San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
FAMILY FINDS SUPPORT AFTER HOME BURNS IN WIND-FUELED FIRE
Friends and former students of educators Doug and Michele Howarth are stepping up to help the Rancho San Diego couple, who lost their family home of more than three decades in Wednesday night’s Willow fire.
The Howarths’ two-story home on Wind River Road was destroyed in the fire, which ignited near a steep, brush-covered hillside and charred 30 acres as fierce Santa Ana winds howled. The spread of the fire in the canyon was contained about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
Their daughter, Gwendolyn Pavlick, who lives in Carlsbad, said nearly everything in the house is gone, including yearbooks and letterman jackets belonging to her and her sister, Kate, who lives in Hawaii. She said a few items in a garage were salvaged.
Sheriff’s investigators said the cause is undetermined but the fire may have been lit accidentally when a heat lamp in a chicken coop at the bottom of the hill blew over.
Josie Kasyouhannon, a former student of Michele Howarth, started a Gofundme campaign at gofundme.com/f/3ynu9q-20000 with a plea to “please help this kind and generous couple who have resided in our community for decades.” Howarth taught at Magnolia and Vista Grande elementary schools in El Cajon for 30 years. Doug Howarth was a teacher and counselor at Chula Vista and Bonita Vista high schools and later at Cuyamaca College for 35 years.
By Saturday evening, more than $22,000 had been raised.
The charred home is now surrounded by a fence, with handmade signs of support on the garage that read, “We are here for you” and “Sending love and big hugs.”
Pavlick said her parents, both 69 years old, had lived in the home on Wind River Road for 33 years. Michele Howarth was at her daughter’s North County home when the fire broke out; Doug Howarth was in bed when he was awakened by a San Diego County Sheriff ’s deputy rapping at his door, shouting for him to get out.
Pavlick said her father, still in his pajamas, was able to grab his wallet, phone and car keys, and raced down the stairs, making it out as fire headed toward the kitchen window, directly underneath the master bedroom.
“A neighbor had called my mom and told her they couldn’t find my dad, but my mom called and my dad picked up,” Pavlick said.
“He told us, out of breath, that he had escaped, but at that moment he was watching our house in flames. I fell to the floor and prayed, thanking God that everyone was alive.”
Pavlick said her parents are staying at her grandmother’s house nearby and that they are trying to find out the name of the deputy who got her father out in time.
The Howarths’ nextdoor neighbors, Gene and Barbara Villagrana, who have lived in their home for 37 years, said they saw a shed on fire in the canyon below and soon watched as flames of 10 to 15 feet high started racing along the brush.
“We were fortunate it didn’t catch this house on fire,” Gene Villagrana said. “The wind was moving very quickly. I said to my wife, ‘Get the dogs and get in the car, we’re getting out of here.’”
He added: “Doug said he was down on Willow Glen Road looking up at the houses and he said he saw his house just go. It’s just really sad.”