With fresh tears in her eyes, Elyza Garza, 16, watched firefighters walk among the smoldering debris in the blackened interior of her home.
About 2:30 p.m. Saturday, fire damaged Garza's house in the 1200 block of Polk Avenue, said Roger Hempel, Victoria Fire Department battalion chief.
Although six residents live in the home, none were inside at the time of the blaze, he said.
Garza and some of her family were enjoying the afternoon watching Garza play at the Victoria Youth Sports Complex.
They returned to disaster.
Still wearing her red and black uniform, Garza had just returned from playing in the Bootfest College Look Showcase for the Xtreme Heat.
Although many of their belongings were destroyed, firefighters were able to recover an urn containing Joanne Olguin's mother's ashes.
Mary Jane Campos died June 7, 2012, at the age of 59.
"That was the only thing she was worried about," said Jaylynn Ocanas, a friend of Garza's family.
Although the ceramic urn was badly charred, some of Campos' ashes remained inside.
Considering the magnitude~ of the fire, it was nothing short of a miracle.
"You could just see black and all of a sudden the windows started popping, then the fire started coming out the windows," next-door neighbor William Simon said. "It started on the backside of the house and worked to the (front)."