Fundraiser started for Fallbrook family who lost home in fire

Friends of Veronica Castillo, like Lido Favela (Liduvina Favela), are helping her raise money to replace her home and furnishings, clothing, etc. after a fire fully engulfed her manufactured home on Thursday morning. Castillo was born and raised in Fallbrook. She is a single mom with three children. They lost everything. Castillo said her eldest daughter, who is in college, heard noises in the wall near her bed, which was behind the the refrigerator. She called her mom and they called 911. She was pleased that NCF responded so quickly, but they lost everything.

She said people have offered her furniture but right now she has nowhere to put it. Her family was working to dig through the burned home to find any trinkets that may be salvageable. Working in the burned rubble looked challenging as the smell was very strong. Castillo said she and the family will be knocking down the manufactured home and disposing of it in trash bins over the next few days, which will be challenging.

"Yesterday, a friend of mine, lost her home from a fire. Her and her children are safe, but it was a total loss of her belongings. We are asking for help as they were left with nothing. If you would like to, donate, I included a picture of her Zelle barcode. Their clothes sizes are as follows: The girls sizes are large and x-large. Shoes are 7 and 8 1/2 . The boys are extra large in boys @ for the little one." Favela wrote on her Facebook page, "If you have any questions, my cell number is 760-420-4888. You can drop off donations at 2647 South Mission Rd.

Thank you for your help and prayers."

The barcode for the donation in Zelle is in the photo gallery of this story.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Original Story

Fire destroys home in Fallbrook

A manufactured home was reported to be on fire Thursday, March 14 at 9:28 am at 235 W. Aviation Rd space 38 in the middle of downtown Fallbrook. North County Fire Protection District (NCFPD) arrived in about two minutes and had the home, fully engulfed in fire extinguished in three minutes. Five people were displaced, according to NCFPD PIO John Choi. A Village News source reported that three of the people included a single mom and two daughters.

PIO Choi said they were glad that they were able to keep the fire to one manufactured home, rather than multiple homes.

Red Cross was reported to be on hand to provide supplies and shelter to the displaced residents.

In addition to NCFPD, Oceanside was on scene to assist. Neighboring agencies, including Vista, Pala, Oceanside and Camp Pendleton were backfilling calls for NCFPD while all units were fighting the fire in town, as NCFPD does for our surrounding supporting agencies when it is needed.

PIO Choi said, "We have a great automatic aid program where surrounding agencies will support each other by backfilling calls." So, for instance, today there were several calls coming in while NCF was extinguishing the residential fire. In the meantime, there was a traffic accident, and four medical assistance calls. The supporting agencies were handling those calls for NCFPD.

The incident is under investigation and no injuries were reported.