Family suffers property losses, but thankful firefighters saved Golden Gate Estates home

Evacuated families in Collier County are making their way back to their homes this weekend after firefighters said they could return amid the large fire near them. Their neighborhoods are black and charred as the flames have continued for days.

There are still some fire hoses around a family’s yard in Golden Gates Estates. It’s a reminder that their family home wouldn’t be there without those firefighters working tirelessly to save it.

Ash, soot and charred trees surround Cynthia Trapp Blasucci’s family home on 22nd Street Saturday after flames surrounded her family’s property.

“We’ve had fires that have come close but never experienced something like this,” Blasucci said.

When she looks around her property, Blasucci sees the things that have now turned to ash — the trailer gone and the barn burned down to the ground.

The grass on their property is darker than charcoal. And a couple of their cars are completely unusable.

Luckily, her home still stands.

“My family home that I built since 1992 that raised five of my kids and some of my grandkids,” Blasucci said.

Blasucci says it has been through plenty of floods and hurricanes, and she’s lucky it has made it through the fire.

“We can rebuild everything else,” Blasucci said. “It’s all good. It’s just things and stuff, but it’s memories.”

Blasucci is extremely thankful for all the firefighters that made sure her family still had their home to go back to.

Now, there is just one thing left for this family to do.

“We can rebuild,” Blasucci said. “We have a lot to clean.”