Fallbrook family working to replace home burned in Rice fire

By: JOHN RAIFSNIDER - For the North County Times | Saturday, December 29, 2007 8:58 PM PST ∞

FALLBROOK - Originally built for a Hollywood photographer, the house on Ranger Road that was home to Paul and Barbara Borden for most of their five decades together offered a picturesque view of east Fallbrook.

Editors' note: This is the first in an occasional series of stories about a North County family's recovery from the October 2007 wildfires.

But during the early stages of the Rice Canyon fire on Oct. 23, flames raced up the steep slope between Highway 395 and their home, engulfing the 1,600-square-foot structure, and the adjoining garage and workshop. Within minutes, fire officials say, the flames consumed nearly everything the Bordens owned.

Five days later, the Bordens were allowed to return to their 2.5-acre property. They found their home flattened, their pool blackened with soot and much of their grove burned.

Paul Borden remarked at the time that the view of east Fallbrook and the entrance to the Temecula Valley was broader after the fire, which leveled homes and groves that had sprung up on the hillsides over the last 40 years. The new view, he said, was reminiscent of 1968, when the couple first moved into the home.

"Back when we first moved into this house, you could see clear into that valley over there that leads into Temecula," Borden said. He gestured toward the Riverside County line as he walked among the broken glass and ash where his home once stood.

"When we moved here, there wasn't that wide ribbon of concrete down there that they call the I-15."

The couple - who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary earlier this year - said they are thankful to have made it out of their house alive, but they are still looking for solutions to the difficult challenges presented by the loss of the only home they've owned.

"First of all, we're happy to be alive and unharmed," said Paul Borden, a career Marine and a retired Camp Pendleton civil service worker.

"The only thing I wished I had done was get ready to leave a little sooner than I did," he said. "We had people call us and tell us to pack up and get out, but honestly, I could see the fire off in the distance in Rice Canyon and I never expected that fire to jump Interstate 15."

Paul Borden said a fire earlier this year started on the shoulder of Highway 395 below his home and grove. It was so quickly doused by crews from the North County Fire Protection District that he fully expected another valiant stand by firefighters would keep the flames from spreading.

Winds that fateful morning, estimated in excess of 75 mph, blew softball-sized flaming embers across the interstate and Highway 395, setting tinder-dry brush ablaze, and pushed the flames toward the Borden home, likely making it the first structure lost in Fallbrook proper.

"We lost our home, for sure, but we also lost almost all of our important papers and other things that we valued," Barbara Borden said in the days after the blaze.

"I tried to get what I could together in the little time we had before we were told to get out," she said. "We were warned, but we'd been through fires and even a flood here before, so we thought we'd get through this, too. Unfortunately, we guessed wrong."

In the days and weeks after the wildfire, the Bordens began the long process of working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other state and county entities in seeking aid, and securing permits, loans and help in determining the proper steps to take in rebuilding their home.

They were also in immediate contact with their homeowner and auto insurance agents.

Navigating the road to recovery

In our next report, the Bordens will share their experiences with cleaning up after the fire, the help and hindrances of government agencies, and the response of insurance companies in settling their claims. We'll also detail the Bordens' decision-making process in choosing what type of home to build and their interactions with contractors.