Exclusive: Family Member Speaks Out About Deadly Mobile Home Fire

PALM SPRINGS – One day after a fire killed a Palm Springsfamily, surviving loved ones mourn their loss.

“Right now the family is trying to make it through this second, looking beyond that is impossible right now,” says Alexia Vidal, sister of the mother who died in the fire.

Early New Year’s morning a fire ripped through a mobile home at the Western Mobile Home Park in Palm Springs, killing everyone inside. A mother, 30 year old Rosa Silva, her ex-boyfriend, her two daughters ages 6 and 11 and her 7 year old son.

“It’s all just starting to hit home,” says Vidal. “We are going through the house to see if we can find any memories, pictures.”

Little is found among the ashes. Just a rosary and the youngest daughter’s birthday dress she wore last month.

“For her 6th birthday all she wanted was a quinceañera party and Rosa gave it to her,” says Vidal.

Vidal says the family is very close, most live in the Western Mobile Home Park.

“Everyone loved them, all of our kids played together,” says Vidal.

As brothers and sisters comfort each other, the focus is now on a 13 year old girl, the only surviving child. She was at a friend’s house when the fire broke out.

“She’s very emotional, but has a lot of family to back her up,” says Vidal.

The last time the family was all together, was New Year’s Eve, just hours before the blaze. They all planned to go play in the snow the next morning, no one was more excited than Rosa.

“She told us if we didn’t wake up to take her to the snow, we’d be in trouble,” says Vidal.

Instead the family woke up to find Rosa’s home charred.

“I didn’t believe it,” says Vidal.

As if this tragedy in itself isn’t bad enough, now Rosa’s family is left to worry about how they can pay for five funerals.

“The majority of us live paycheck to paycheck,” says Vidal. “We are going to need anywhere from 15 to 25 thousand dollars. No one has that kind of chump change, we need the community to help.”

Without support, the grieving family fears they won’t be able to give their loved ones a proper goodbye.

“It hurts, it hurts,” says Vidal. “It’s scary that we may not be able to give them a funeral.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The family is seeking donations to help with funeral costs. If you’d like to help call Alexia at 760-673-5229, or you can email her at asakkinen30@yahoo.com. A car wash will be held all day on Sunday at Joe’s Tire on San Luis Rey and Ramon in Cathedral City.