SAN MARCOS, Calif. (KGTV) – Opal Jean Thompson sat outside of her home on Rancho Santa Fe Road in San Marcos.
But it’s not for the comfort of the warm sun on a brisk clear day.
“I heard the smoke alarms go off,” Thompson said. “I went back, and there was a flame coming out of my son’s room.”
The fire broke out just before 10 p.m. on Dec. 19.
“And he came out passed me and went up into the front. I got water to try to put it out, but I couldn’t. So I called 911,” Thompson said.
The fire tore through her son’s room as it torched the walls, furniture, photos of years past, and much more.
The black soot and fire marks plaster the walls in other rooms as the smell of smoke fills the home once filled with love.
But, Thompson’s home isn’t the only thing she and her family lost that dreadful night.
“The lady on 911 told me to get out of the house, and I tried to get him out, but he wouldn’t,” Thompson said. “And when they went in, he was unconscious.”
Thompson said crews took him to the hospital, and sadly, he couldn’t be revived.
After the fire, she’s now staying at a nearby hotel as she and her family pick up the piece of what’s next.
“For me, my concern, obviously, as my grandmother, is I want to make sure she’s going to be okay. And that’s what we are trying to do,” Alex Thompson, her grandson, said. “We’re going to still have to get back all together and figure out what we are going to do as a more permanent situation that’s going to be comfortable for her, and she can get around just like she used to and be able to have some sort of semblance of normalcy again.”
A grieving mother figuring out her next steps with incredible resolve and strength.
“Because I can’t change anything. I can’t fix it. I have to deal with it on a daily basis. I can’t guarantee tomorrow and yesterday is gone,” Opal Thompson said.
A GoFundMehas been set up to help Thompson find a new place to live and pay for other expenses during this time.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office says as of Dec. 31, the cause of the fire was still unclear.
