Two young immigrants look to get back on their feet after losing everything in a fire outside of Hollister

HOLLISTER, Calif. (KION-TV)- Two young men remain homeless after their mobile home caught fire in February, devastating the small unit and resulting in a total loss.

Now both partners are looking to recover their losses in materials, savings, and mobile home.

On Feb. 21, Angel Medina and Cecilio R., received a call from their neighbors, telling them that their house was covered in flames.

The friends were working in the Salinas area, and when they arrived at their home, they found only debris. The fire swept through the small home in a matter of minutes.

They say the fire department tried to put out the flames, but were unable to rescue the home.

"We went out to work, and when we returned there was nothing left, they told us it had burned down," said Medina, owner of the house.

The young immigrants had been saving for several months to buy their mobile home, but after the fire only the rubble remained.

"We have been saving since we arrived at the beginning, we saved money and then we bought it, because you see that rents are expensive in the houses and our best option was to buy this one," Medina continued.

A month after this disaster, the young people are looking to recover their losses and find a new place to live.

But the task is not easy, as they say that work is scarce, and the economy does not allow them to rent a traditional house or a room.

"To be honest, the way things are, I feel that for more than a year, things are not very good, and it left us with nothing again, to start buying everything... what we had really left us with nothing," said Cecilio, Ángel's housemate and co-owner of the mobile home.

Medina says the material losses exceeded more than $10,000. The only thing they were able to salvage was their work vehicle, and the clothes they were wearing. The rest of their belongings, as well as cash savings, beds, and important documents, were destroyed in the disaster.

Medina and Cecilio R live on the outskirts of Hollister, in a low-income, flood-prone community. Upon hearing the news, several community members took it upon themselves to donate clothes and money to help these young men.

"The best intention is to help them, now for them, later for us, I don't know, the thing is to help them, since they were devastated without their belongings, without their things, without their belongings, said Pablo Jimenez, a resident of Greenfield. "The question is to help them, they are getting by as best they can, because they were left without blankets, without anything."

Jimenez traveled from South Monterey County to Hollister to deliver donations and money to the young people.

This, after canvassing members of the community. Jimenez says he will continue to seek donations so that Angel and Cecilio R can achieve their goal and have a new home to live in.