Homes in Ruins, Lake Isabella Fire Survivors Look to Future

A force of nearly 2,100 firefighters is making significant progress corralling the Erskine Fire, the Kern County blaze that erupted last Wednesday and galloped across the mountains just south of Lake Isabella.

But that progress -- made in very hot, dry and windy conditions -- doesn't help the 150 or so homeowners who saw their residences destroyed by the rapidly advancing flames. Two people, described Friday as an elderly couple who were overcome by smoke as they tried to escape, are known to have died in the fire.

Those who got away but lost everything include Aquivo Sun, a rafting guide, and his partner, Brittany Thompson. They returned Sunday to the ruins of their home in the community of South Lake.

“We’re just kind of rummaging and trying to see if any of our stuff is salvageable for memories or sentimental value," Sun said. He and Thompson had lost something more than mere belongings.

"Looking for the remains of another dog," Sun said. "Found the remains of one already. Don’t know what happened to the other one.”

Sun added that there's no way they can rebuild.

"No insurance, man, it's gone. We're gonna just walk away," he said. "We're just gonna walk away and start new somewhere else."

Another South Lake resident, 73-year-old Robert Moran, lost his home, too -- but not without a fight.

He talked Sunday about trying to battle the flames with his garden hose:

"Turned on my house and tried to do but I couldn't!" Moran said. "A garden hose is like spitting on a fire. It don't put it out."

Moran got out with next to nothing from his home of 16 years.

“Picked up a doggone pair of pants and ran out of the doggone house with the cash that I had at home,” he said.