SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Some San Diegans continue to rally around loved ones impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles County.
For UC San Diego senior Kylie Swartz, looking at images of the line of abandoned cars on Sunset Blvd. still feels surreal.
Looks like a movie set. Knowing emotions they were going through, it’s so hard,” said Swartz.
They are her parents and sister.
Swartz saw part of their ordeal unfold late Tuesday morning in a Facetime call.
“I see my dad, on the deck looking at mountains. Fire coming down. It’s red, bright, visible. He’s just staring at it, and I’m staring at it with him,” said Swartz.
That morning, her family evacuated from their Pacific Palisades home in two vehicles, before fire crews asked them to leave their cars.
They walked to a parking lot and received a ride.
“When they left, they assumed their house was gone,” said Swartz.
Around the same time, El Cajon resident Jacob Akenson says his sister-in-law Nicole Gray and her boyfriend were in their mobile home, in a beachside mobile home community in Pacific Palisades.
“The scariest moment was looking out the window and … the flames were so big, and the wind so bad, it starts moving down towards our homes and our community,” said Gray.
Flying embers and a burning tree are the last images from their Ring video as it shut down, after they evacuated.
On Thursday, they returned, to find their mobile home destroyed, along with their possessions and the rest of the community.
“It was devastating, just broke down and cried,” said Gray.
Gray says they didn't have homeowners insurance, which they call unaffordable.
Back in the neighborhood of Swartz's family, there were emotions of a different kind.
When their friends drove past their home, they discovered their home, damaged but standing, unlike nearly all the homes in their neighborhood.
For Swartz, it's a mix of joy and guilt.
“The high school I attended and my sister is attending burned down. Everything I grew up with is gone. Makes you wonder how you can rebuild. What’s the point if everyone is gone around you?” said Swartz.
A Gofundme campaign has been set up for Gray's family to help with living and other expenses.
