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Family Tries To Regroup After Fire Sends Mom To Hospital, Kills 4 Pets

NEWHALL (CBSLA.com) — A Newhall family is still trying to regroup Sunday after a fire ravaged their home, sent the mom to a hospital with smoke inhalation and killed four pets Friday afternoon.

The family lived in the 24900 block of Alderbrook Avenue.

The fire was reported just after 3:40 p.m. It started in the garage and quickly spread to the house.

Louis Garcia spoke to KCAL9's Rachel Kim Sunday night, still surrounded by charred rubble. He's still trying to make sense of the tragedy.

"To lose everything in one moment. I couldn't figure out how it happened," said Garcia.

Kim says Garcia now has to figure out their next move and where they will go.

"The first thing I see, is my dog [dead] on the floor," says Garcia, getting emotional.

He lost two dogs and two cats.

Garcia was working in Bakersfield Friday when his wife and 13-year-old son called him.  His wife noticed smoke coming from the garage before the flames erupted.

"She went to open the door and it was ... like a bomb went off," he says.

Garcia's wife was treated for minor injuries and his son escaped unharmed.

Only one of the family's pets -- a dog named Passion --  survived.

"Our clothing, and furniture and ... the walls are just incinerated," said Garcia.

The Garcias lived in the home for three years.  It's difficult for him to look at what is left without breaking down.

"It is really hard. When it's your first house, you know, you're making the payments. It just gets me. My son is alive and my wife, that is what I care about," Garcia says.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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