The Inguito family rushed back to their Shandon home on Saturday afternoon from the Mid-State Fair to find it engulfed in flames.
They had their family photos, valuable baseball cards and military medals inside -- not to mention practical items like their clothes and medications.
Their house, which sits in the middle of a block in a working- class neighborhood, was destroyed in a fire that officials say was arson.
The Inguitos have an idea about who may have started the fire, but nobody is yet being charged with the alleged arson, according to CDF/County Fire.
Officials are searching for the driver of a gray, four-door compact sedan observed fleeing the scene of the fire.
"I wasn't really angry as much as thankful that nobody was hurt," said homeowner Rosann Inguito, 52. "(The arsonist) had no business being in our back yard. ... I don't know why anyone would try to hurt us."
Since the fire, Rosann and James Inguito and nine of their children and grandchildren have crowded into their 30-year-old daughter's three-bedroom home on Mesa Grande Drive down the street from where they used to live.
The family has used their minimal savings to buy new clothes and they have also received clothing donations from the Red Cross. James Inguito, 58, says he is lucky to still have three Hawaiian shirts. When the fire happened, he and his family were camping at the fairgrounds while their three granddaughters showed their animals.
Rosann Inguito, a retired Guadalupe fire official, is a 4-H leader who is active in the Shandon school district's Parent Teacher Organization. She said her family has fire insurance and they are meeting with agents to assess damage to their home
Firefighters have estimated the loss at $250,000, but the family says the value of the home is likely higher.
They moved to Shandon six years ago.
"We planned to stay here the rest of our lives," Rosann Inguito said. "We just want to rebuild our house and start a new life. We're not going anywhere."
The family is living on about $3,000 per month, she said. James Inguito, a Vietnam veteran, receives a military pension and Rosann gets retirement money from her fire department job.
Their home had five bedrooms. They plan to build a new four-bedroom house with larger bedrooms, but don't know how long that will take. In the meantime, they're looking for rental housing in Shandon.
"It's really pretty amazing nobody was hurt considering how big of a family we have," Rosann said.
Tribune reporter Laurie Phillips contributed to this report
Distributed by the Associated Press