After the devastating Eaton & Hurst fires impacted the community of Altadena, local residents share their first hand stories of how the fires burned their homes down, how they’re trying to rebuild, and more.
Keep watching this Billboard News special to learn more about those impacted.
Keep watching this Billboard News special to learn more about those impacted.
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00:00Just seeing around like the waves of black smoke coming over the houses and looking down the street
00:06and I couldn't even see down the street, but I can see the house over there, you know, it was fully engulfed in flames.
00:12I've lived here 40 years. This was just my community. This is where I grew up. My neighbors, my friends.
00:38We got the emergency text around 6.30, maybe a little earlier than that. Then we saw it on the TV that there was a fire at Eaton Canyon.
00:49And maybe 15 minutes after that, another text saying that we have to evacuate.
00:54Every house except for three on our street burned down. And then she lives pretty far, I remember.
00:59Yeah, well, one mile, far in the sense of a fire, but she lives exactly one mile away, west of it.
01:06Hearing the loud explosions and the pops and that crunch of the wood was, you know, it was terrifying.
01:18Most people are freaking out. I'm staying calm, thinking like, you know, we've had these before. It'll be all right.
01:24And so we start packing stuff up. My mom, my sister, my nephew, they evacuate. My dad wants to stay.
01:33So I was like, I'm going to stay as long as my dad stays. But then around 8.30, 9 o'clock, the power goes out and that's when it gets scary.
01:40And then we go outside and we can see a huge glow on the mountain, like huge glow. That's when I got scared.
01:49When I found out that the fires were coming, I got a call from my sister.
01:56And so we met up and got in the car and we came up here to come check on my mom's house.
02:04And as we arrived, you know, we're seeing, saw fires. You know, this house was on fire, but not these houses were on fire, but within the middle of those were on fire.
02:14And it was just, it just felt unreal.
02:17And we just start turning on the hoses and just start watering stuff down. I turn on my neighbor's hose, turn his on. I went over here as well, turn on his hose. And I'm just watering.
02:30And listening to the stories people are telling about, about helping each other, you know, and watering down.
02:39And as we're watering, we're just getting hit by just these crazy 90 miles per hour winds are just hitting us, almost knocking us down.
02:50The embers are just flying through the smoke. And the crazy thing is like, there was so much smoke that you couldn't even see the glow of the fire at that point.
02:58All you saw was the smoke. So we had no idea how close it was until it got over this, this little house right here and here.
03:05Once I got on the other side of those houses, we could start seeing the flames. And that's when it got scary.
03:11I used to live right down here.
03:17My mom was in the front up there. And this is where my kids grew up.
03:24And diapers right there.
03:28The rooms was right here.
03:31This is our room.
03:33It's crazy.
03:35Seeing it like this.
03:37I was born in Pasadena in 1936. At that time, Altadena was just like a little extension of Pasadena.
03:46So I have seen Altadena grow. And on the west side of Altadena was where the majority of black people were building homes.
03:57I went to school. I went to pre-k through 12th school in Pasadena. But living in Altadena kind of made me feel special almost.
04:05So it was me and then a couple of my other friends lived up in Altadena.
04:09So I just had a lot of, you know, my sports friends and sports community and stuff up in Altadena.
04:14And you know, you're right up in the mountains and the nature's there.
04:17So it just felt special in a way that such a sense of community and that diversity up in Altadena.
04:22Just the sense of everybody wanting it to return, you know, and have that same type of feeling that we had before.
04:29But it does feel different in the sense of we're all just trying to support each other and, you know, find as much commonality as we can.
04:39And I mean, I got so many good hugs from people that I didn't even know.
04:42It'd be one thing to go through this by yourself, but I just feel like going through it together, it's just made it somewhat better.
04:48This snowbox was created and designed by my brother-in-law.
04:53He booked it himself, painted it, and put it up for us a few years ago.
04:57So I'm happy it survived.
04:59This thing, man. I could play this thing, this French horn, but I hated carrying it.
05:08I had to walk up Lake with this thing as a teenager.
05:15We'd have to catch on the bus and get made fun of because of this awkward thing I was carrying.
05:19I played in the band.
05:20When people talk about the businesses, you recognize what a community it is.
05:27I feel like LA did kind of come together, too, because, you know, we have that Altadena community.
05:32But especially, you know, the day after it happened, into the weeks after, getting so many texts and calls from high school friends, mostly in Pasadena.
05:42Other friends that I've made since I've been in Silver Lake and the area.
05:46People just offering, almost begging to help me.
05:49I kept being like, you know, thank you.
05:51I think everyone's in a hotel now. We're all together.
05:55Right now, there's nothing we really need, and I just kept getting people following up, which was so nice to feel that much help and support.
06:02I had high school friends offering their houses for them to stay at.
06:06And then even, like we were saying, businesses, I didn't suspect, just like giving free clothes and stuff.
06:11So it did feel like that Altadena community, and then, like, kind of did broaden out to the LA community helping Altadena.
06:18It has amplified the togetherness.
06:22The essence of Altadena is still here. It lies with the people.
06:26There's so much history. There's so many legacies.
06:28There's so many houses that have been passed down from grandfather or grandmother to son and daughter that even if it does change a little bit,
06:37I think the culture of Altadena and the history of this black community is still going to thrive and still be here.
06:44My hope for Altadena is for everyone to return, but keep the life.
06:53So, as an example, everybody's house was different because the houses up here had life, like the design.
07:00You know, you would never find, like, two houses together that looked the same, you know.
07:04And that was, that's what made Altadena unique because it was a small town of growth and of opportunity.
07:13And I'm hopeful that people will come back, you know, stronger.
07:19I'm so, so emotionally traumatized and I can't remember anything I am supposed to know.
07:30So, I just really hope that the help is out there for the people more in West Altadena because, to be honest,
07:43those are the ones, older homes, older people, who will need help navigating what is going to bring Altadena back.
07:55But Altadena, it's going to come back. It's going to be different, but it's going to come back.