A family whose home was destroyed last month in the Camp Fire in Paradise is finding the Christmas spirit in the kindness of the Santee Community.
The Harrison family left Santee 18 years ago for a job and a life in Paradise. They are back with little more than the clothes on their backs after that devastating fire.
With the support of their family and hometown community, they have found the strength to start over.
Without electricity or cell phone signal the warning to evacuate did not reach Jessica and Tyler Harrison before the embers and smoke did.
"Seemed against all survival odds to drive through the forest to escape a forest fire," Jessica Harrison said.
But that's exactly what they had to do. Tyler and Jessica dared the drive through an old jeep trail.
"It was moving 80 football fields in a minute, " Tyler Harrison said.
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Their teenage children made it out through town with the help of an older sibling and other evacuees. What was once lush pines and comfortable homes is now ash.
"All you see are burnt stumps and you could literally see through blocks of the town and everything just flat," Tyler said.
Hearing of the family's misfortune, Autumn Freund, a Santee resident whom the Harrisons had only just met, collected cash and gift card donations to put on this giving tree. Freund raised more than $3,000 dollars.
"The community has been so overwhelming and so kind and so welcoming it's been good to be back," Jessica said.
Another $3,000-plus was raised on the family's GoFundMe page.
"You think, 'God what is this world coming to?' but now you look at people that don't know you and say, "Here you go. We are going to help you out." So there is still a lot of good people in the world," Tyler said.
The Harrison family's loss is not the kind of thing Christmas stories are made of but the Santee community's kindness is.
The infrastructure of Paradise is so damaged rebuilding won't be possible for several years.
Tyler's job will follow him here. The company set up a satellite office just for him.
