Dream house may be up in smoke

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San Bernardino:

The Mundo family fled their Twin Peaks home around 10 a.m. Monday morning and eventually made their way down to the Red Cross evacuation site at the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino. It’s the first wildfire they’ve experienced since moving to the area four years ago from El Salvador.

‘You can feel so many different emotions; in a way you’re excited at seeing all the fire and the smoke from a distance, but then you’re scared that it will come closer to you,’ said Alejandra Mundo, 19. The family grabbed some of their jewelry, photos and clothes, but left behind what they hoped was going to become their first home in the United States. Although they had been renting out the house for $1,000 a month, the owner told them a few months ago that she was willing to sell it to them for $325,000 this coming December. ‘Our dreams could be up in smoke,’ said the family’s matriarch, Sara, 40. ‘But as long as the family is together that’s the most important thing anyone can have.’

As of 4 p.m. the family was preparing to stay one to two nights in the shelter. They hadn’t heard anything about their home.

-- Francisco VaraOrta