Family's 6,000-square-foot home reduced to ashes in Luther wildfire

The wildfire burned about 7000 acres on Friday destroying more than a dozen homes in the Luther area. One of those homes belonged to Jeanette Mills and her family.

“You could see the flames right here,” Mills recalls.

However, she thought that’s where those flames would stay after she was evacuated. She waited at the end of the road.

“I honestly thought I was coming back,” she said. “I thought I was just leaving for a minute.”

After seeing smoke in her home, law enforcement forced her to evacuate. She said she got out with her three dogs, passports, birth certificates and just the clothes on her back. Once it was safe to return, she soon saw there wasn’t anything to return to.

“It was so hot that there's nothing, my wedding ring's gone, everything's gone,” she said tearfully.

Mills has only lived here with her family for three years, slowly making this 40-year-old home their own.

“This was a 6,000 square foot home, doesn't look now but it was,” she said looking at the rubble. “Each day the realization comes, more and more.”

The large home is now reduced to ashes.

“The chimney's still there, that was the living room, that would have been the garage right here,” she said. “Nothing’s salvageable.”

Even though Mills has lost so much, she still manages to find humor in the small things, like the condition of her swimming pool.

“It's still full of water,” she said. “The front yard is still good.”

As the family gazes at what's left of their family home, they begin to see a glimpse of the future ahead.

“We'll rebuild and we'll start over,” Mills said.

The family does have a place to stay while they rebuild. They also have a GoFundMe set up if you would like to help, click here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-family-recovering-from-wildfire-loss