A landlord from Hopkins woke up to one of his rented homes on fire. He was alerted this morning but up to now, he still has no idea how the fire started. He told us that he was renting to an employee of Seiri Del Mar but at the time of the fire, a woman and her two kids were there. He told us via Zoom what he learned from her.

rightCharlton Castillo, Fire Victim
"Well this morning, somebody called me almost around nine in the morning. I wasn't even I was, sleeping, but I woke up to the call and told me that my house was on fire on the north end of the village, and I woke over me and my spouse. We woke up and we went to this, we went to the spot, and when we got there, the house was almost flaming. It was in flames already."

"I rent houses and this was one of my rental house on the north end of the village."

"The guy, the rent was not there. But I found them. The lady told me she was there. Her and her two kids was there. And when she said she was in the room because she was doing laundry, and she woke up and she said she's about five and woke up and went looking around and see where the fire was coming up from. And she said her two kids were in the living room. So she went to the back room and saw that the fire was burning. So she said she tried to turn it off, but it was too much flame to turn it off."

"She don't know what started a fire. We do not know exactly how the fire was. She did not know how the fire started, where it started from."

Reporter:
"Do you know the total amount that you've lost in total and damages that you lost?"

Charlton Castillo, Fire Victim
"Well, after I went and do my statement with the police, we did the, total statement and everything. I came out, and I lost. I was around $45,000. House and house and furniture and everything that I furnished it with."