Hanford man escapes fire that destroyed his home

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Hanford man managed to safely escape a fire that destroyed his home on Tuesday morning.

Manuel Rojas was sound asleep when he heard someone honking their horn around 3:40 in the morning. Someone was alerting him letting him know the mobile home next door was on fire.

"At first I didn't pay any attention to it, but then when I did I got and looked and this house was on fire," Rojas said while pointing at what used to be a mobile home.

Rojas realized his home may catch on fire, so he grabbed very little and got to safety.

"I grabbed what I could," he said. "(I) moved my vehicle out of the way".

Then within minutes, Rojas' home was on fire.

"Just from the heat radiating from here it just went up the wall and she went up," he said while looking at the home.

Late Tuesday morning as the home still smoldered Rojas came back to see if there was anything left to salvage-- it was still too hot to go inside.

Rojas explained that the home used to be his father's. However, once his father passed away he took over the home. Rojas even moved the majority of his stuff into his father's home because he was renovating his own home.

Rojas took a deep breath and said, "Everything is gone". His family photos and memories were turned to ash.

"My mom's, my dad's pictures and my four sisters that are deceased their pictures (gone)," he said while shaking his head. "All well", he added in disbelief.

Rojas does have insurance but knows that cannot replace the precious photos.

"There's nothing left," he said. "Nothing, it's gone".

The cause of this fire is still under investigation. The mobile home next door where firefighters believe the fire started was vacant.