SAN DIEGO --
Firefighters banded together Monday to help one of their own rebuild in Ramona.
As many as 80 firefighters from San Diego Fire Rescue Department turned out to help Zac Valade. He spent the last four years pouring sweat equity into his dream home, only to have it burn in the Witch Creek Fire.
"I'm tired, but now I have to rear it up and do it again," Valade said.
The home was about one month from being sided with stucco when it was destroyed Oct. 22. Valade thinks the flames burned through a back doorway and destroyed the house from the inside out. He said he could see the flames as they approached and that he told his wife, Gina, to evacuate their three kids and their pets at about 1 a.m. He said he stayed behind and tried to fight the fire.
Although Valade has saved countless other homes, he was unable to save his own.
Valade began the cleanup with help from his firefighting friends and described what his dream home once was.
"Something kind of rare, kind of raw with a lot of soul and definitely a lot of my elbow grease mixed in," Valade said.
The Valades thought they had lost Gina's wedding rings, but, amazingly, they found them welded together.
Copyright 2007 by NBCSandiego.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
