California Home Burns Down in Wildfire One Day After Owner on Verge of Retirement Finished Paying Off Mortgage

A Pasadena family was left reeling after they returned from a mandatory evacuation order to find their recently paid-off home had been destroyed by the deadly wildfires.

Totress Beasley, 64, and her son, Aaron Miller, are now two of approximately 100,000 Californians who have been displaced in the face of an increasingly strained housing market.

"We evacuated not knowing our house was going to be on fire, but came back to ruins, it's gone," Beasley told KTLA. "We're in this circumstance with so many other people, victims of the fire."

The two have hit a wall in finding an affordable one-bedroom apartment as landlords have taken advantage of the market by astronomically increasing rental prices.

"I've been quoted maybe 5,000 [a month]. Some of my friends have talked to people and they said $6,000 plus and then one girl told somebody was charging $8,000," Beasley shared.

Beasley's devastation is compounded by the fact that she was on the verge of retirement. Whether she can move forward depends on how much her insurance company offers to help her family rebuild.

"I've been working since I was 16 and my goal was to pay off the house and retire," Beasley told AARP. "I'm not sure what my retirement will be now."

The wildfires, which started on Jan. 7, continue raging across Los Angeles County. At least 25 people have died and over 40,000 acres have burned as a result, FOX 11 reported.