Fire Puts Homeless Advocate in Clients’ Shoes : Aid: Barbara Johnson, director of Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Services, now knows firsthand what the people she’s helped for 20 years have been through.

FULLERTON —  For the past 20 years, Barbara Johnson has worked full time on behalf of homeless people and needy families in Orange County.

Now, the 62-year-old widow is homeless herself. A fire destroyed her four-bedroom house in Fullerton two weeks ago. And while Johnson is living in a hotel room paid for by her insurance company, her tragedy has allowed her to experience some of the rootlessness of the displaced.

“I understand better now the stress that the loss of a home puts on you,” she said. “My daughter and I are homeless, but we’re lucky because we have insurance and a support system in place. I work with people who don’t have any kind of support system.”

Wearing the only dress that survived the Sept. 30 fire, Johnson reluctantly discussed her plight Wednesday in her office at Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Service, a church-based organization that provides food and shelter on an emergency basis.

“I came home from the movies and found my house burned down,” Johnson recalled. “I’m in a fog. Dazed and numb.”

Nevertheless, two days after the blaze destroyed her home of 30 years, Johnson was back answering phones at the organization’s headquarters. She started working for the group as a volunteer 20 years ago, and took a salaried job with them in 1982. Today, as executive director, she is responsible for coordinating a large pool of volunteers. Since the fire, she hasn’t missed a single meeting of the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, an advocacy group of which she is on the board of directors.

“She’s totally dedicated and willing to do whatever needs to be done and that’s not always easy in her line of work,” said Natalie Kennedy, a Fullerton resident who has been Johnson’s friend for more than 30 years.

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Johnson said she has always had compassion for the people she helps, but noted her own recent experience has given her added perspective.

“You become so focused on your own survival,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on in Haiti or Iraq. There are so many day-to-day things to take care of that used to be so easy.”

Although the cause of the fire remains under investigation, it occurred as some cabinets were being refinished in her kitchen. A pilot light might have ignited fumes from paint cans or varnish, Johnson said.

When Johnson returned to the charred home the day after the fire, she found virtually nothing left.

The family dog and cat had died in the blaze and precious photo albums, shelves of books, artwork, china, and almost all of Johnson’s clothes and personal belongings were burned.

“When I look through the rubble, I find little treasures that mean so much now,” she said. “I found a stack of photographs that were in a box that survived.”

Johnson had raised five children in the home, which she still shared with her 26-year-old daughter, Christine, a student at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Johnson’s husband, Harold Bruce Johnson, died in 1990. The couple had been married for 37 years.

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Johnson said she does not know how long it will take to rebuild her home.

“After work, I still get in my car and start to drive home,” she said. “Then, I have to stop and think, ‘Where am I going?’ ”

Since she is so used to helping others, Johnson finds it awkward to need help herself. A benefit jazz concert is planned for later this month, with proceeds going to help her recover from the fire.

“I’m want to share whatever we make,” she said. “You just wouldn’t believe the outpouring of support from having roots in this community. If our whole society could be that way, we wouldn’t have any of these problems.”