SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24, 2007
Evacuee Saw Home Burn On TV, Over And Over
Christie Williams' Kids Watched, Too; You Can Help Family
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Play CBS Video Video Mom Loses Home To Wildfire Fighting back tears, mom Christie Williams speaks with Harry Smith, Julie Chen and Hannah Storm about her hope for the future, despite losing her home to a ravenous wildfire.
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Christie Williams on The Early Show Wednesday. (CBS/The Early Show)
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Photo Essay Forced To Flee Fires Southern California wildfires force more than 250,000 people from their homes.
But unlike some, who don't yet know the status of their homes, and others, whose homes escaped damage, Williams had the nightmare of actually watching her home burn down while watching TV coverage.
She told The Early Show Wednesday she saw video repeated several times. Her kids saw the video, too, though only once. They're 4, 2 and 1.
Williams spoke to The Early Show from outside San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, which is being used as an evacuation center.
She vows to go back to her property, which she nicknamed Shangri-La, even if it's just to live there in a mobile home.
On her Web page, Williams wrote, "We have lost everything, (daughter) Lela is devastated by the loss of her toys and favorite blanket, (son) Charlie keeps asking for his wooden rocking horse his grandparents made him and (daughter) Piper wants her routine back and I would give anything to be able to go back and grab her baby video tapes, her first laugh, her first smiles, I will miss those tapes."
To see two interviews of Williams from The Early Show Wednesday, click here.
If you want to help the Williams family, click here to get to their Web page.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 48 CommentsYou are wrong - insurance companies raise rates to cover losses. Example, your car insurance rate usually goes up if you file a claim. File what the insurance companies feel are too many (maybe 1 maybe 2...depends on a formula) they CAN & WILL drop your insurance.
My how your position changes. a while ago, you posted that the insurance companies would all but jump for joy to pay what they should--now you allude to them being retailiatory but still want to pretend we are demonizing the homeowners--we are not--what we are pointing out is that we are TIRED of paying for the bad choices of others--over and over again, ad nauseum. What insurers should do--is blacklist any location for certain types of insurance--do it like medical and call it a pre-existing condition and do NOT cover that particular calamity. Say for instance--those who built on fault lines could no longer be insured through normal insurers for earthquakes and those who build in wildfire corridors or near hurricanes--should get the same treatment. They should have to purchase separate, special insurance to live in those areas. That way, if disaster strikes, only they and their like compatriots would suffer the domino effect of their choice and the rising rates. I see no reason why the rest of us should repeatedly pay for people choosing to live on high risk areas. It''s like a healthy person having to pay the price for a lifetime of health problems of a drug abuser. They could build and live where they like--but they should pay a separate cost for some choices.
On the other hand--as someone who was intimately involved in the ARC--please consider that when you send money to the Red Cross less than .50 of each dollar goes to the victims--the money is actually used to pay employees and for other services including padding the other side of the organization--the blood service division. that may sound very altruistic--but most who work for the Red Cross make substantial salaries (the CEO made over 800K ater 9/11) and much of the money never reaches those who need it. I know of cases where money was sent for particular victims in an area, and the money was rerouted to other Red Cross projects instead. (yes, they can ask for money for a hurricane and use it elsewhere) the average family got around 1200.00 for all of their losses including losing a home, food, shelter, possessions etc---even though MILLIONS were taken in. This also happened after 9/11---the government had to step in to get the ARC to actually give money to the victims'' families. I never give through the Red Cross--because I know exactly how they operate, the volunteers in the Red Cross are the real heros--the avg. paid Red Cross Worker seldom has much compassion in my experience--it is just a job and each tragedy and charity event--just another payday.
Earthquake insurance was subsequently taken over by the state of California with much higher premiums and deductibles.
A ton of misinformation - the houses aren''t in forests, nor on some cliff for a great and dangerous view, nor are they the houses of the wealthy, nor are they in typical wildfire danger zones, nor is all of San Diego a wildfire danger zone. California is huge. Yeah, you hear about disasters here about as often as you hear about them on the east coast - because we''re about the size of the entire east coast. All you can say is that someone''s a dummy if they think that an earthquake risk, the occasional wildfire, is a reason to abandon major cities. I love the complaints though about money - California contributes a ton more in taxes than we use in services, disasters included. Like most blue states.
Posted by SusanHelit at 08:42 PM : Oct 24, 2007
I think you''d do well to read the article in the top story column about whether insurance rates will rise....
I think you better read the following story about Allstate and others. Allstate has declared they will not underwrite any new policies in California and are seeking to raise their rates on existing policies by 12%. THAT is for California, for the rest of us--the losses that result in this multibillion dollar payout will be spread around the rest of an insurance companies customers. it always is. Insurance companies are not actually there to pay out for disasters and as Katrina showed us--many tried to default or cancel policies and look for loopholes NOT to pay. Insurance companies are actually in business to make money. To use premium payments to invest and to use risk analysis to determine the least amount of risk so that payments from the insured can be exploited. I have worked for EF Hutton, Golden Rule, Lincoln, and Conseco--(corporate division) I can guarantee you that no payout is not accompanied by spreading the loss among the other insured and recouping those monies. You actually seem not know much about insurance. It is scary because it IS scary--and probable that this will have repercussions across the industry and into our own pockets.
Oooops - make that people who prefer ignorance and have a shocking lack of compassion, empathy or humanity.
Nope. You don''t have the facts, and facts are what is important. Show me a house burned down that was burned before, rebuilt, burned again, etc. - is in a clear fire hazard zone, and I''m not concerned. But that''s not the case here. Don''t like the facts - that''s not my problem.
As always - can''t attack the facts, attack the person. Thanks for proving me right yet again. If you had facts on your side, you''d be posting them, not foolishly talking about my mommy as if that''s supposed to make me run off.
And every place has some natural disaser that can happen. We get earthquakes (and maybe you don''t realize how large California is - just because you hear a lot about California disasters doesn''t mean much is happening in any one area - not like this is some little state like Pennsylvania or Iowa or whatever - it''s huge) - but the news exaggerates those - they''re mostly little shakers, and we''re built for it. Would you not build anywhere on the east coast because they get hurricanes? Yeah, right. And fires - brush fires - no biggie, not that large.
What this is - it''s a change in the environment, and that means it''s not possible to just predict it and not build there. Hotter and dryer weather. Changes in the desert weather creating a Santa Ana wind that lasted many times as long as normal, stronger than normal. Fires - normal. These - not normal.
Your insurance isn''t going to go up and make you lose your house - that''s a dumb scare tactic. Insurance is there for these losses, and will be there when you need it as well. That''s what you pay for.
Posted by SusanHelit at 07:11 PM : Oct 24, 2007
although fires can and do occur everywhere--wildfires do not. They require lots of vegetation, very strong wind, lots of trees, inadequate moisture...etc. Prarie fires or other low burning fires burn differently from those with a lot of trees, dry timber, wind corridors, etc --and both of these fires burn differently than those from buildings. With the exception of the Chicago fire in the late 1800s, you would be hard pressed to find any fires that burned out of control in any area besides California and now, the Southeast. Further, you would be very hard pressed to find even one season where this known disaster did not occur in California. YOu can set your clock by it. I used to live in LA and San Diego--esp in LA, the Santa Ana winds and dark, smoggy skies were an everyday occurence in the fall. The real problem is not the fire--but the gamble people take in where it will strike--add arson into the mix and it becomes a real cr@p shoot.
That being said--I will not donate to this woman or anyone else in the fire--because like it or not--when I get my new insurance rates--I am "donating" when I pay that new bill.
I do believe people that build or live in areas prone to certain natural disasters (California has these fires every year, the threat of earthquakes, mudslides and sink holes is yearly there also, Florida and other coastal areas have the threat of hurricanes and floods---these exceptional disasters (not regular fire but widespread wild fires) should require additional premiums, and if they are not covered--they lose. Their choice. Just like living in risky places is a choice. What is not a choice, is the fact that my premiums may double or triple to pay for the money the ins. companies have to pay out--and people like me get the shaft for nothing---there is no free ride--a lot of Americans need to stop acting like they are entitled to one--or barring that, that they should get to ride on the rest of our backs.
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