"It started -- and this is where my daughters bedroom was."
Kara Tapia shows us the damage left from a fire that destroyed her double wide trailer. She was driving to Fresno with her boyfriend Rene Roberts when she got a call from a neighbor saying their home caught fire just before noon Tuesday. Bill Redmond lives next door and saw the flames coming out of the trailer.
"I guess there was smoke coming out of the window but I could really see it rising up like on top of the house and I said you know what - it's on fire." said Redmond.
Tapia arrived back home a short time later, disheartened by what had just happened.
"Like you just go into this state of shock like ... Even though I knew everyone was safe it was just like our home, telling my children was the hardest part. I had to go to the school and tell them - that everything we owned was gone." said Tapia.
Fortunately not everything was gone. Firefighters were able to contain the fire and eventually allowed the family of six to sift through the rubble to salvage whatever they could find.
"Thankfully we got all these pictures left to remind us ... "
Among the most precious items still intact -- a family photo album containing pictures of the kids grandparents and great grandparents.
The trailer has been in the family for three generations -- but Tapia says things could have been much worse.
"I know a lot of people don't have that same benefit. I'm just thankful that my family is safe and we can always start again." said Tapia.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation and we're told the damage is estimated at around $40,000.
The Red Cross is helping out the family over the next few nights putting them up in a motel in Visalia.
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Karen Simpson Redmond (Mother of Kara Tapia)
Bank of the West Acct # -- 024540823
