The road to recovery: how communities destroyed work to rebuild

Darren Loo

2 days ago

Although the Angeles National Forest has seen larger fires, like the Bridge Fire in September 2024, the Eaton fire is currently the most destructive fire in Los Angeles County history, according to the LA Almanac, with a confirmed 9,418 structures destroyed and 1,073 structures damaged.

The Eaton Fire ignited at 6:18 p.m. Jan. 7, according to CalFire. A Santa Ana windstorm caused the fire to grow at a rapid rate. Evacuation warnings and orders were issued for many foothill communities just minutes after the fire started.

The Eaton Fire has scorched 14,021 acres and is 99% contained. All evacuation orders have been lifted for the Eaton Fire as of Jan. 22, two weeks after the fire started but leaving a long road to recovery ahead.

About 15 miles northwest of Cal Poly Pomona, the Eaton Fire started as a Santa Ana windstorm tore through LA County. The windstorm, with gusts of over 70 mph near the foothill communities and in the mountains, fanned multiple fires, most notably the Eaton and Palisades fires.

Meteorologist Carol Smith from the National Weather Service said the Santa Ana winds are caused by a high-pressure atmosphere over the Great Basin traveling to an area of lower pressure, which is typically found at the coast. As the air travels down the mountains, it causes the air to compress and gain speed, drying and heating the air, which is why the Santa Ana winds are known for their warm and dry characteristics.

Combined the Eaton and Palisades fires destroyed a confirmed total of 16,080 structures and damaged 1,963 structures, meaning thousands have lost their homes and businesses. Most of the destruction occurred in in the unincorporated community of Altadena and the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades near Santa Monica, where their road to recovery will be a long, bumpy road.

One of the families who’ve lost their business was Monique King and Paul Rosenbluh, owners of The Fox’s Restaurant in Altadena for the last eight years. The Fox’s Restaurant is a small diner on Lake Avenue, just south of Altadena Drive.

Lili Ma, a resident of Altadena, and her family lost many of their belongings to the fire. Ma is a relatively new resident of Altadena, wanting to find a quieter and more peaceful place to settle down and retire in the future. However, just a bit over a year after moving in, the fire came and took it all away.

“We started to pack at like 7:30 p.m., and we only packed for around 15 minutes,” said Ma. “And also, at the time, my husband was in a meeting. After like five minutes, he ended his meeting and grabbed his computers. He didn’t even pack any clothes, and we ran out.”

By the evening of Jan. 8, just 24 hours after the fire began, many structures in Altadena were destroyed. At this point, the fire has grown to encompass more than 10,000 acres.

“At about 5 o’clock, my husband and I couldn’t sleep, and we saw our ADT alerts,” Ma said. “It kept going ‘Smoke, fire, smoke, fire,’ and it just continues, ‘Smoke, high temperature.’” We got more than 50 alerts, and finally, at 5:47 a.m., ADT just shut down, and we just guessed our home burnt down.”

By Jan. 10, the fire was mostly over in Altadena, with some hot spots. For the next few days, firefighters continued to douse homes with water to ensure hot spots were really out. They were afraid winds would pick up embers and ignite new fires.

As soon as it was safe to do so, utility workers worked quickly to make the area safe by securing gas leaks, fixing downed powerlines and repairing utility poles. However, in the burnt areas, the power remains out and water remains unsafe to drink.

Altadena is described as a very tranquil but tight-knit community where many people know each other and would look out for each other. However, nothing could prepare residents for what they were returning to.

“When we tried to get to our house, many roads were blocked, so we had to drive around and we were glad to see some homes survived,” said Ma. “We saw some houses left. Some houses burned and some streets just completely disappeared.”

“There’s feeling sad, there’s your brain knowing there’s loss, and I’ve seen images, and this was just even different than that, like a complete mind, body, a feeling of something bigger than I even could feel,” King said. “I mean, I drove down streets, and they’re totally gone. You can feel the total powerlessness of fire, and it’s beyond what we could control.”

Thousands of families lost their homes in the fires, many of which are people of color as well as older individuals. Many Black families and individuals pushed to Altadena in the 1960s as it was one of the areas where they were being sold homes due racial redlining according to Altadena Heritage.

s more residents continue to return to Altadena to see what’s left of their homes, there is hope in some to one day rebuild and come back. However, some are too scarred from the experience to want to return.
“We are actually talking to some of our neighbors about rebuilding,” said Ma. “We probably will rebuild, but for me, we probably won’t live there anymore after we just got hurt so deeply.”
Many residents and business owners in Altadena will never see it the same again, even if they do rebuild.
“The heart might still be there, the intention might still be there, it’s like a scar,” said King. “You don’t have an injury anymore, but you always have the scar, and you know it’s not acute. You’re not so sad, but there will always be **a reminder.”**

All images courtesy of Darren Loo