Moore loses home but receives heartfelt surprise

Marla Moore, an award-winning photographer who resides in Fallbrook, sadly lost her lovely custom redwood home and studio on Via Chaparral during the devastating Fallbrook (Rice Canyon) Fire.

Moore explained that, while working in downtown San Diego, she received a phone call from her son on that Monday morning, October 22.

“My son called and said that he thought that the fire was getting pretty close to my home, so he was going to take his truck up there and take as much as he could out of the house,” said Moore. “He got my computer and a few other things.”

Stuck in downtown San Diego, Moore couldn’t get on the freeway because of the gridlock, she said. Instead, she took the train to Oceanside. By the time she made it back to Fallbrook, she recalled how she had very little time to evacuate and collect her possessions.

“I only got some of my photographs and some professional lighting; I didn’t have much time, because I was already past the mandatory evacuation time,” she said.

She went on to say how she was unable to collect her old family photos. These special photographs, said Moore, were of her deceased parents.

The next day, Tuesday, Moore decided to take a drive up to her home, hoping all was intact and safe.

“When I came around my corner, everything looked fine and the houses around me were fine,” she said. “The oleander was unscathed. When I got to the top of my driveway, absolutely nothing was left, only my fireplace.” Moore stared at the blackened rubble, trying to digest the nightmarish reality before her.

In a shocked state, as she walked around the destruction, she oddly noticed how a rattan bar that was once in her backyard was hauled down to the lower portion of her property.

“It didn’t look right,” said Moore.

She hurried toward it and inside was a heartfelt surprise: old photo albums of her parents and immediate family.

“It was incredible,” she said. “<A> firefighter must have grabbed the bar, grabbed a good sum of my photographs, put it in the bar and dragged the bar down the driveway so it wouldn’t burn.”

Also nestled within the rattan bar was an arts and craft bowl Moore’s son made as a child.

Some of Moore’s irreplaceable memories were rescued by a kind firefighter.

“I really want to thank this firefighter, because those things are all I really have,” she said. “I never would have been able to get this stuff out. I’m so thankful.”

During the mandatory evacuation, Moore decided to stay in Fallbrook at a friend’s home and work on a professional level photographing the Rice Fire, as she had done in the 2002 Gavilan Fire. Moore also assisted concerned friends who were evacuated.

“People called me and wanted me to check on their houses. Some were saved and some were not,” she said.

Moore will always remember how Fallbrook was a “ghost town” during evacuation week and described a heart-wrenching scene when the fire reached the Riverview area. “It looked like a volcano erupted,” she said.

While still numb with shock from all that was lost in the fire, Moore has begun to make plans for the future and is moving forward.

“I have already gotten some building permits to try and rebuild my home in Fallbrook,” she said.

More than likely, Moore will continue to work in downtown San Diego and stay with friends. “I’m just going to try and get things going again,” she said.

While Moore puts the pieces back together, she will remain ever thankful to that special firefighter who was kind enough to save some of her cherished memories.