ALPINE, Calif. – A multigenerational family living at a historic Alpine home is grieving after a fire tore through their property Tuesday, but they are remaining thankful no one was injured.
“If we go through a disaster like this, it’s the best scenario. We still have each other,” Jesse Nunez said.
All 12 members of the Bray and Nunez families, spanning four generations, were safe and unharmed after their historic Alpine home caught fire.
“When we turned the corner, we couldn’t see the house. It was just smoke,” Nunez said.
Jesse Nunez, his wife Rachel, and their two young daughters were the only ones inside the house when the fire broke out. They were alerted by Rachel’s brother, who had just returned home.
“Pounded on our door. We opened it really quickly and he said we have to get out there’s a fire,” Nunez said.
Fire crews worked to put out the fire well past Tuesday, while hot spots continued to flare up.
Family members have returned to the home to comb through the few things they can, but it is currently unsafe for anyone to enter inside.
“So much was lost. Everything burned to the ground,” Rachel Bray Nunez said.
It was incredibly emotional to take in the damage for Rachel, who recounts running around the property as just a toddler when her grandfather first purchased the home.
“That’s really hard to see. I was raised here. My girls were raised here. My mind just can’t grasp that this is what it looks like now,” she said.
The structure holds historical significance too, previously belonging to early Alpine settlers Beatrice and Clayburn La Force.
“She’s been referred to as the matriarch of Alpine and her and her husband built this house together,” Nunez said.
A GoFundMe has been started to help the Bray and Nunez families recover and hopefully one day rebuild.
“We’re not sure what that journey will look like and what will be allowed, but my family has a heart to preserve it and rebuild it as much as we can to what it used to be,” Bray Nunez said.