Indio apartment buildings scorched, nine without homes

Nine people are without homes after a fire blazed through an Indio apartment complex.

“I don’t have nothing. All I have is these shorts I’m wearing right now. Everything was in my place and every thing was destroyed,” Mike Gilbert said.

Fire scorched the Plaza Del Sol Apartments on Arabia Street in Indio early Wednesday morning. For many, it was a terrifying wake up call.

“I was just asleep and someone was banging on my window and I got a little spooked and I ran out and the lady was just telling me there’s a fire and if any of the cars in front of the house to move it but luckily my truck was over there,” Cesar Aguirre said.

It took nearly 70 firefighters almost two hours to put out the flames. The fire left four apartment buildings destroyed, three others damaged.

Getting close to the ruin, you can see just how little time people had to leave in the middle of the night. They could barely take anything.

Melina Torres lives just three apartment buildings away from the devastation. Looking at the charred land, she recalls the horror she saw hours earlier.

“When we came out, there were balls of fire reaching to the top of the trees engulfing everything. Families running out. Some families came out just with blankets and purses, didn’t even have shoes,” Torres said.

She said recent fires all over the valley is a wake-up call for everyone.

“I’m like most people, I don’t really have anything in order. It just gets you thinking about what you have in place so you can get in and get out,” Torres said.