A California man returned to the charred site where his home once stood on Friday to dig through the ashes in search of any possessions that survived.
Napa resident Phil Nelsen said he woke up on Sunday with flames and smoke outside his bedroom window.
He didn’t even have time to get dressed before fleeing.
“I left in my boxer shorts,” he told CTV News’ Tom Walters.
Nelsen is lucky to have survived. The deadly northern California fires have claimed 35 lives and destroyed more than 5,700 structures.
But he was left shaken. "I've been thinking about it ever since,” he said. “Every night, when I can't sleep."
Nelsen and his family covered their mouths with masks and used shovels to sift through ashes and debris. The house’s walls are gone. Vehicles on the property are burnt almost beyond recognition.
Kat Corazza, Nelsen’s niece said she thought her Volkswagen was fine when she first saw it. Then she walked around to the other side which, as she puts it, looks “kind of like a burnt marshmallow.”
Nelsen said he was hoping he’d find the bass guitar he’d had since he was 15 years old. “But that was wood,” he added.
There was at least one comforting discovery among the rubble: a bag of jewelry that Nelson’s sister Lola Cornish said appeared to contain their mother’s wedding ring.
There was also a bit of good news Friday for the roughly 100,000 evacuees, many of them living in shelters and tents. Napa County Fire Chief Barry Bierman said his crews were making “great progress” at putting out the flames.
With a report from CTV L.A. Bureau Chief Tom Walters
