The Yerington Rotary Club has been planning it’s Annual Air Fair Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser for weeks now. But when a Mason Valley family of 8 experienced the calamity of a house fire on Monday, September 23, 2024, the Rotarians decided to to dedicate the proceeds of Saturday’s Pancake Breakfast to help the family recover.
On Monday, September 23rd, Denise Gallaher reported: “My new neighbor’s house just went up in flames! This momma (Becky Hernandez) took on the inferno with a garden hose until the fire department arrived.
The tragedy is that they just bought the home and they did not have insurance. Now they and their 6 children are displaced: 4 boys, ages 5, 7, 8, 11, and 2 girls, ages 2 and 20. Their dreams of homesteading have just gone up in smoke.
The Red Cross assisted and helped the family get clothes, shoes (the kids were playing outside), and a hotel room, but they have no home to return to!
Their home is now wide open, missing walls and portions of the roof. There is extensive damage. The power will need repairs before it can be turned back on. Without power, the well (water) won’t work. They need everything and are starting with nothing but a few walls. They don’t even have a vehicle.
All money will go directly to repairing, rebuilding, or moving expenses.
Please help this family of 8 in any way you can. Located in Yerington, Nevada. They spent everything they had to move here and homestead.”
Neighbor Denise Gallaher reported this update on Tuesday:
I wanted to let everyone know that the entire family is housed at a hotel for the next 2 nights (thank you Red Cross ). A generous citizen has offered an apartment for up to 10 days after that, so right now, their immediate needs are mostly met.
What the family needs the most help with now is finding financing to rebuild. And the know-how to. To all the tradesman – if you’re a builder we need your help. We’re getting RHP Mechanical over Thursday morning to assess the damage.
There’s an semi-urgent need for a roofed dog kennel (10 x 10) for Rupert, their husky who is standing guard. He’s an escape artist and there’s holes in the fences. Rupert is unable to stay with the family in temporary housing.
Other needs include all their camping gear that was in the shed. Camping chairs, picnic table so the children can be comfortable while the adults work on cleaning and rebuilding the home.
Help clearing the brush in their back yard will help give peace of mind too and more room for the kids to play. Someone donated a swing set and we need help moving it there.
The family has been moved to tears several times by the outpouring of generosity and kindness displayed by our hometown and by friends near and far and anonymous donors.
There have been many tender mercies and miracles…The fire was 15 feet from the big propane tank and 3 ft from 3 smaller 25 lb. propane tanks. None of them exploded. The puppy was missing and we feared the worst but the firefighters rescued him. Most tender, the tribute to their angel baby survived the main room that was burned.
Thank you so much. I will continue to post updates. The next update will be after the damage assessment Thursday. Please feel free to reach out to me directly anytime.
From Michael Hernandez : “I want to say a thank you to the people of Yerington.. I’m new to town this was suppose to be a new life and new start for me an my wife and 6 kids…I started work, met the neighbors an everything was fine…then tragedy struck last night: my home was burned to the ground. I was on a bicycle ride with one son when I saw a smoke trail in the distance. I called my wife to have her look to see what it was, when she screamed it’s HERE and the phone cut off…this is when the real heroes came out. I was rushing to get back but couldn’t ride fast (my son is only 8 and couldn’t go fast). In the mean while my neighbors had come to get my wife and kids away…when I got to my street my kids were at a house of people I didn’t even know…and they took them in let them play and fed them… my across-the-street neighbors had grabbed my dog an tried to comfort my wife. By this time, Fire & Ambulance arrived: nothing short of an army 3 engines, 2 ambulances, a few police & 1 water tanker… and for that I am a amazed and ever grateful. So thank you to all of you brave men & women who came to our emergency and I’m sorry I took you away from you families to help ours. But I am forever grateful to each of you …. Yerington is a place of big heart and I may never meet all of you but THANK YOU…I’m sorry again for worlds longest message but I thought the community should know just how great it is and how many great-hearted heroes live among you.”
Head over to the Air Fair at the Yerington Airport on Saturday morning to eat stacks of pancakes at their biggest pancake feast in Yerington Rotary history!
Neighbor Denise also began a gofund me page for the Hernandez Home Rebuild:
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