That night, as 75-mph winds stoked flames that encroached on their 1,600-square-foot house in Oakridge Mobile Home Park, the Trabilcys rushed from the danger zone with just a trash bag stuffed with two pairs of Levi jeans, socks and insurance papers.
Inside was Lily, their 10-year-old tabby, Olivia Trabilcy’s wedding ring and her husband’s Army documents.
Both were sure they would make it back to their one-bedroom, two-bathroom home, remembering at the time that they were allowed to return home a month before when an evacuation touched a portion of the hills in which they live.
The Sayre fire, however, was different.
“All you could see was red,” said Olivia Trabilcy, 68, a retired substitute teacher in the Burbank Unified School District.
As the two left their home, George Trabilcy, a 71-year-old retired aerospace mechanic, called out to his neighbor that flames were near — making sure he made it out alive — as he and his wife drove quickly to their daughter’s home in Burbank.
The next day, they found their house in ruins, along with many of their belongings and pet.
“We didn’t think it would burn to the ground,” George Trabilcy said. “But this time, it cleaned out everything.”
With no home and no basic necessities, apart from the trash bag of goods they managed to rustle together before leaving, the Trabilcys were forced to rely on their family for support.
Their daughter Laurie Krattiger, who works at the city’s Community Federal Credit Union, was quickly pressed into action, utilizing the help of well-placed friends that set off a chain of generosity.
First, Krattiger spoke with City Manager Mary Alvord, who is her next door neighbor and one of Burbank’s most visible figures.
