THE LONG ROAD BACK : Councilman Has a New Home and a New Outlook : Fillmore: Roger Campbell rebuilt his devastated house. As hardship ends, hard work continues.

Five minutes after the Jan. 17 earthquake jolted downtown Fillmore, Roger Campbell was on his way to the fire station, tending to the needs of those shaken worse than himself.

His turn-of-the-century home had been knocked from its foundation, his family rattled, but safe.

“As soon as I walked out the door, I knew it was destroyed,” Campbell said of the house he owned for 21 years. “I could see from the headlights as I drove off that the whole frame had shifted.”

Because he is the volunteer assistant fire chief as well as a city councilman, Campbell on that Monday morning had time only to ensure that his family was unharmed before helping to open a rescue-and-command center for his devastated city.

He saw nothing of his wife or children for nearly two days.

“I didn’t get to start thinking about my own problems until probably Wednesday,” Campbell said. “All I could see then was a $150,000 loss and the only thing I’d known as a home.”

The work begun so hastily early that morning continues to this day. But barely four months later, the first home in Fillmore to be rebuilt from the ground up will be moved into tonight.

Electricity was hooked up Wednesday. Painters have finished touching up the interior, and landscapers planted flowers and rolled out the sod for the front lawn this morning.

Carpet layers are scheduled to install the wall-to-wall today, and the Campbells have invited half a dozen friends over tonight to help move them into their new home.

“If they give us the keys, we’ll be sleeping there this weekend,” Campbell said.

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday.

It is no accident that Campbell’s is the first home to be completely rebuilt. Once he determined that it would be more practical for him to demolish his old home and start from scratch, he moved quickly.

Friends helped him pack up what was salvageable. It’s been stored since in six locations around the city. The same friends will help him unpack tonight.

The Campbells moved around a lot the first month after the quake, staying with some friends and housesitting for others when they went out of town. Some time in February, Campbell isn’t sure, they found a small apartment.

“The first couple of weeks it was frustrating,” said Laurie Campbell, Roger’s 19-year-old daughter. “We didn’t have any privacy because we were staying in a one-bedroom apartment.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend because we’ll be able to go back to somewhat of a normal lifestyle,” the Ventura College freshman said.

Said Campbell: “I have a new appreciation for what it means to be homeless.”

On Feb. 4--less than three weeks after the earthquake--a crane ate away what was left of the home he had chosen in 1973 with his wife, Kathy. Trucks carted off the leftovers and by the end of February, the new frame had taken shape.

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Campbell’s business, an auto repair shop he bought from his father, was undamaged in the quake. “Once everything settled down, I had a place to go back to work,” he said.

But in March, he took a bad step and broke his leg in two places. Campbell has hobbled around on crutches since.

He spent much of the past four months filling out forms and compiling documents for federal relief agencies like the Small Business Administration, which provided the funding for his new home.

“I understand the inner workings of the SBA now,” he said. “I understand that real well.”

Campbell said he took a week to carefully study the application forms for federal rebuilding loans, piecing together documents to provide verification of development contracts, blueprints and construction orders.

“I was very meticulous about getting everything they wanted,” he said. “When the guy said I have to go and get so-and-so, I said, ‘I’ve got that.’ When he said I needed something else, I said, ‘It’s right here.’ ”

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When Kathy Campbell adjusts the furniture and unpacks the crates and boxes in the Kensington Drive home this weekend, she knows it will not be the end of her family’s ordeal.

“I don’t see closure for another six months,” said Kathy, who is working on a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling. “I’ve learned so much from school this last year that I know a little of what to expect.

“I know not to rush myself and to expect down time, and sad times,” she said. “It’s going to take awhile to get moved in, settled in and start building some memories in the new house.”

But after months of plan checking and building, and wrangling with government lawyers and accountants, Roger Campbell looks forward to the simpler chores.

“It’s kind of exciting that way,” he said. “We get to talk to decorators and I’ve been able to make a few modifications to the original design of the home.”

Campbell’s personal experience in recovering from the quake has enabled him to understand the needs of his neighbors.

He is developing a city-sponsored program to help others with grants and low-interest loans that would supplement federal relief. Often, he said, projects fall through the cracks of what is available from federal agencies.

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For the 10-year city councilman, the rebirth of his house is an indication of what’s in store for Fillmore.

“I’m real proud of what this town is doing,” he said. “The main part of town, I think you’ll see that come back real soon.”

Kathy Campbell knows everything will be OK a year or so from now.

“A couple of nights ago I had a dream about our house, the new house,” she said. “It had all our furniture in it, so I know it’s ours.”