Community supporting South SF woman known for giving back after family home burns
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- Fire officials in South San Francisco say their investigation into a house fire is focused on a downed power line. The family wasn't home, but the house is a total loss and a dog is recovering.
The house fire happened Friday but since then, we've learned that the woman whose house burned was featured in an ABC7 News story last year. At that time, she went out of her way to help others and now her family is homeless.
Cellphone video shows flames shooting into the air in South San Francisco, fully engulfing Nelly Santana's home.
"Once I got into the office, I got a call from the neighbors telling me my house was on fire," Santana said.
Santana and her family were all safe, as they had left the house thirty minutes prior to the fire.
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But firefighters later found their dog Simba inside, hiding behind a sofa.
"Everyone was very excited because we found the dog, he was still alive, but he's not doing well at this time, we had to rush him to the ER to get the oxygen," Santana said.
Simba is now coughing and struggling to breathe.
"As we all know, it's very costly with the oxygen and the X-rays and all the medication, so we're doing our best to just treat him at home with an inhaler," said Santana.
Santana has a wedding boutique and stepped in last year when a bride-to-be was left without a dress days before her wedding in a nightmare scenario. She gifted her a designer dress free of charge.
Now though, Santana and her family are staying at her mother's home and even having to wear her mother's clothes. She is grateful that the community has donated thousands of dollars to help them since Friday's fire, but says the biggest challenge was telling her kids what happened.
'We sat them down and told them that our house and all the toys and things that they had in there were burned but they will be very, very blessed to be alive," Santana said.
South San Francisco Fire Chief Matt Samson says the preliminary investigation has found that the fire "started outside the home and there is substantial burn marks and damage in the area where a power line had fallen."
He says a gas meter caught fire, which made putting out the flames even more challenging.
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Santana believes there was a higher power that saved her family that day: her late father. A photo of him survived the fire.
"I had this same picture in my office and everything there melted because it was so hot in the office or burned," Santana said. "This picture was in the house you can still smell the smoke of it. It survived and to me I feel like he was there guarding us."
South San Francisco Firefighters haven't yet determined an official cause. A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the family.
PG&E says that the South San Francisco Fire Department should be contacted for any information about the fire or cause, saying:
"As far as undergrounding, we are putting thousands of miles of powerlines underground in the highest risk areas, those places identified as Tier 2 or 3 by the CPUC High Fire-Threat District map."
"Here is a map showing those locations in San Mateo County."
"As far as the recent Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), it impacted about 14,000 of our 5 million-plus electric customers. It is our last-resort tool to deal with wildfire risk. We initiate a PSPS when severe weather conditions pose a significant wildfire threat. High winds, low humidity, and dry vegetation in these areas can necessitate a PSPS to ensure community safety."
