He Proposed After Finding The Engagement Ring He Bought For His Girlfriend In Their Burned Down Home

pictured above are Brian and Stephanie
GoFundMe - pictured above are Brian and Stephanie

A California couple who lost their home in the Los Angeles wildfires has since gotten engaged after the engagement ring miraculously survived the blaze.

Brian McShea and Stephanie Raynor were forced to evacuate their Altadena residence on January 7. Then, their home, which they’d purchased just one year prior, ultimately burned down in the Eaton Fire, and they lost everything.

At the time, Brian had actually been out of town; meanwhile, Stephanie had to evacuate in the middle of the night alone with their pets.

According to a GoFundMe campaign organized for the couple, this is why they “weren’t able to save nearly any of their belongings.”

Following the tragedy, both Brian and Stephanie visited their property to assess the damage. But amidst the rubble and debris, Brian began searching for something.

Little did Stephanie know that, prior to the fires, Brian had purchased an engagement ring, which was inside his desk drawer, and had been planning to propose to her. And even after much of their home was reduced to ash, he thought he might be able to find at least the stone.

“I was thinking, ‘Well, maybe the stone can survive, and maybe we’ll find the little stone.’ I thought the ring was going to completely disintegrate [in the fire],” he explained.

So, Brian instructed Stephanie to join him as they looked near where his desk once sat. He didn’t tell her what they were searching for, either, and incredibly, he recovered the ring.

“We’re digging around where my desk is. Again, [we’re] just looking for a stone. I really didn’t have a lot of hope, but you just brush away some rubble, and there’s a little ring. You pick that up, and it’s actually a washer to something,” Brian recalled.

pictured above are Brian and Stephanie
GoFundMe – pictured above are Brian and Stephanie

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“That happened like four times, and then you pick it up, and there’s a little diamond.”

Once Brian found the ring, he quickly got down on one knee and popped the question. Stephanie agreed to marry him through tears.

Later, on their joint Instagram account @newsgit, Brian and Stephanie shared photos from the proposal, which Brian captioned, “Found the ring in the rubble and asked right away.”

In one image, the couple can be seen wearing protective gear and embracing each other as Stephanie shows off the ring on her finger.

The post has received hundreds of likes, with numerous commenters congratulating the soon-to-be newlyweds. Brian and Stephanie haven’t set a wedding date yet, but they reportedly plan to stay in Altadena.

In the meantime, their friends and bandmates, Zach Boucher and Ivan Barry, have launched a fire relief fund on GoFundMe following the loss of their home.

“We cannot fathom the devastation that they’re going through right now and hope to bring awareness to their tragic situation. Lots of you have been asking how you can help, and we thought this would be the best way. Please consider donating if you can,” Zach and Ivan wrote.

The fundraiser, which has a goal of $50,000, has since raised over $40,000 from more than 400 donors.

Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing ... More about Katharina Buczek

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