Fundraiser supports San Mateo family who lost home in fire

SAN MATEO -- Uatesoni and Anna Paasi spent the morning of Black Friday at Kmart buying a new oven. They needed it for a special occasion: a party following the ceremonial blessings of two infant grandchildren.

On Sunday, Dec. 1, the Mormon couple hosted more than 50 friends and relatives in their backyard, serving roast leg of pork and other Tongan specialties. They had held dozens of family gatherings since buying their York Avenue house in 2006. This may have been the last.

Three days later, Anna Paasi stood in the street in shock, watching flames consume their home in San Mateo's North Shoreview neighborhood. Despite the heat from the fire, she was shivering.

"It was not too cold," recalled Anna Paasi, 53, "but I was shaking."

No one was hurt in the fire, which began around 10 p.m. and burned into the early morning, but the Paasis lost most of their possessions, including a pickup truck that was parked in the driveway. The fire marshal has not determined the cause, but the Paasis say firefighters told them it may have been electrical wiring in the garage.

Their home is insured through their bank, they say, and they hope to rebuild. But they did not have insurance for their belongings. A friend of the family has begun an online fundraising drive to help them put their lives back together.

Blackened shell

On Thursday, Uatesoni and Anna Paasi drove to their charred two-bedroom house from a San Mateo homeless shelter where they are staying along with five family members, including two sons and a grandson, who lived with them.

The broken windows of the one-story building are boarded up. There is a pile of trash on the lawn. Inside the blackened, gutted house the carpet is still spongy from the water that put out the flames. The Paasis' prized oven is rust-colored, oxidized by the fire and heaped with insulation that fell down from the attic.

Anna Paasi picked through the ruins of her bedroom, looking for salvageable clothes. She and her husband were wearing outfits they bought with a $1,000 debit card from the Red Cross.

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Fundraiser supports San Mateo family who lost home in fire