After Woolsey fire, only a handful of memories survive for some Bell Canyon homeowners amid the ashes

His hillside home smoldered but a handful of memories were spared.

As Shane Clark assessed his newly incinerated Bell Canyon property on Saturday – one of more than a dozen houses leveled in the community by the aggressive, wind-fueled Woolsey Fire – four pieces of paper offered solace.

Thoughtful firefighters snagged many of the 28-year-old accountant’s belongings, including his most important possession: four ultrasound images of Clark’s unborn son, which the first responders nabbed off the fridge right before flames engulfed the home.

“These are the only copies we have,” Clark said, as firefighters continued to spray water on his smoldering property. “We can rebuild, but the things they were able to take out were more valuable than the structure itself.”

“I’m very thankful for what they could do,” he said.

With his home smoldering behind him, Shane Clark talks about the ultrasounds that LA City firefighters rescued off his refrigerator door. #WoolseyFire #ocregister #scng #lafire #LAFires pic.twitter.com/rTVXok7eCl

— Kevin Sullivan (@sullikevphoto) November 11, 2018

No such memories were spared for some of Clark’s neighbors.

“Everything I have has turned to ash,” said Greg Meneshian, after surveying his house – what little was left of it – on Saturday, mere hours after the Woolsey Fire swept through Bell Canyon, torching his home to the ground.

As neighbors slowly returned to the eastern Ventura County hillside community on Saturday in the wake of the windswept blaze, many learned for the first time whether they still had a home. The fire had skittered cruelly through the area, leveling some 15 to 20 houses at random, while ignoring others entirely.

Chimneys and stone masonry stood bare next to charred cars. Hillside homes disappeared into avalanches of smoldering debris. Live gas lines burned freely, shooting flames into the air. A noxious smell of burnt plastic pervaded.

Meneshian first learned of the destruction via a text message video that showed his house ablaze. When he finally was able to survey the damage for himself, he said he could identify only three of his belongings. On Saturday, he wondered aloud how he’d keep his two daughters in their local school district now that his home was destroyed.

“My kids are taking it really hard, especially my oldest, because all her memories are gone,” Meneshian. “I really don’t know what’s next.”

Firefighters worked Saturday to extinguish spot fires around the Bell Canyon hillside neighborhoods. The Woolsey fire has become one of the most destructive in the region’s history, burning 70,000 acres, destroying more than 100 homes, and displacing upwards of a quarter-million people.

While most Bell Canyon residents left the neighborhood as the fire approached Friday, others stayed behind to fight the blaze first-hand.

Mark Leiss, 49, said he used his garden hose and buckets of water to battle the fire as it approache his property, even as three of his neighbors’ homes burned to the ground.

“The whole back of the house dropped off, and it was pretty much like a bomb; and then a propane tank exploded, and that was another bomb,” Leiss said. “I’ve never been that scared in my life.”

Micki Davidovicz, 54, didn’t know if her Bell Canyon house was standing until Saturday afternoon when she drove up. “We have a home!” she exclaimed. She was mistakenly told that her house had burned. “I was crying that I didn’t get my daughter’s bat mitzvah photos.” #WoosleyFire pic.twitter.com/ktbhKgYLsk

— Jordan Graham (@JordanSGraham) November 11, 2018

Micki Davidovicz, who left her home quickly with her fiancé and three dogs on Friday as flames approached, was told by a neighbor that her home had burned. But as she drove up her street Saturday, she learned for the first time that her friend had been mistaken.

“We have a home!” Micki Davidovicz exclaimed, exiting her car. “I was crying that I didn’t get my daughter’s bat mitzvah photos,” she said.

Clark, who’d lost his home, said he’s already thinking about the next steps. He’s staying with friends for now, but soon he’ll have to file an insurance claim, find a rental house, and then begin the task of rebuilding on his torched property.

But for Bell Canyon residents whose houses escaped damage, many said they remain concerned about what might happen Sunday if the strong Santa Ana winds return as expected.

Leiss, working on 48 hours with little food or sleep, said he was mentally preparing to once again fight for his home, if necessary.

“I’ll be here,” Leiss said. “I have to. I’ve gone this far.”