NBC 7’s Artie Ojeda shares the story of a couple who lost everything in the Lilac Fire except a military statue honoring Pearl Harbor.
A statue of an American bald eagle survived the intense heat of the Lilac Fire when 70 homes burned to the ground around it.
Now, the Bonsall couple who own the statue and the home destroyed nearby are looking for answers to questions they never dreamed they’d have to ask.
Pat and Dan Damon lived at the Rancho Monserate Mobile Home Park, near where the Lilac Fire broke out Thursday, Dec. 7.
As Dan noted, fire consumed their home on National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
The eagle statue, a gift from the American Legion, was one of the few things from their home to survive the flames.
“It still survived and I thought that was pretty moving to me and so it, just represents America,” Damon said.
The couple lost everything, except the clothes they were wearing. They even lost the keyboards Dan used to work as a musician.
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“My heart breaks for him,” Pat Damon said of her husband. “Because entertainers are all emotion.”
Now they're faced with trying to rebuild not only those homes, but their lives.
But they are determined to rebuild.
“Our past was our past, and that was our first chapter in life, now I'm trying to get my head around this, this is our second chapter of our life, so we get two chances now,” Pat Damon said.
The fire destroyed 104 homes, San Diego County damage assessors reported Monday.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire was 92 percent surrounded.
The cause is under investigation.
