A Southern California woman was overwhelmed after firefighters discovered her wedding ring amid the rubble of her home that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire.

Victoria DeSantis, her husband, Marko DeSantis, and their two children, have lived in their Altadena home on the 3200 block of Olive Avenue for 18 years. 

They recalled the fear they felt as the fast-moving fire threatened thousands of homes, forcing many to flee for their safety.

It was around 3 a.m. when they were alerted and began quickly packing up, grabbing any important items they could think of. 

Victoria had removed her wedding rings that day because her hands were dry and the lotion she was using kept making the rings slide off. So she placed her wedding ring and band, along with her mother’s wedding ring, by the front door, making a mental note to grab them before heading out.

Amid the chaos and scramble, they left their home and shortly after, Victoria realized she had forgotten the rings. However, she wasn’t too concerned at first, believing her home would be safe.

“You hold out hope that you’re going to be that one little house that made it,” she said. “You don’t want the neighborhood to be gone.”

The next day, however, she walked back to the property and her heart dropped as she saw only rubble and charred remains where her home once stood. 

She began searching the debris, hoping to find the rings. She found her engagement ring, which had melted in the fire. She then asked nearby firefighters for help finding her wedding band.

“One of the guys, he said, ‘I found a ring, but it isn’t gold,’ and it was my wedding band,” she said of the incredible discovery. “I thought it had melted into a blob of metal, but he found my wedding band intact.”

Photos of the find showed Victoria crying tears of joy as she held up the silver wedding band.

“Shout out to CAL FIRE Riverside,” Marko said. “Thanks for saving our marriage.”

While the couple lost everything else in their home, they’re grateful no one was injured and said they will take it one day at a time as they rebuild their lives. They’re also grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.

“There’s that old quote, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going,’ and I think that’s where we are right now,” Marko said. “We’re going through hell, but we have this wedding ring and we’re going to keep going.”

The CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department posted the lucky find on their Instagram page, saying, “It’s these small moments that bring hope to devastation, and we’re proud of our firefighters for all they are doing to help in LA County.”

A GoFundMe page to help the DeSantis family can be found here.

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Allstate insurance company for allegedly illegally collecting, using and selling the driving behavior data of over 45 million Americans.

Paxton filed the suit in the District Court for Montgomery County, Texas, on Monday morning. In the suit, he accuses Allstate, and its subsidiary data analytics company “Arity,” of secretly using driving data from over 45 million Americans’ mobile devices, in-car devices and vehicles to build the “world’s largest driving behavior database,” consisting of “trillions of miles” worth of data.

Advertisement

“Our investigation revealed that Allstate and Arity paid millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software,” Paxton said in a Monday statement. “The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.”

A representative for Allstate Corporation, however, claims that its data collection system “fully complies with all laws and regulations.” Allstate is one of the largest auto, home and life insurance companies in the U.S. It is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois.

COURT ORDERS BIDEN ADMIN TO STOP SELLING BORDER WALL MATERIALS, WAS ‘ILLEGALLY SUBVERTING’ LAWS: TEXAS AG

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a rally featuring former President Trump, Oct. 22, 2022, in Robstown, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Wagner, File)

The suit said that in 2015, Allstate and Arity developed and integrated software into several third-party apps so that when a consumer downloaded these apps onto their phone, they unwittingly downloaded the tracking software. Once Allstate’s software was downloaded onto a customer’s device, they could monitor the consumer’s location and movement in real time.

Advertisement

According to the suit, the company used the driving data to justify raising customers’ insurance rates and further profited by selling the data to third parties, including other insurance companies.

“Defendants [Allstate and Arity] never informed consumers about their extensive data collection, nor did Defendants obtain consumers’ consent to engage in such data collection,” the suit said. “Finally, Defendants never informed consumers about the myriad of ways Defendants would analyze, use, and monetize their sensitive data.”

TEXAS AG SUES NCAA OVER TRANS INCLUSION IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)

Paxton said that because tens of millions of Americans, including millions of Texans, were never informed about their driving data being gathered, Allstate’s data-gathering scheme violates the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, the Data Broker Law, and the Texas Insurance Code’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the insurance business.

He is asking the court to permanently block Allstate from continuing to gather and use customers’ data and to impose thousands of dollars in civil penalties per customer.

Advertisement

KEN PAXTON THREATENS TO SUE AFTER STATE FAIR OF TEXAS BANS GUNS: ‘INFRINGEMENT OF SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS’

Tom Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer of Allstate Corp., listens during the CEO Initiative event in New York, on Sept. 25, 2017. (Misha Friedman/Bloomberg)

Meanwhile, a representative for Allstate Corporation told Fox News Digital that its data collection system is completely legal. 

“Arity helps consumers get the most accurate auto insurance price after they consent in a simple and transparent way that fully complies with all laws and regulations,” the representative said. 

According to Paxton, this suit is the first enforcement action ever filed by a state attorney general to enforce a comprehensive data privacy law. 

Advertisement

Fox News Digital reached out to Allstate but did not immediately receive a response.

Read the full article from Here

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Recent wildfires have left a devastating mark on the Los Angeles area, displacing families and exacerbating an already dire housing crisis.

Rents in the region are on the up, with accusations of short-term price gouging by landlords making national headlines. While experts say rents increasing by as much as 20% is unlikely, KTLA 5 consumer reporter David Lazarus noted that the upward trend is undeniable and adds significant stress for displaced residents.

Lazarus spoke with Marco Giacoletti, a housing expert at the University of Southern California, to better understand the crisis.

One potential solution to help with the ongoing housing crisis involves revisiting zoning laws to permit higher-density housing in working-class neighborhoods like Altadena, which was ravaged by the Eaton Fire.

“Rather than putting up single-family residences, we could allow developers to build duplexes and apartments,” Lazarus said.

And while this could increase housing availability, Lazarus says it would undoubtedly “change the character of many neighborhoods,” and would be a tough sell for longtime residents.

“I think it would be highly controversial,” Giacoletti said. “So it’s hard to say whether this is going to happen or not.”

Lazarus pointed out that most major cities globally have adopted higher-density housing to address similar challenges, avoiding long commutes and keeping residents closer to urban centers.

But for residents in Pasadena, Altadena, Malibu and Pacific Palisades, distance from the city center may have been a selling point for laying roots there, not a detriment.

“As with the rest of the world, at some point, L.A. is going to have to perhaps consider these steps, that these neighborhoods, these very homey neighborhoods that we’ve enjoyed for decades now, might not be in step with the times,” he said.

The fires have also renewed calls for a rent freeze in Los Angeles County.

While consumer advocates argue such measures are necessary, Giacoletti warned of potential unintended consequences in the form of landlords taking their properties off the marketplace altogether, further worsening the housing crunch.

For those who lost their homes, rebuilding poses significant hurdles, Lazarus said.

“In Altadena, there’s a number of people who are uninsured. They’re just off the playing field at this point,” Lazarus explained. Even for those with insurance, Laz said, overages and delays could prolong the process for years. “Some estimates say it could take five years or more for many of these residents to rebuild.”

Compounding the difficulty are offers from predatory buyers and lowball settlement offers from insurers. Lazarus says to be very skeptical of any cash offer you might receive.

“If you get such an offer, not saying walk away from it, but get a second opinion first,” Lazarus advised. He emphasized the importance of consulting real estate professionals or other insurers to understand the long-term value of properties.

“The value of the structure, if your house is burned down, is zero,” Lazarus said. “The value of the underlying land can still be profound,” accounting for up to two-thirds of the overall value, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor.

As Los Angeles faces an uncertain future, the path to recovery will require innovative solutions, resilience, and adaptability in the wake of the crisis.