The Day My World Collapsed

“Behind every strong person is a story that gave them no choice.” – Unknown

And here is mine…

You never know when your life might be turned inside out and upside down.  For me, that happened on the morning of March 27, 2024. 

That morning, I took two of my dogs to the vet for their cardiology check up.  I left my house at 7:35 and drove the short distance to the vet’s office in Castroville.  While sitting in the waiting room, my friend, Abel, called.  He was scheduled to do some work at the house that morning, and I assumed he had a question about it.  Making a mental note to call him once they took Bailey and Sydney in, I leaned back on the bench, snuggling my girls.

A few seconds later, he called again… and again… on the fourth time, I picked up to hear Abel’s shaky voice saying the words that strike fear into most of our hearts.

“Your house is on fire!”

My first thought was disbelief.  He was joking, right?  Wrong.  The panic in his voice was real.  The only words I could get out of my mouth, were “Abel, save my dogs!”  I proceeded to shove my two girls at the receptionist with a quick, “My house is on fire…”, and I bolted out the door.

My brain was in a fog.  Adrenaline pumped through my body.  I called my friend and neighbor, Jodi, asking her to go help Abel get my dogs.  I called my Mom quickly to tell her to start praying.

The drive home was a blur.  I prayed for God to watch over my dogs and my Jeep to get me home fast and safe.  I remember blowing through red lights and looking down at my speedometer once to see I was going 85 on the backroads.  This was the longest drive of my life.

As I turned on my street, it was lined with emergency vehicles.  I threw my car in park about 150 feet from my house and ran up the road with firefighters yelling at me that I couldn’t go up there.  Once at the top of the driveway, my hysterical self was stopped abruptly by a firefighter who placed both hands on my shoulders to physically stop me from running inside.

I don’t know what I was saying, but I must have been yelling and crying because he got in my face and said, “Ma’am, you need to calm down now.”  That was what I needed to shake me into reality.

“But my dogs are inside…”

“Let us do our job.  How many?  And where?” he asked.

Well, that was a loaded question.  Where to start?  Fourteen of my dogs were inside as well as a boarding dog. 

Take a breath, Tiff, and think… start with the ones in crates and the boarding dog.

As I proceeded to tell him where to find the dogs that were in crates, I realized that two of my dogs, Kadin and Rayne, were already out of the fire and on the deck in their crates.  These two were crated in the living room when I left which was only about ten feet from the fire. 

I later came to find out that Abel kicked in my front door and ran into the burning house, not once, but twice to carry them to safety.  Things that were five feet past where they were, were melted onto the walls.  If he hadn’t brought them out… I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to them.

Looking a little behind where Kadin and Rayne sat, I saw Chester, my 14 year old chihuahua, standing off to the side looking confused and dazed.  He is not a fan of new people, but on this day, he was staying close to the fire fighters.  Abel said Chester was at the door when he went in, and my little man ran out immediately.  As I scooped him in my arms, I felt such relief that these three were safe, but at the same time, so much fear not knowing where the others were.

The firefighters began, one by one, bringing my dogs out.  Indy.  Wicked. River. Puck. Seven safe.  Now, someone needed to go get my boarding dog, Leo.  He was loose in the back bedroom, but he was fearful of new people.  I begged them to let me go get him since I was afraid he would bite a stranger. That was a hard, “No.”

It was at this time that Jake, a Monterey County Sheriff’s officer, stepped forward.  “Give me a leash.”

“He might bite you.  Please, let me go.” I pleaded.

“I am a dog guy.  Give me a leash.” He responded.  And I handed him one. 

Fifteen minutes later, Jake emerged from the house with a scared Leo.  The first tears fell from my eyes as I loaded Leo in my van where my other dogs rested.

Next came Stella.  One of my solid white kittens.  She was covered in so much ash that she looked like a dark gray kitty.  They carried her out in her cat tower which was open at the time of the fire and only feet from the flames.  Since that had always been her safe place, she must have jumped in it to hide. She was in rough shape, but she was alive.  Her sister, Story, ran out to the enclosure with some of the dogs.

With eight dogs and one kitten out of the house and five more animals, plus Francis, my house pig, accounted for safe in the back enclosure, I still didn’t know where the rest of my crew was.  Abel had the idea to walk up the hill on the neighbor’s property to look down into the back of my house.  I started talking to the ones that were visible, and at the sound of my voice, all but one of the unaccounted for dogs peeked their heads out from their hiding spots.  Relief flooded me.

But where was Jinx?

Back to the fire fighter in charge, once again pleading with him to let me go in.  It had already been an hour, and I still had one dog unaccounted for.  Being a compassionate dog lover  himself, he gave a stern, “Stay on my heels,” and guided me into the house, asking where I thought she might be hiding and adding that they had looked everywhere.

Jinx is a master hider, and I knew she would only come out for me.  “My bedroom,” I replied.  Once there, I crouched down next to my bed and called her name.  Out from up inside the box spring, a little red nose poked out.  Jinxie!  Glancing from me to the tall man in the doorway, she wasn’t sure if it was safe, but with some reassuring talk, I was able to convince her to come to me.

With my dogs safely by my side, I sat down in my driveway and sobbed.

Where would we go?  A hotel was not an option with this many animals.  Staying with friends or family wasn’t one either.  A tent on the lower property?  So much unknown.  But luckily, the garage was relatively untouched by the fire.  The smell of smoke was strong, but it was my only option.

The next six hours were spent with friends and neighbors setting up a 10’ x 15’ section of my garage with crates and an air mattress.  This is where we would live for the next week while I could sort out where to go from here.

The whereabouts of a couple of my cats were still unknown, but I felt confident that they were hunkered down somewhere nearby and that I would find them when things calmed down.  And I did.  By 8:00 pm, I had accounted for everyone.  I secured (or so I thought) two cats and my pig in the back enclosure and headed to the garage for the first of many sleepless nights to come.

If it wasn’t for my neighbor, Danielle, who saw the smoke early on and acted quickly, calling 911, and for Abel, who jumped into action immediately, and for the quick response of the Monterey County Fire Department, this day would have had a much different ending.  The house can be rebuilt.

Thank you will never be enough for all the heroes that surrounded me that day.  Abel, Danielle, the firefighters, Jake, my neighbors, my friends, my community.  It was because of them that I stayed standing.  They surrounded me with love and support.  It was because of them that I found the strength to do what needed to be done that day and in the coming days. 

-Tiffanie

#farmgirltough