Neighbors who lost everything in fatal Lakewood fire take stock of damage, remember victims

It was a dramatic scene Friday as a deadly brush fire raced towards residents in the Jamestown Estates mobile home park in Lakewood, leaving little time for escape.

"I was screaming at everyone, ‘Run, run for your lives, run’. All I was thinking about was getting my baby safely into the street," said Leslie Galvez.

"This was my home for the last five years," said Michael Martin as he surveyed the damage Saturday. Martin didn't hear the fire approaching Friday afternoon because he had headphones on. A relative saved him after nearly kicking in the door to alert him to the danger.

"My dog’s kennel is over there," Martin said, pointing towards a pile of rubble.

Martin was able to grab a dog and a cat, but fire soon overtook the home, and they lost at least one beloved cat, Fred, in the fire.

"This bedroom, I kept running back to trying to find, my cat who ran under the bed, and all we have is bones under here," he said, tearing up while pointing to the back of the unit Saturday.

Also lost in the fire, his hopes and dreams for the future.

"Going through everything you worked for and built over the past five years, it’s crushing," said Martin.

Next door to the Martins, the Galvez family scrambled to grab garden hoses Friday to water down the dry grass behind their house. However, the wind drove the flames high into the air and the family was unable to save their home.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 2 dead after brush fire sweeps through Lakewood mobile home park

"We ran outside and turned on the hoses from both sides," said Madai Galvez, one of the Galvez family members that lost nearly everything.

Yesterday was Madai's birthday. She and her mother were preparing a birthday dinner before the fire broke out. Now her special day is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

"I had to run away because the heat was really strong," she said.

Leslie and her husband Gadiel Galvez live across the street from their in-laws. Their home was still standing following the fire, but the loss of their parent's and sibling's home, directly across from their own, has been devastating.

"I was so scared I had lost them. I was really worried. As soon as I saw their car I was so relieved. Thinking about the fact that if I lost them, I don’t know what I do," said Leslie Galvez.

The Galvez family says tragically, their nextdoor neighbors, who they called Zach and Pat, lost their lives in the fire.

"Every day we would see him out here walking his dog," said Gadiel Galvez.

"Every day he would wave at my little boy and everything has changed now, everything is different," said Leslie.

The family says one of the men was elderly, used oxygen, and had mobility issues.

"I know he was loved by his family, and we pray for his family members that are trying to go through the grief," said Madai.

"It was something that certainly us, as apostolic believers in the faith of Christ, this would be something we would not easily be able to move on without that trust that we have in God," said Gadiel.

Michael Martin says his family's cats Sora, a calico, and Salem, a black cat, are still missing. He says he saw Salem running from the home as he was trying to rescue the other animals and grabbing items to evacuate. He's hoping neighbors can help to find the beloved pets as they try to rebuild. He provided the pictures of the missing pets below.

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Martin says the mobile home unit was the first house he'd lived in after becoming homeless. He once lived in a Mustang, now also burned up alongside his family's home. 

"This trailer pulled us off the streets and out of our cars and even that is gone, so we are trying to rebuild," said Martin. "Someone is responsible for this. That exact thing we spent years worrying about finally happened." 

Friends and family have started an online fundraiser for both the Martin family and the Galvez family.

"I know they can make new memories. At least we have ourselves. We have each other," said Leslie.

"It’s just devastating to have to start over again with nothing," said Martin.

The Red Cross is providing some assistance to families who have been displaced. Michael says he has used some of that funding from the Red Cross to buy clothes since he only grabbed a backpack and his animals while escaping the fire.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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