When Chowchilla fire fighters arrived at this house flames had already burned through the garage and into the back through the attic.
"We heard, like, an explosion I thought it was my brother, I was inside, I thought it was my brother playing outside," said neighbor Katya Mendoza who called 911.
Three girls ages five to ten were inside with their mother and managed to when the fire started ... the father was at work. The mother did not want to talk with Action News but said they lost everything.
"They'll be able to salvage some of their clothes and stuff out of the house but most of their belongings are gone," said Chowchilla fire Chief Harry Turner.
Turner added the power to the home was recently shut off by PG&E. His crews discovered a generator inside the garage where the fire started.
Turner: "Occupants of the house are saying the generator was not running and we have not had a chance to investigate yet to see if that is the cause of the fire."
CalFire aided the city as well as the local women's prison fire response to deal with the scorching heat.
"Just so we could rotate our people. cause it is so hot we can only work them about 10 minutes in this heat and then we got to get them out and rehydrated," said Turner.
Turner believes this is the first major house fire of the year in Chowchilla. The family of five plans to stay with relatives in the area.
Mendoza: "I was over there crying. their girls were crying. I was trying not to cry then I went back and I started crying and they told me not to cry too."
More than $200,000 was lost in this afternoon blaze but thankfully no one was hurt.
