HILLSIDE TAKES OUT HOUSE FAMILY'S 28-YEAR RESIDENCE COLLAPSES FROM WEIGHT OF MUD.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

NEWHALL - A two-story home that had nested three generations of a family was destroyed Monday when the rain-soaked hill behind it gave way and knocked out the bottom floor.

While crews razed the remains of the five-bedroom house in the 26300 block of Fairgate Avenue - abandoned six weeks ago after a mudslide - two adjacent homes remained threatened. One was already red-tagged, and the other yellow-tagged, where limited access is allowed.

``That just about calls it the end of a chapter,'' said Joe Cedillo, 51, as he watched with teary eyes the top floor of his home for 28 years flatten the bottom floor. ``That pretty much concluded it.''

This neighborhood between Sierra Highway and the Antelope Valley Freeway - the Princess tract - has long been known as structurally unstable. The houses were built under less stringent county building codes from the 1960s, and several homes have been demolished or removed over the years due to earth movement. This includes one that once stood on an empty lot next to the red-tagged homes on Fairview.

``My friends called the neighborhood `Slipping Hill,''' said Veronica Andrus, 41, who moved to the tract two years ago from the San Fernando Valley. She watched the home's death throes from across the street with some 50 curious spectators.

City Manager Ken Pulskamp, who oversaw the demolition with city engineers, said there was little the city could do to stop a mountain. The hillside is private property, and is too unstable for reinforcement.

Richard Checinski, a neighbor of Cedillo who has been living in a trailer outside his home that was damaged from a slide six weeks ago, heard the earth move at about 3 a.m.

``You can hear the snapping,'' said Checinski, 40, as he moved valuables out of his yellow-tagged home, where he's lived since 1966. ``Their house is a stone in the river. All the mud is flowing around it.''

Checinski said he plans to apply for federal aid. ``They tell us don't expect much.''

Cedillo, who raised four children and had several grandchildren living in that house over the past 28 years, learned of the mudslide late Monday morning from his daughter. The family, scattered among several relatives, has been dreading this day since they moved out after last month's storms.

``He said, 'Yeah, it's going to be today,''' daughter Roxanne Cedillo, 29, said.

She had a difficult time explaining the problem to her nieces and nephews.

``They would ask, 'When are we going to Nana's house?''' she said. ``(I tell them) 'No, Nana's house is broken.' That's the hard part, telling the kids.''

At about 2:35 p.m., the house shuddered and collapsed. Maxine Cedillo, 27, gasped and broke into tears at first sight of her childhood home.

``I was born, and I was brought over here,'' she said. ``I came to look at the house for one last time. When I come back, it's going to be dirt.''

Though split apart, the family hopes to reunite soon under one roof, renting a house in the San Fernando Valley, before planning their next move, Joe Cedillo said.

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Joe Cedillo's home in the 26300 block of Fairgate Avenue in Newhall succumbed to the weight of the rain-soaked hillside.

(2 -- color) The entryway of the Cedillo home was crushed by the weight of the second floor.

David Crane/Staff Photographer