Sandy and Uttam Shiralkar lost their Stourbridge home and everything in it during a wildfire in August. The couple have been told that rebuilding their house could take up to two years. "I built it from scratch and now it is all gone and I don't want to go there again, at our stage of life, and maybe just go somewhere else," Sandy said. However, they have decided to rebuild, though recovering from the trauma of the fire will likely take longer than the construction.
For the past month, the Shiralkars have been living out of their car, carrying their remaining possessions. They described the experience as feeling like a "nomadic tribe moving from one place to another." After initially staying with friends, they relocated to a local hotel and are scheduled to move into temporary housing this weekend. The wildfire, which destroyed their home, has been described by Sandy as the "biggest event of my life so far...after my father's death."
