Victims of California fires begin to rebuild

updated 8:10 p.m. ET Oct. 29, 2007

RAMONA, Calif. - Nicole Booth’s hands were stained with ash from picking through the blackened and twisted pieces left of her life after an inferno engulfed everything she owned.

She tried not to cry in front of her four children. But in the few moments she can steal away, the tears spill down her cheeks.

Like so many others, Booth took the first steps toward rebuilding her life Monday, a week after a firestorm destroyed her San Diego County home and business. She applied for aid.

“I feel ashamed. I’ve never had to ask for help. I don’t know what to say to people,” Booth says, her voice dropping to a whisper.

The wildfires, which destroyed more than 2,000 homes, continued to burn Monday. With more than a dozen blazes fully surrounded, firefighters were trying to gain control of six others that were at least half contained. The flames have killed 14 people and blackened 809 square miles from the Mexican border to Los Angeles.

In the weeks ahead, the Booths and hundreds of other families who lost their homes will be at the mercy of the federal government for grants, loans and other assistance.

Some help can be offered quickly, but larger decisions about the future will take weeks, and be decided by federal workers shuffling mountains of loan applications in Ft. Worth, Texas, and suburban Maryland.

Fire engulfed house before their eyes
A week ago, the Booths ran for their lives — carrying only the essentials: a change of clothes for the children, and oxygen tanks, a wheelchair and medication for a daughter paralyzed by brain tumors who survives on life support. The fire swallowed their house before their eyes as they pulled out of the driveway.

The family lived in a modest home that was passed down to her husband, Robert Booth, from his father, and they never put their names on the deed, which could delay tens of thousands of dollars in aid.

In the meantime, the Booths will have to depend on charity. The Red Cross is the only agency still providing hotel assistance for fire victims.

“For them, I think the wrinkles can be worked out, but it’s going to take many agencies, and probably going to take volunteer agencies to step in, too,” said FEMA spokesman Michael Raphael.

Typically, only homeowners are eligible for FEMA’s maximum $28,200 payout for lost property. But Raphael said the agency may be able to bend the rules if they were paying the mortgage.

FEMA has already received nearly 8,300 applications for aid and visited 641 homes to assess damage in the seven counties declared a major federal disaster area. As of Monday, the agency had paid out $600,000, and was on pace to settle about 75 claims a day.

Lessons learned from Katrina
Fire victims have said FEMA apparently learned lessons from the confusion that arose after Hurricane Katrina about where to turn for federal assistance.

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The agency has sent scores of neatly dressed agency representatives to the San Diego area. Large signs and tents bearing the agency’s name direct victims to one-stop centers where victims can redirect their mail, apply for building permits and register for FEMA disaster assistance.

But the scale of the disaster here is much smaller than in New Orleans, where hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless.

Hector Valazquez, 52, who lost his home in Delzura last Sunday said he’s felt reassured by his first interactions with friendly FEMA workers, but the proof of how well the agency deals with the disaster has yet to be seen.

“They are going to show us that what happened in Katrina can be done better here,” Valazquez said. “Until we have a home, there’s no proof.”

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