3 Family Members Feeling ‘Helpless’ After Each of Their Homes Is Destroyed in L.A. Fires: ‘We Still Have to Cover Our Mortgage'
Robert Lara lost his home in the fires along with his mother Domitila Hinojosa, and his uncle in Altadena
Robert Lara lost his home in the fires along with his mother Domitila Hinojosa, and his uncle in Altadena
cnn Robert Lara, pictured:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Three-Family-Members-Each-Lose-a-Home-in-LA-Fires-011224-01-c9c2f8a4194a4073a5eb1889dcc935cf.jpg "3 Robert Lara. Family Members Each Lose a Home in L.A. Fires: One Says 'I Feel Helpless'")
A California family has been left homeless after three members each lost their house in the Los Angeles wildfires.
Robert Lara, his mother Domitila Hinojosa, and his uncle have lost everything due to the Eaton Fire in Altadena, per CNN.
“I feel helpless, and I feel like I need the help and I don’t know where to go,” Lara told the outlet. “My uncle was on the [same] street. His house is gone. My mom’s house is gone. I’m gone.”
“I had my last little dinner here. There was no power and I still said, ‘I’m just holding the fort. I’ll be the last one to leave. My house is not burning,’ and it’s gone,” he continued. “This was all I really wanted to get to, and all I found was nothing."
Hinojosa, who is diabetic, lived just a few blocks away from Lara with her second son, who is disabled, and now the pair are also homeless as a result of the fires.
Related: L.A. Fires Live: 11 Dead, Officials Say, as Firefighters Make Slight Progress Towards Containment
“This morning when I wake up, I say, ‘I need to go back to my house,’ ” Hinojosa told CNN. “What happened? Where my home? I want to go back, but I can’t. I can’t go back.”
More than 80,000 people have been displaced and the L.A. County Medical Examiner has confirmed at least 16 people have died in the L.A. wildfires.
The blaze started in the Pacific Palisades and spread through the Eaton area in California on Jan. 7, before reaching 10,000 acres across Pasadena and Altadena on Jan. 8.
“This is your everyday, hardworking construction, gardening, housekeeping, your everyday essential workers with nothing,” Lara said.
Despite losing their homes, he shared that he and his family still have to deal with their home insurance and pay their mortgages. “We still have to cover our mortgage. I called my lender and I still have to continue paying,” he told CNN. AP Photo/Nic Coury Firefighters work inside a burned structure while battling the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8
CNN reported that the family applied for assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency which was not approved.
FEMA told the outlet “That’s not an unusual response, which could be as a result of people not filling out the forms correctly.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Lara and his family are currently living in another family member’s Airbnb until they’re able to get help for their situation and start rebuilding their lives, per CNN.
“Yesterday, I had it all. I had a roof, I had a lawn for my dogs, and now, I’m in a little confined square not knowing where I’m going to go next,” he said.
