Although his home and livelihood were destroyed in a fast-moving fire that scorched thousands of acres in Dulzura on Wednesday, Ronnie Fukada is holding out hope that the things that are most important to him survived -- his three dogs.
“Only thing is, I’m hoping I can find my dogs," Fukada told NBC 7 Thursday afternoon before he was able to return home and see the damage that was done. "I’ve got three dogs missing. That’s the main thing I’m worried about. The equipment, you know. It goes like this, you win some, you lose some. So you just gotta start over.”
Fukada left his home Wednesday afternoon unaware that a fire was just minutes from sparking near state Route 94 and Barret Lake Road and would tear across about 4,200 acres of land within hours. Least of all did he know that his home and work equipment would be directly in its path.
“I was going down the hill, I passed the spot where the fire initially started probably within 5 minutes," Fukada said. "And I mean, if I would’ve left 5 minutes later, I would’ve seen the fire starting and I would’ve turned around and went back up the hill."
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His stepmom was the one who told him everything had burned. The way she described it, he believes the fire tore through his home quickly: “It was just a firestorm down there."
Fukada left home with nothing but the clothes on his back. Likely destroyed in the fire was his work equipment, including tractors and trucks. Despite the adversity, Fukada had a relatively calm demeanor.
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"Gotta start over. I mean there’s not much you can really do," he said. "I’m fortunate because the industry I'm in, at least I can recover. I can turn in the salvage and the scrap and turn it into something."
But he was anxious to return to his property to find his dogs.
“I'm just hoping my dogs were able to find some safe haven because they know that area,” Fukada said. "They’re going to run away from the fire as fast as they can and they’re going to find some kind of shelter, is what I’m hoping."
"So, I'd like to get out there as soon as I can, start calling them, and maybe they’ll hear me and as soon as they hear me, they’ll come running."
Fukada also had a cat that he doesn't believe could have been able to escape the fire but he hopes he'll be able to find her, too.
Cal Fire said at least three homes were destroyed by the fast-moving fire that forced more than 1,500 residents from their homes. Another three outbuildings, two sheds, two RVs, three barns and one commercial facility were also burned.
At least two firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and two residents were injured. All injuries were considered minor.
More than 200 firefighters were working to contain the blaze, which was 4,438 acres as of Friday afternoon and 20% surrounded.
All evacuation orders were lifted on Friday and the Tecate border crossing, which had been shut down since Wednesday, was scheduled to reopen Saturday morning.
