Mari Guerrero spent Tuesday morning salvaging family pictures after the home where she, her husband, 9-year-old daughter and 2-year old son had lived in for the past nine, years burned to the ground.
To make matters worse, the couple had just invested several thousand dollars in renovating their trailer.
Guerrero said she could not have prepared for this, especially with the holidays weeks away.
“Instead of celebrating, now we’re going to have to figure out where to live,” Guerrero said. “My daughter is really sad because she had to wear the same clothes to school two days in a row."
Guerrero said even though she lost her home and important documents like social security cards and her children's birth certificates, she's thankful that her family was not home at the time of the fire.
However, she wonders if there would have been something left to build on, if the fire department had responded sooner.
Her neighbor, Maricela Rodriguez who was one of the first to realize the home was on fire, claims that by the time help arrived, the mobile home was halfway gone.
“Well it was about 20 minutes or more - a long time- (before firefighters arrived), but you know we were all scared so we didn't keep track of time," Rodriguez said.
Brownsville Fire Marshal Ben Nuñez said the fire department received the call for help at 5:24 p.m. Monday and firefighters arrived only 10 minutes later.
Nuñez said unfortunately, it could take under 5 minutes for flames to take-over a small trailer.
"Whenever we have a house that's on fire or any structure,” Nuñez said, “if you're looking at it, if you're in the area - in the vicinity - I mean, one minute seems like an hour to you."
With no place to call home for the holidays, Guerrero said, her family has turned to friends for shelter until they can figure out how to start over.
If you would like to help this family you can call, Mari Guerrero at (956) 755-8836 or Omar Mendoza at (956) 572-2298.
The family's 9-year-old daughter wears size: 10-12
Their 2-year-old son wears size: 2 toddler
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT