CARNELIAN BAY, Calif. – Jim and Mary Stoch think daily about how differently July 30 could have gone, had the frantic knocks on their Carnelian Bay door not arrived.

“I thought it was a dream,” Mary Stoch said, who was the first to wake up to the early morning knocks, “so I just kept ignoring it to some degree and then I realized when I opened my eyes that [the] whole inside of the house—it was orange.”

Still in a daze, Mary’s confusion quickly turned to action when she heard the dreaded word—”fire.”

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The alert was coming from their neighbor, Alissa Morganti. Her bedroom window faces the Stochs’ garage and the flames coming from it had woken her up.

Alissa braved downed power lines and refused to give up when her initial knocks went unanswered. Eventually, the front door opened. Now face-to-face with Mary and Jim, her persistence had paid off.

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Jim dashed upstairs to grab his phone to call 911, while Mary ran out of the back of the house with Alissa. Once Mary and Jim had reunited outside, they realized just how narrowly they had escaped.

“I watched the flames jump from the garage to the house,” Jim said, “and I realized it was done.”

Fire now engulfed the staircase they had run down just a few moments ago.

“The entire house was lost,” Jim said. “We don’t know what would have happened had Alissa not banged on the door.”

At a Sept. 23 commendation, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson recognized Morganti.

“Due to Alissa’s heroism, they were notified of the fire just in time, allowing them to escape before flames overtook their house,” Gustafson said. “Stories like Alissa’s remind us what it means to be a good neighbor and why community matters so much here in Placer County.”

Community stepping up

Alissa’s heroic actions wouldn’t be the last of the neighborhood and community intervention. On the day of and in the months that followed, many lent aid without hesitation, including some who the Stochs say barely knew them.

“You didn’t have to ask for any help,” Mary said. It was just there.

Whether it was offering places for the Stochs and their aiding family members to stay, salvaging smoked laundry, or lending a car, neighbors, friends and the community showed up. One neighbor even gave Mary her tennis shoes.

In a round-the-clock effort, firefighters salvaged as much of the Stochs’ possessions as they could and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office organized patrols at night to ensure nothing was stolen.

Another neighbor, a contractor by trade, has helped the Stochs navigate rebuilding and cleared debris before the torrential rains in late August could carry it away toward Lake Tahoe.

“Everyone stepped up, and it was just a very humbling experience,” Jim said.

The loss

The cause still unknown, the fire destroyed the Stoch’s home, blowing out their new windows, consuming their rebuilt deck and blackening their kitchen remodel. A charred skeleton was all that remained of the home where their family had shared countless memories since 1999.

The destruction necessitated leveling the structure down to the foundation and subfloor. In it’s path the fire also claimed their two cars and countless items.

Now, three months later, they are still discovering the irreplaceable items it took.

“I don’t care about the furniture, clothing, all that can be replaced, but you can’t replace a kid’s trophies and mementos and things like that,” Jim said. “That’s what hurts the most.”

Had they not gone on vacation prior to the fire and stored valuables in fireproof safes or digitized videos, they would have lost close to everything.

“So, if it was going to burn,” Jim said, “it burned at the right time.”

The fire remained confined to the house thanks to the Stochs’ dedication to defensible space, the lack of wind that morning and Cal Fire wetting the surrounding trees, factors that ultimately saved the neighborhood.

The road ahead

Feeling homeless and displaced, the Stochs’ road to rebuilding feels daunting.

“At this time in life, to climb another mountain after climbing mountains all your life,” Jim said, “it’s much more than we want to do.”

Navigating insurance deadlines and rebuilding amid Tahoe’s strict regulations and limited construction window hasn’t been easy, especially while living out of suitcases.

“But with the help of our community, contractors and county officials, we’re rebuilding for our kids, our family, our friends, and everyone who enjoys Tahoe,” Jim said, in hopes of one day having a generational history here.

With their home’s foundation now buttoned up for the winter, the Stochs plan to start framing on their future home in May.

Before sealing the foundation for the winter, the Stochs sprinkled holy water from a cathedral they visited in Wisconsin. It was a reminder of their miracle after they found the plastic bottle of holy water intact in the rubble. Other objects located in the same room as the water had melted.

“It was just a sign,” Jim said. “Be thankful. You are blessed.”

It’s something they can’t help but feel when they think back on how everything fell into place, from Alissa’s knocks to the community assembling behind them.

“I’m not going to even bother playing the lottery,” Jim said, “because I’m pretty much sure I already won it.”