The Airport Fire has now destroyed over 150 structures in Riverside and Orange counties, and is only 19% contained.
Two victims are speaking out after they lost everything within a matter of hours.
“I just didn’t have any time,” said Charlie Hoey. He and his wife, Nikki Hoey, narrowly escaped the flames coming over the ridge into Riverside County.
“The weather changed, it literally turned into a fire hurricane and I can’t even imagine being stuck in that so I’m glad I got out of there,” said Charlie.
The couple had less than an hour to pack and evacuate their home, which was soon engulfed by the flames.
“I’m just in shock still,” said Nikki. “I don’t think I’m coping yet.”
The fire, still burning over 23,000 acres as of Sunday afternoon, has destroyed dozens of homes in the Hoey’s neighborhood in Trabuco Canyon – where the fire originated.
“And it’s not just your stuff, but your grandparents’ stuff, your parents’ stuff, multigenerational,” shared Charlie. “I know they are things, but they’re family things.”
“Our one-week plan is to stay in our friend’s trailer,” said Nikki. “And we have no idea what we’re doing.”
The couple told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw they are heartbroken for so many families now homeless.
While they’re hoping to rebuild in the community they’ve loved for decades, they fear for some that will never be an option.
“My neighbor across the street has been there, I want to say about 40 years,” said Charlie. “And I go ‘Ed, is this gonna make you leave, are you going to rebuild?’ and he goes, ‘Charlie, at my age, I don’t have time to do this, time is my most important thing, and I just I can’t take this kind of time, so this is what’s going to take me off the hill.”
More information on the Airport Fire, including maps of areas still under evacuation orders, can be found here.
A GoFundMe for the Hoeys can be found here.
