The Music Gals are hoping to rebuild home destroyed in fire
They lost cabinets filled with sheet music, some of their instruments
SAN JOSE >> After a fire reduced Elaine Miller and Jane Silver's Willow Glen home to ash weeks ago, all that was left were scorched sheet music, family pictures and a charred piano on their front lawn.
Among the losses were nine filing cabinets filled with music, including 2530 original songs, vital to their passion of performing dozens of times each year at retirement homes throughout the area.
“If you can imagine how much paper that is, I know that's why we burned so much,” Miller said. “I just had so much music in there. Things we were ready to pull out and do.”
The duo known as The Music Gals are determined to rebuild their about 1,200-square-foot home and continue bringing music to the lives of hundreds of other senior citizens as they wade through insurance issues, the investigation into the fire and emotions dealing with their losses.
The couple met nearly 30 years ago in the Los Angeles area and relocated to the River Glen Community, a mobile home park, about 13 years ago. The pair initially bonded over their shared love of music — Silver plays guitar and ukulele and Miller plays piano, guitar, viola and saxophone, among other instruments. After moving to the Bay Area for teaching jobs and retiring, Miller and Silver started performing sing-alongs at retirement homes across the region. Over the years, their tight-knit group of musicians has swelled to nine members.
Then a blaze broke out March 13 about 10:30 a.m., just after the pair had packed up their car with their instruments and headed to band rehearsal at their mobile home park's clubhouse. One of their neighbors ran over, screaming that their house was engulfed in flames.
“I ran and I saw there were flames over here, flames over there, just everywhere,” Silver said.
“I didn't believe it,” Miller added. “I thought he was kidding. I couldn't believe that our house was on fire.”
More than two dozen fire units responded to the fire and had the blaze under control by 11:18 a.m., said Fire Department spokesperson Erica Ray.
The Fire Department's arson team investigated the incident and ruled out arson, listing the cause as “undetermined.” As of April 10, the Fire Department has responded to 1,187 fires in the city this year, compared with 1,228 fires last year at the same point.
Questions about the fire linger for Miller and Silver, who said a gas leak had broken out a few weeks before the blaze. Miller said their insurance company had ruled out the gas leak as the cause for the fire, but she still wanted PG&E to come check out the home.
“I'm upset that nobody has seen this house except the insurance company,” Miller said. “I wanted to see an inspection done by PG&E or the fire company or something.”
PG&E confirmed it responded initially to the fire “to turn off gas and/or electric lines to make the situation safe for first responders,” but referred further questions to the Fire Department. A PG&E representative said the utility received a call Feb. 1 about possible gas odor and confirmed a leak at the house line. Since the leak was under the homeowner's jurisdiction, an independent contractor was called in to make repairs and put a cap on the gas and oven. PG&E said it conducted a safety check Feb. 2 to make sure the repairs had been done correctly.
The Fire Department said the residents are “seeking a level of investigation that is not customary for us,” according to Ray, who added that the arson team inspected the site “very thoroughly” during the investigation.
The Music Gals are planning on rebuilding their home on the same site — and have launched a Gofundme page, which has raised more than $17,000 as of Monday, to help fundraise.
It'll take about six months and cost about $200,000 to rebuild their home, of which the insurance company will cover about two-thirds, according to the women. The couple also lost about $30,000 worth of items, including three guitars, two pianos, a didgeridoo, rain sticks and maracas.
“The photo albums and the personal stuff like that were priceless,” Silver said. “They're just gone.”
At their busiest, they played four gigs a week, but the pandemic has stalled them almost entirely, leaving them with one gig once a month in Cupertino. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver and oldies from the '20s and '30s, including “It Had to Be You,” are among their most popular songs among senior center residents.
“I always feel better after rehearsal, even if we didn't play at these places,” Miller said. “It's respiratory therapy. Singing is wonderful for you.”
The couple said that they feel a sense of community with their neighbors in the River Glen mobile park, where they've lived ever since moving up to the Bay Area, and want to show them that they can rebuild.
They've even recruited a few of their neighbors to join the Music Gals and perform at senior homes with them.
“Some people are scared after the fire, and that's one reason I'm motivated to rebuild,” Miller said. “I don't want people to feel like you can just get wiped out in 20 minutes, and I don't want to feel like I can be wiped out in 20 minutes.”
Cheryl Magill, who lives down the street and saw Miller and Silver's home go up in flames, said she had an electrician overhaul her home after the fire.
“I certainly took some measures that I may not have taken. I had a complete electrical overhaul and made sure everything was good,” Magill said. “I had already the electrician lined up, but I got a lot pickier as a result. I walked him down here and said, `Don't let my house look like this one afterward.'
“We're all sympathetic to see these two wonderful ladies be without resources,” she added.
Miller and Silver are staying with some friends, who have empty rooms in their house after all of their children moved out, and have received aid from Red Cross for money to buy medical devices, among other items.
Miller said she's currently working on a song about being left houseless.
“We'll have to come up with a positive view or I won't want to sing it,” she said.