Father, children try to cope with loss

It had been a month since Christopher Duran, 9, had seen his most valued possession. But despite its changed appearance, the fourth-grader climbed over the ash and tangled metal that was once his home and found it.

"This was my Xbox," he said to his father, George, holding up the blackened shell that once entertained him for hours.

The curly-haired boy knew his favorite game, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, was gone too. "It was in here," he explained, raising the burned game console.

When fire raced through Carson City on July 14, striking down 18 homes, not even a child's favorite toy survived the carnage. Now, more than 30 days after the devastating Waterfall fire, Christopher still misses his game. His father, who rented the home at 340 Betts Ave. and didn't consider renter's insurance a priority, is still trying to grasp what happened and replace what he lost.

"I'm trying not to think of it, but it's hard," the single father of Christopher and 15-year-old Amanda said last week standing in the only shoes he had left and wearing borrowed pants. "Since then, I've done a little soul searching."

Elizabeth Duran, George's sister in Reno, took in her homeless brother and his children. Since his only vehicle was also lost in the fire, he relies on her for transportation as well. The Red Cross gave him a one-time stipend of $480. He used that to get school clothes for the children. The Red Cross also promised vouchers for FISH and the Salvation Army.

Monday he was awaiting word on whether he could get into a two-bedroom apartment in Reno, and he went to a dealership to try to get a loan on another truck.

He starts a new job Friday in Reno.

Still, it's a daily struggle when you have no place to call home, and even if you did, you have nothing to put in it, he said. Plus, Amanda has been gone all summer and hasn't seen the destruction. He worries what her reaction will be.

"But things are looking up," he said. "My goal is to have a place before my daughter comes home."

Contact F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.