Last week, a fire destroyed a Fresno family’s lifetime of memories. With it, Sandra Cisneros’ business also went up in flames.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment for her baking business are now gone.<\/p>\n
Replacing everything will cost far more but she says their insurance will only cover $10,000 in damage.<\/p>\n
“We will have to rebuild it on our own. And with me not having my source of income — which is all of my material for baking — it’s even harder,” said Cisneros.<\/p>\n
The financial burden is even heavier than it would have been.<\/p>\n
The fire happened in the family’s exterior garage but almost all their belongings were inside it because they had just renovated their home.<\/p>\n
“It was thousands of dollars. Literally all of our savings. And we were doing this for our babies, to give them a nice home,” Cisneros said.<\/p>\n
Loved ones of the family say the tragedy couldn’t have happened to better people.<\/p>\n
“Three beautiful kids, special needs daughter,” said Jesus Gonzalez, Cisneros’ brother-in-law. “I think that’s what makes this… hurt even harder… the fact that it happened to them.”<\/p>\n
But the family is still grateful they’re all still here.<\/p>\n
At one point during the fire, Cisneros thought her husband was inside the garage.<\/p>\n
She was about to go in after him, before she saw he was safe just outside of it.<\/p>\n
“God’s timing is right. Exactly one second later… that he had came inside, and I would have probably gone inside the garage,” she said.<\/p>\n
Still, some items lost were irreplaceable.<\/p>\n
And the devastation doesn’t end there.<\/p>\n
The family has had to place locks all around their property — they say people have broken in following the fire.<\/p>\n
“It’s sort of, kicking them when you’re down, kind of thing. And… it takes a village to make sure we’re all okay,” said Gonzalez.<\/p>\n
Now, the family is hoping that village can come together in their time of need.<\/p>\n
“I don’t really ask for help. But, at this point, I really need it. My family really needs it,” said Cisneros.<\/p>\n
If you’d like to help, Gonzalez set up a GoFundMe<\/a> to help the Cisneros family rebuild.<\/p>\n They are also asking the community to consider donating clothes for their three young children.<\/p>\n They have two girls, ages 12 and 5, and a 1-year-old boy.<\/p>\n For news and weather updates, follow Kerry Mannix on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n