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Living with relief and grief in a wildfire evacuation zone: thoughts on our Altadena home and neighborhood still standing
This past week has been an emotional blur
I’m writing this now about six days after fire struck Altadena, still evacuated at a relative’s house, and I saw a neighborhood text message this morning that two yards on our street reignited, though not causing damage .
We evacuated with our power out on Tuesday night, Jan. 7, with an angry red glow moving our direction and stayed in a hotel about 15 miles away.
On Wednesday morning, 5:30 am we turned on the news and saw a line of homes about a half mile from ours engulfed in flames.
My daughter arrived at our house about 7am and I arrived an hour later. She and another man helped control a fire on a garage next door. She called for my wife to call 9–1–1 and they kept the fire at bay until a fire crew arrived, doused it, and moved on to the next emergency.
The house two doors down from us was already destroyed.
