The three-bedroom home on Planetree Place, near El Camino Real and Wolfe Road, was already consumed in smoke and flames when firefighters arrived Saturday afternoon, Capt. Doug Moretto of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said. Two dozen firefighters controlled the fire in 30 minutes, but the home was declared a total loss. Moretto estimated damages at $250,000 to the structure and $75,000 to the contents.
Sue Uhrich, who rented the home and lived there with her teenage brother and sister, arrived to see the house smoldering.
The teenager had been playing video games when he noticed smoke seeping into the bedroom. He opened the door to find the kitchen ceiling engulfed in flames and ran out.
The fire struck at a family that is struggling to beat the odds. For a year and a half, Uhrich, 23, pleaded with Sacramento County social workers and courts to win custody of her two siblings. She made twice-weekly trips up to the county offices there in her bid to convince the court that she was the best guardian for the teenagers.
The children had been taken from their
To protect her siblings’ privacy, Uhrich asked that they not be named.
A year ago, she finally convinced authorities that she would be the best surrogate parent for her sister, 16, and later won the care of her brother. Uhrich, who works full-time in Redwood City and is a senior at San Jose State University, rented the home on Planetree and placed her siblings in school.
“She perseveres. She’s had a lot of obstacles in her life. This fire is something she didn’t need,” said Craig Stieglitz, manager at Malibu Grand Prix family entertainment center, who has been Uhrich’s boss for eight years. Uhrich started there at age 16, and worked her way up to operations manager.
Uhrich was brought up by her father after her parents divorced when she was a toddler. She had never lived with her mother’s other five children by four fathers, but had seen them regularly. When she saw her half-siblings being neglected and going into foster care, she decided to petition to become their guardian.
“My mother liked drugs and men better than she did her kids,” Uhrich said.
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