By Sandra Baltazar Martinez
The Press Enterprise
Copyright 2007 The Press Enterprise, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
THERMAL, Calif. — Five-year-old Joshua Ochoa happily pulled a red wagon full of toys to show his mother and father.
Joshua and his five brothers and sisters were each surprised with a $100 gift card and bags full of presents that firefighters from the Riverside County Fire Department put together for them.
The surprise was a way to help alleviate the distress many families are living with after their homes were burned to ashes in an arson fire, said Riverside County fire Capt. Fernando Herrera.
“We hope this can help your children gain some normality,” Herrera said before calling each child’s name to hand them bags full of gifts.
The May 14 fire at Duros Mobile Home Park in Thermal left the Ochoa family and several others displaced. Eight trailers were lost and two others were damaged, leaving 10 children without a permanent home, Herrera said.
The woman accused of starting the fire, Guadalupe Mena de Anda, 51, of Thermal, has been arraigned and charged with six counts of arson, said Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office.
De Anda’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for today in Indio.
Meanwhile, Joshua’s parents, Enedina Lara, 34, and Juan Ochoa, 37, had to each live with relatives while they search for a new home.
Lara moved to Salton City with the children, and they sleep in one room at her brother’s house. Ochoa stayed behind in a trailer with his father in Thermal.
“We have nothing. I had no time to take anything out,” Lara said, remembering the day of the fire.
Catholic Charities is helping them find an apartment, Lara said.
With the $100 gift cards, the family will buy the basics, such as shoes and socks, Lara said. She said she had to temporarily quit her night job in Coachella because the 30-plus mile commute from Salton City interfered with her work and the children’s schedule.
“It’s tough, because now we don’t have a house or our schedules worked out,” Ochoa said in Spanish. Ochoa works in the agricultural fields picking bell peppers.
The money comes right on time, Lara said. Her 12-year-old son needs new pants and a shirt for his sixth-grade graduation. The children attend Desert Mirage, Toro Canyon or Las Palmitas Elementary schools in Thermal.
“I get upset because I don’t see my children completely happy,” Ochoa said. “They don’t have their own space to come to after school.”