Cameron Mathison has opened up about the heartbreak of losing his family home in the latest round of California wildfires.
The former Hallmark star and “Dancing with the Stars” alum sometimes got emotional as he talked about the devastating situation.
He revealed what he managed to get out of the house before it burned, and wiped away tears as he thought about all that was lost.
Cameron Mathison Saved Some Photo Albums & His Dog’s Ashes
Mathison revealed the loss of the home in an Instagram post he shared on January 8. The video showed where his house had been, and all that remained unburned was part of the patio.
The actor talked with Entertainment Tonight later on January 8 and explained how he initially handled the emergency. Mathison explained that he has been living in the home alone since his kids are in college abroad and he has split from his wife. His son had already returned to school in Europe, but his daughter was still in Los Angeles and staying with her mom.
Mathison went to dinner on the evening of January 7 and noticed what he believed was the start of the fire in the distance. He told TMZ that as he finished dinner, he discovered his estranged wife Vanessa had been urgently calling him, telling him he needed to get to the house and get family belongings.
He went back to his house and “It’s just total smoke and embers and ashes in the air,” he said.
“No houses at that time were burning in that area that I could see or that were being reported on, but it wasn’t good. And so I knew that the evacuation order was in. We weren’t in the mandatory evacuation area yet, but we were right on the border,” Mathison explained.
He grabbed a few things and headed to his estranged wife’s apartment. As he saw on the news how things were progressing, he decided he needed to get back to the house to retrieve more belongings.
Mathison managed to grab the family’s passports and birth certificates, as well as some photo albums. “I forgot a few photo albums, which breaks my heart,” he noted. He also grabbed the container holding the ashes of his beloved dog Red, who died a year ago.
The Actor Is Heartbroken to Have Lost Everything Else
In the morning, Mathison saw the news covering his neighborhood, much of which had been burned down. He couldn’t spot his house, though, and he drove there to check it out. The video he took as he drove through his neighborhood was what he posted on Instagram.
When Mathison shared it on Instagram, he removed the audio that had originally been on the video. During some of his recent interviews, however, the original was played and the actor wailed as he saw how terrible the damage was.
“I turned that corner and it took my breath away because there was nothing. It was as if there was nothing ever built there,” he explained.
Mathison admitted, “Somewhere in my heart, I didn’t really believe that the house was gonna burn.”
He’s heartbroken over the items he didn’t get out of the house, like projects the kids did when they were little. There were also additional photo albums he hadn’t managed to take with him that he’s devastated to have lost.
There was nothing salvageable after the fire destroyed the home, Mathison said. All he has is what he managed to take with him the night before.
Amid the heartbreak of what the family lost, Mathison reminds himself, “We’re all safe. I keep coming back to that we’re all safe.”
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