'Start over from scratch': Fire destroys home, displacing Army veteran and her family

    LINCOLN, California (KCRA) -- An Army veteran and her family are without a home during the holidays after a Tuesday night house fire in Lincoln left them with nothing but the clothes off their backs.

This could not have come at a worse time for Anna Holiday as she is set to undergo spinal cord surgery on Jan. 17. She said she does not know where she and her four sons and dog will sleep in the coming days, and she needs a place to recover after her procedure.

Holiday worries she will not be able to find a new rental home before Christmas.

"So we have a hard deadline and we're running out of time," Holiday said.

On Sunday, Holiday returned to the scorched rental house along Larkflower Way and spoke of her struggle trying to stay positive with her family amid so many uncertainties.

"I just have to remind myself that they're watching and how I react and how I handle this is going to be their reaction to it if this ever happens to them," Holiday said.

But the family is not alone as their neighbors are coming together to support them.

The neighbors have been collecting donations and raising money to help the Holiday family.

KCRA 3 was there as multiple neighbors stood beside her in support. Many of them expressed why they wanted to help her.

"What can we do and how can we help them? And so my heart was just like, let's get something going," said Lori Devries, a neighbor. "She has to start over from scratch. They only had what they were wearing. So, all of her furniture that's here — it's all ruined.

As of Sunday, Holiday and her sons are staying in a hotel at least until Tuesday. Holiday said she is fronting all expenses while investigators look into what caused the fire, but she is grateful for the donations she is receiving from the community.

"We didn't know that we had this many people who cared about us and who would come out and show up for us to support us," Holiday said.