Missing 89-Year-Old Woman Whose Phone Went Silent During Fire In Calimesa Feared Dead
CALIMESA (CBSLA) -- One family is hoping a woman's home is the only thing they may have lost. The family is missing their 89-year-old mother. They are hoping, of course, that a neighbor might have taken her in.
Lois Arvickson was on the phone and telling family she was getting ready to evacuate the Sandlewood Fire.
On Friday afternoon, CBS2's Michele Gile said the woman was feared dead. Arvickson didn't turn up in any searches with neighbors.
On Thursday, Arvickson said she was getting in her car and just about to grab her purse.
The phone then went dead and the family has had no communication since.
The last thing witnesses saw was the woman's home catching fire and her garage going up in flames.
More than 70 homes burned at a mobile home park in Calimesa. At least 16 homes were damaged, authorities said.
The family, of course, is hoping Lois was long gone by then, the family told the Associated Press. They are at an evacuation center desperately waiting to hear that she is okay.
Another resident said that the fire moved incredibly fast.
"Fire just engulfed the entire park," Rosie Castalon told CBS2/KCAL9's Nicole Comstock.
Castalon got a first responder to rescue her dog. But her home was one of these that was a total loss.