An ABC News reporter who covered multiple wildfires throughout her career is now sharing her story after losing her home to the Palisades Fire.
Zohreen Shah, a Los Angeles-based correspondent, is putting the pieces of her life back together after the home she recently purchased with her husband Rishi Shah burned down in the Pacific Palisades Fire.
“I lost my home in the fires. It’s a total loss,” she began as the caption to a heart-breaking Instagram post shared over the weekend.
In the joint carousel with her spouse, Zohreen showed the aftermath of the devastation. The first photo was just a shell of what used to be.
“We started moving in last week. Over and over, I told Rishi I couldn’t believe this sanctuary was ours. We spent one night there. Just one,” the journalist said.
A second image gave a glimpse of what the modern, coastal property looked like before the wildfires ravaged the area beginning Tuesday, Jan. 7.
According to Zohreen, the property that the couple took six years to find was “perfect.”
“It was magical. We dreamed of retiring in that same home. Just five minutes from PCH, yet it felt like another planet. Deer walked up to the home, the birds sounded like a tropical island, and the ocean view was the California dream,” she wrote.
Another upload in her carousel featured a video of two deer exploring her back yard and galloping away one they noticed they’d been spotted.
Zohreen also reflected on her “peach, nectarine, lemon, and avocado trees” that were now gone.
The reporter said she and Rishi had finally found their “dream home” in November and made it official when they closed on Christmas Eve. They had only spent one night there before the historic blaze.
She said she had been “so proud” she was able to save enough for a down payment after sacrificing things like traveling or having kids — also noting that her mother and father never had a home and she worked really hard “with the dream of having what my parents didn’t have.”
She went on to call the property “perfect,” before calling out insurance companies and demanding answers for the tragic turn of events.
In an interview on Monday, Disney (the parent company of ABC) chief executive Bog Iger said, “For anyone at Disney who cannot immediately return home when the evacuation orders are lifted — some houses are gone, while others require extensive repairs — the company is providing two months of free furnished housing, among other benefits.”
Disney has also opened its studio wardrobe warehouses to employees who need clothes and shoes per human resources chief Sonia Coleman, reps told PEOPLE.
As of Tuesday, Jan. 14 evening, the Pacific Palisades Fire has burned more than 23,700 acres of land, and is currently just 18% contained, per Cal Fire.
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As state officials continue to investigate the cause of what The Wall Street Journal has deemed the costliest wildfire in United States history, lack of rain coupled with dry vegetation fueled the flames while severe winds helped them spread at rapid speeds.
Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.
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