crews say they got to the home in less than 10 minutes. Despite their efforts, the home was engulfed within minutes.

"We had a total of three North County units on scene with 12 personnel, along with one medic unit from AMR on arrival was probably approximately 50% involved," said Rick Parker, Division Chief with the North Monterey County Fire Department.

Lenore says there was nothing she did out of the ordinary before leaving her home.

She says priceless family heirlooms, like her dad's horse saddle, childhood photos, and her son's belongings from the military, are all gone.

"I have memories of my parents, they've both been gone since I was young. But everything, I mean from pictures from my childhood, my twin sister's kid's childhood, you know, everything's in that living room. The most important is gone," said Bishop.

Fire crews were able to recover her safe. Two dogs inside the home did not survive.

Friends and neighbors of Lenore rushed to the scene once they got word of the incident to provide support and comfort.

Lenore tells me the Red Cross has contacted her and will be relying on their support.

Fire crews were unable to tell me where in the home the fire started, as it is still under investigation.

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Dania Romero

Dania Romero is an reporter at KION News Channel 46.

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Sergio Berrueta

Sergio Berrueta has been in the news for quite awhile going from studying print media to entering the realm of broadcast.

Originally from Bell Gardens, California, in Southeast Los Angeles. Berrueta started his professional news career in Eureka as a newscast producer for North Coast News (now The Northstate’s News) at KAEF ABC 23 in 2022. He pivoted a year later in 2022 going from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera as a multimedia journalist for Redwood News Channel 3 (KIEM/KVIQ) also in Eureka.

Berrueta studied journalism at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) earning his Bachelor’s Degree. Berrueta was a staff writer, page editor, social media manager and editor-in-chief of the university’s El Lenador, the only bilingual publication in all of Humboldt County.

Before moving to the North Coast, Berrueta had earned his Associate’s Degree at East Los Angeles College in 2019 after beginning his educational journey in 2012. He also was on staff for the ELAC’s publication, ELAC Campus News, having been a staff writer, page editor, and online editor.

Outside of news experience, Berrueta has also been in education as an AmeriCorps tutor in East Hollywood from 2017 to 2019 and served in a government role as a National Hometown Fellow for Lead for America with the City of Arcata in 2021.

When not focusing on news, Berrueta is an avid amateur cinephile having written about films in free time. He also writes poetry, attempting to get through a backlog of video games, enjoys visiting new places along the California Coast, and trying to keep up with the latest music and podcasts.

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