Glass Fire: 40 years of memories lost for Deer Park family

DEER PARK, Calif. (KRON) -- Many families are picking up the pieces after being displaced by the Glass Fire.

The Olea family lived in a Deer Park community for 40 years. For their kids -- it's the place where they grew up and shared many memories.

"At first I was really hoping it was just someone's headlights and then it just got, it was just a wave of fire hitting the side of the mountain. It just like, crashed. It was huge. And I was like no, no that's fire."

For the Olea family, Sunday, Sept. 27 was just like any other night.

That was until they started hearing loud sirens and saw the Glass Fire quickly approaching their Deer Park home.

Jackie Olea and her husband lived in Napa County for almost two decades, and their daughters were also used to fire evacuations. Only this time, the outcome was very different.

"It was terrifying and home has always been that place where we feel safe and now it's not," Olea said.

The family hasn't been able to see the damage for themselves yet.

Instead they learned the fire destroyed their home from videos posted online.

"Seeing the house like that. You don't believe it and you can see it and it's right there but you don't believe it."

40 years of memories now lay in the ashes.

Jackie Olea recently lost her sister to cancer. Some of her things were destroyed in the fire, along with heirlooms from her mother.

"My mom died when I was two so all I really had was some of her stuff and that's all gone."

Despite all of this loss representing what used to be their home, the family hopes to rebuild one day.

And for anyone else facing these same fire evacuations, they say it's a learning lesson.

"For anybody else who has to go through this, just make a list of all the things important to you even if it sounds silly. when it's gone, you're going to regret not making that list. You grab it and you make a plan. Until you're living it you don't understand what that means. So from us living it, make a plan."

Right now, the Olea's are staying with another family member until they find a place to rent.

They have goals to ultimately come back and rebuild.

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