We were close to the fire and our house could have easily burned. Eight days of mandatory evacuation. But we were fortunate — unlike many, we did not lose our home.
Here is some of what I recall from the early moments of the Eaton Fire.
7 PM on January 7 — There’s a fire!
Evening had fallen and we were in the kitchen just getting around to making dinner. From upstairs, I heard my daughter shout, “There’s a fire! There’s a fire!. I can see it out my window.”
I ran outside and looked up to mountains. If there was a fire, that’s where it should be up in the mountains. But, it wasn’t there.
Then I glanced to the left and over the fence. There it was. A fire like I’d never seen and it was close to us. Way too close. I saw flames rising through the trees.
With the fire backlighting my neighbor’s giant oak, I snapped the picture above. It was 7:01 pm on Tuesday January 7.
As I watched the fire, I was buffeted by wind as strong as I have felt. I knew there was no telling how the fire might spread or how quickly it might happen. Almost at the same time my wife, daughter and I all realized we had to leave. As the smoke grew thicker, we started gathering our things and loading the cars.
By 7:30 police cars were on our street with loudspeakers telling residents to leave.
We did not know it then, but the Eaton Fire was just getting started. According to Cal Fire, the fire started at 6:18 pm near Altadena Drive and Midwick.
Smoke was heavy as we got in our cars to leave. I stopped to take this picture of our house against the red sky. I was certain this would be the last time I saw our house.
Neighbors’ cars were now streaming down the street. The wind was horrendous — brutally strong and loud making it hard to hear one another. Our cars were loaded with whatever each of us thought worthy of saving. I yelled, “Let’s meet at the Starbucks next to Best Buy.”
My wife, daughter and I got into our cars and drove out to the street and started down out of the neighborhood. I thought it would be the last time we drove away from our house.
We drove down Sierra Madre Villa Ave. to the Hastings Village parking lot. I got out of the car to see the fire. The wind was so strong it was hard to hold my phone steady for this picture.
The fire that seemed just over the fence, covered the hillsides. I watched the fire line. Was I watching our house burn? I couldn’t tell.
What was going on? We tried the radio, the Internet. Nothing.
Not sure why, but we decided to go to a PCC parking lot off Colorado Blvd. where we could hopefully figure out what was happening and where we could spend the night. Rose Parade grandstands were still up for the Rose Parade and not long after we parked we saw the wind blowing down parts of the stands. That lot was not safe.
Eventually we found our way to friends in La Crescenta where we spent the night. Our clothes wreaked of smoke, our cars packed with what we thought in the moment was important, as we were graciously offered a spot to rest for the night. But there was no rest for us that night as we tried to find out where the fire was and which neighborhoods were burning.
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