We asked readers for their wildfire stories. If you were impacted by the fires, or know someone who was, we'd like to hear your story.
Here is one of the responses. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Where do I start? We lost it all. I still don't believe it and have hope I can find a sliver of something in the scrap. I remember hearing stories back from Hurricane Katrina and how people had nothing. I couldn't imagine how they felt. At the time, my 7-year-old, Ryan Richardson, started Operation Ryan's Hope. We ended up putting our lives on hold to create a people-helping-people effort and eventually were able to send 250,000 pounds of supplies to three states. Then fast forward to the Valley Fire in 2015. We sprang into action again to help, and with our new business, Music Junkie Press, we held a fundraiser concert and raised over $2,000 for those affected.
Never in my wildest dreams would I think that my family would become a mirror of those we helped. I feel their pain, anger, hopeful and hopeless feelings taking a toll on us. But we will make it through. Our 40-year music memorabilia is all gone. Our collection of over 70 guitars are gone. Over 400 drum heads are gone. Our work and office in our house are all gone.
We moved into the house in January (it was my mom's house with her caregiver). She got pneumonia, and it got really bad. We moved in to take care of her on hospice. She then passed away in March. We moved all our own stuff into her garage and shed out back. We were just in the process of settling her estate with my siblings -- deciding who wanted what -- but nothing had been moved yet. So we lost our belongings, as well as my mother and father's life and property. We lost it all. We got a photo of our house sent to us. Everyone sees it and says it is all gone, but I see hope in there and maybe something hidden in the ash!