‘Blessed to be alive’ Coachella woman loses home in vegetation fire
A Coachella woman is recounting the moment her home went into flames.
“It was so traumatizing and it was so real, when you look at the amount of damage, it really is unbelievable,” said Candice Elorie, Property and Event manager of the club.
Last Monday, we reported on a fire near Tyler Street that burned at the Corona Yacht Club compound. Palm trees and vegetation fueled those flames, charring at least a quarter of an acre.
For 20 years, Elorie has worked as the property and event manager at the Corona Yacht Club, living on the property for the last five years.
“This was like my walkway. And then I had a yard right here, all fenced. And then right here was my doorway right here," Elorie said.
On August 29, flames quickly engulfed the palm trees behind her home.
“It's like a wall of fire. And it's so hot and beating down. Everything's falling to where, you know, I mean, things fell on me things it was just literally traumatizing, to be honest with you," Elorie said.
One of the workers on the property, Alfredo, telling her to get out immediately.
“So I come out of my house and I look up and oh my god. I mean, the trees were it was like an inferno. I mean, it's like nothing I've ever seen. It was just like, poof, and it was it was moving so quickly, like from tree to tree," Elorie said.
Panicked, with no time to waste, Elorie got away with her cat and puppy, Mischa. Driving away just in time, as everything else in her home went up in flames.
Driving away just in time as everything else in her home went up in flames.
With only minutes to spare, Elorie said it’s a moment she never could’ve prepared for.
“It sounds like two minutes might sound like a lot. But it's not," Elorie said.
Elorie continued, “You know what anybody says, Oh, you have time if you were ever gonna fire I grabbed this, I grabbed that. You don't have time. You panic no matter what. I mean, I tried to keep my cool, but you're thinking Dear God, you know. I mean, it was the scariest thing I've ever been through."
And that if it weren’t for Alfredo, she believes she wouldn’t be alive today.
“If he hadn't saved my life. I would have perished in the fire. There's no question," Elorie said.
Elorie says a nightmare she continues to wake up every day, and that she’s still trying to figure out where to go from here.
“You never anticipate something like this. You just can't, you know. So now it's the you know, I escaped with just what's on my, on my body, and my dogs, my cat. That's it. But I'm thankful. I feel very, I feel blessed to be alive and grateful.”
