Quake-Damaged Fillmore Home Torn Down : Recovery: Owners salvage a few final items from the house. Red Cross plans to close a shelter in Simi Valley.

The demolition of a quake-damaged home in Fillmore neared its end Saturday, while the American Red Cross prepared to close up shop at one of its two remaining county shelters.

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With a brooding sky overhead, workers made one final sweep through the Fillmore residence of Francis and Denise Beauduy, salvaging the last objects from a once-complete household before razing the two-story home by hand.

By Saturday afternoon, a demolition crew--employing crowbars, ropes, pickaxes and brute strength--had reduced the structure to a near skeleton. Wall panels were pried lose and parts of the roof were yanked down. Wood beams were salvaged when possible.

“It’s crap,” said a somber Denise Beauduy. “Your life is reduced to just crap.”

Before the razing began, the Beauduys were handed a few belongings that remained--a lamp, a ceiling fan and a few other mementos.

“Francis watched them take the front porch off and that was enough for him,” Denise Beauduy said. Her husband could not stand to watch any further, she said, and he left soon after.

A total of 14 structures citywide are set to be torn down, city officials said. Heavy equipment will be brought in starting Monday to knock down what is left of the Fillmore Hotel, some Central Avenue businesses and the historic Masonic building, constructed in 1919.

“There’s a lot of history left in there still,” said Ken Glenn, 78, president of the board for the Santa Paula-Fillmore Masonic Lodge. “There’s one room we haven’t gotten into yet that has several filing cabinets with lodge member records from as far back as 1906.”

Efforts will be made to retrieve the records when the demolition begins. The wrecking crew is scheduled to start on the building Monday, Glenn said.

Emotions were more cheerful in Simi Valley, where the Red Cross made plans to tear down the city’s temporary shelter.

Shelters in Piru and at the Veteran’s Memorial Building in Fillmore already have closed.

The Simi Valley site has been at Hillside Junior High School since it was moved there from Royal High School a week after the quake.

At one point, 125 residents were lodged there, but by Saturday night, that number had dropped to 45, Red Cross officials said.

“We open the shelters to close them as soon as possible,” said Gregory Smith, a mass-care coordinator for Ventura County Red Cross operations.

Once emergency centers open, Smith said, the family-service arm of the Red Cross steps in to plan long-term recovery.

“Family service helps them find another place or, once they find another place, they can provide them with bedding furniture, clothes and food.

“Ideally, the shelters are designed not to be opened for an extended time,” Smith said.

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The remaining 45 shelter residents will move to various locations, including motels, or join family and friends, Smith said.

“I’m happy it’s coming to an end, but sad at the same time,” said shelter manager Melissa Lawrence.

“When you work as close with these people as I have--hearing their stories--you become very close. We’re an extended family,” the 43-year-old Moorpark resident said.

Shelter residents were planning a party Saturday night to honor the Red Cross volunteers at the site.

“I told them not to do this, but that’s what they wanted to do,” Lawrence said.

“The people have been real nice here,” said Sylvia Milian, who, along with her 11-member family, moved in when their Simi Valley house was deemed unsafe. “We feel very safe here, thanks to (the Red Cross volunteers.)”

Milian, 28, and her clan--including children, brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents--were told their home is now safe, but they remain hesitant to move back in.

“It’s very scary, having to leave the shelter,” Milian said. “We may move back to Chicago.”

Nearly 100 residents will continue to live at the last remaining county shelter at Fillmore Middle School for at least another week, officials said.

“The problem is lack of alternative housing in Fillmore,” said Mike Goth, director of emergency services for the Ventura County chapter of the American Red Cross.

“There wasn’t much before, and they’re ain’t a whole lot now,” Goth said.

Smith, who traveled from San Francisco to help relief efforts, said Ventura County is well on the road to recovery.

“In my opinion, I think the recovery here is going extremely well,” he said. “But the real gauge is the fact we have closed three of the four shelters.”

Photographer Jerry Mennenga contributed to this story.