Community unites to support family who lost home in Oakland Hills fire NBC Bay Area [Video]

The Oakland community has rallied behind a family that lost their home in the Oakland Hills fire earlier this month.

Delane Sims had raised eight children and ten grandchildren and would host Thanksgiving dinners in her home for 30 years before the blaze destroyed it.

The home that was one filled with Sims’ memories currently sits with boarded windows and locks on the doors.

“It’s hard to look at,” she said. “I’m truly under guard of a lot of prayer, and it is really needed because there is a different kind of trauma.”

The Oakland Hills fire, dubbed the Keller Fire, burned 15 acres, forced evacuations, and damaged two homes. However, Sims’ house was the only one destroyed.

Fire crews said the fire started near the freeway across from Sims’ home and quickly spread. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“It’s our family home,” Sims’ said. “It’s …