Community members jumped into action and organized a donation drive to support several people displaced after a fire that destroyed their Santa Barbara Eastside residence on Sunday.

The blaze engulfed the single-story, multi-family residence on the 300 block of North Alisos Street, destroying the building and its contents, severely damaging four cars parked outside, and leaving 10 people, including an infant, homeless.

All the occupants were evacuated safely, Santa Barbara City Fire Department Battalion Chief Cory Cloud told Noozhawk on Sunday. 

However, one of the occupants, Eduardo Gallo, sustained second-degree burns on his right arm and was receiving treatment at UCLA Health’s burn center in Los Angeles, his sister Adriana Aguirre Salcedo, told Noozhawk.

She doesn’t know how long he will be at the burn center.

“We were able to call him; he’s been kind of like in and out of consciousness because of the pain, and from what I have heard, the treatment is really painful,” she said.

Aguirre Salcedo’s and Gallo’s mother, Maria Salcedo, also lived in the residence and managed the home, collecting rent from the other occupants on behalf of the owner, Aguirre Salcedo added. 

She spoke on behalf of her brother and mother on Tuesday.

Gallo reportedly remembers hearing “something short-circuiting” around the kitchen and living room area, where he sleeps, and that it “sounded like a little explosion” before flames appeared, which he attempted to extinguish, his sister said. 

“He was trying to put it out so it wouldn’t progress,” Aguirre Salcedo said. “When he realized he wasn’t going to be able to do that, he started knocking on everyone’s door to get out of the house.”

The fire was still under investigation, and the Fire Department is “not ready to release a cause and origin determination,” according to Battalion Chief-Fire Marshal Ryan DiGuilio.

Norma and Sebastian Aldana, who live about three blocks from the home, decided to drive by after hearing the news about the fire, they told Noozhawk.

Norma Aldana remembers seeing a couple of men sitting on the sidewalk across from the house, covered in ash and “in shock.”

Without hesitation, the couple invited them to breakfast at Milpas Taqueria, where they learned more about the men over bowls of menudo. She also gave them laundry detergent to wash the smell of smoke from their clothes, she added. 

Soon after, with the help of other neighbors, they launched a donation drive to support the displaced residents.

“We were looky-loos, and then we became doers,” Norma Aldana said. “Sometimes you don’t have to think, you just have to act.”

They are requesting adult men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, toddler necessities, toiletries, gift cards for food and groceries and luggage to pack belongings. 

Wanting to do more, Norma Aldana also posted the donation request on social media and was met with dozens of community members offering items.

She said she was overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from neighbors, tearing up with emotion.

“It’s good to know that people are there to help out,” she said. “I couldn’t leave without helping.”

Sebastian Aldana estimates at least 100 items have been donated by community members and local organizations, including support from Catholic Charities of Santa Barbara County and the Red Cross. 

They are still trying to contact all of the house’s occupants to offer their help, but have faced challenges because some evacuated without a phone, Norma Aldana said. 

One of the residents who went to breakfast with the couple was Jose Mancillas, who was awakened on Sunday by screams about the fire and woke his roommate up before they both climbed out a window. 

“When I heard the screams that the house was burning, the smoke and flames were starting to appear under the door,” Mancillas told Noozhawk in Spanish. 

He was able to take some clothes and whatever he could carry in his hands, nothing more, and threw it out the window, he added. 

His room, where he had been living for the past several months, and his car were completely burned, Mancillas added. 

On Monday, Mancillas said he had stayed the night with his brother in the area, but wasn’t sure what he was going to do afterward.

He also said Sebastian Aldana had delivered two bags of donated clothing that he picked some items from before passing them to another resident, Carlos Morales. 

Morales and his uncle lost two cars to the flames, and he left the residence with only his passport in hand; he told Noozhawk in Spanish.

They were awakened by knocking at their door, urging them to get out of the house. 

He remembered hearing what he believed to be the sound of glass breaking.

“We were scared when we saw the strong flames,” Morales said.

They were able to access a door in the residence to evacuate.

Morales said he’d been living at the residence for three years and felt very sad after losing his possessions in the fire.

“For one to be left without anything and return to do things all over again, it is sad,” he said

He was living with a family member in the Santa Barbara area when he spoke to Noozhawk on Monday.  

Both Morales and Mancillas said they had not heard from Salcedo, whom they knew as the manager of the home. 

“We had just paid a month of rent, and at the same time, we have not yet gotten any call, nothing, not even from the owner of the house,” Morales said.

However, Salcedo’s daughter, Aguirre Salcedo, said her mother is in the same situation as the other occupants.

“We don’t know how this process works, and this is something that they’ve never been through,” she said. 

Aguirre Salcedo, who lives in Lompoc, said she offered to let her mom stay with her, but Salcedo chose to stay with family in Santa Barbara to be closer to her son getting treatment for his burn injuries in Los Angeles.

Salcedo is also facing challenges securing her own long-term housing, her daughter said. 

The Aldana duo said they have outgrown their first donation spot, and plan to place signs at and near the burned house directing donors to a new drop-off location at 1001 E. Montecito St.

Norma Aldana encourages community members to put themselves in the resident’s place and consider donating items at the new drop-off location, or reaching out to them through the social media post.