Woman tearfully sifts through rubble of burned-down home for wedding ring

The Pond's home was completely destroyed in the Sonoma county wildfires.

ByABC News
October 10, 2017, 12:28 PM

— -- One northern California woman devastated by the wildfires that have killed at least 13 people and damaged more than 1,500 homes spent hours Tuesday morning standing atop the burning embers of her home. She was searching desperately for one of her most beloved possessions -- her wedding ring.

PHOTO: Kris Pond's home was burned to the ground by the wildfires in northern California.
Kris Pond's home was burned to the ground by the wildfires in northern California.

ABC News' senior national correspondent Matt Gutman approached Kris Pond while she was sifting through the ashes and rubble where her home once stood. She was emotional, expressing grief over what she'd lost.

PHOTO: ABC News' Matt Gutman comforted Kris Pond as she searched for her wedding ring in the ashes and debris where her home once stood in northern California.
ABC News' Matt Gutman comforted Kris Pond as she searched for her wedding ring in the ashes and debris where her home once stood in northern California.

Pond, 50, had lived in her Santa Rosa home for more than 10 years with her husband Michael Pond before the Sonoma county wildfires burned it to the ground on Tuesday.

PHOTO: Kris Pond reacts as she searches the remains of her family's home destroyed by fires in Santa Rosa, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017.
Kris Pond reacts as she searches the remains of her family's home destroyed by fires in Santa Rosa, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017.

The couple scoured the debris for the ring they believed was buried somewhere underneath the still-smoldering debris.

"It was a beautiful diamond ring, we've been married 26 years," Pond said weeping.

PHOTO: ABC News' Matt Gutman helped Kris Pond and her husband search through the embers and debris of her home after the wildfires destroyed everything.
ABC News' Matt Gutman helped Kris Pond and her husband search through the embers and debris of her home after the wildfires destroyed everything.

She continued pushing through the piles of hot stone, audibly hoping for a miracle.

"It's going to be here," Pond said.

Despite their intense search, the couple did not find the ring.

PHOTO: Kris Pond spent hours on Oct. 10, 2017 searching for her wedding ring in the debris of her home burned down by the northern California wildfires.
Kris Pond spent hours on Oct. 10, 2017 searching for her wedding ring in the debris of her home burned down by the northern California wildfires.

"What the heck man, how can this happen?" she said crying. "You have no idea how fast this stuff happened, it's out of control."

ABC News' Matt Gutman contributed to this report.