I can’t believe it has been a year since the Eaton fire destroyed more than 9,000 homes, killed 19 people and displayed thousands — and that’s not even accounting for the lives and homes lost in the Palisades fire.
This event changed not only my life but the life of my neighbors and community, as well as Los Angeles as a whole.
My husband and I moved to Altadena in December of 2020. We were just getting used to our little town and everything it offered, our home was newly remodeled. Altadena is filled with so much rich history, but it also felt like it was growing and blossoming.
I can still clearly remember the day the fires started – one whole year after. We’re still not home, even though our house stands. It was heavily damaged and our garage burned down. Our neighbors are still working on their rebuilding plans.
I’m a journalist, mainly covering pop culture, and I struggled with how I wanted to commemorate or cover the anniversary. It’s overwhelming and exhausting.
So I decided to recount what I experienced.
Here is a quick recap I made from the six month anniversary before we get into a detailed account. How crazy yet blessed are we that we’re able to document our lives and have records of what we went through.
The below is what I experienced that day. My story. My feelings. My memories.
TIME: 7:07 A.M.
It was windy, like, really windy.
I remember being woken up in the middle of the night because the wind was very loud. At 7 a.m. it got really wild and that’s when I texted my boss, Amy, a video of our backyard and the trees swaying. The power had also gone out and I worried that it wouldn’t come back by the time I logged on for work.
“Morning! Crazy windy over here for hours and we just lost power. In case it takes a while to come on, but hopefully we get it back soon,” read the text to my boss.
I had also shared that the wind woke me up at around 5 a.m. and freaked out my dog, Milo.
TIME: 10: 32 A.M.
By 10: 32 a.m. the power was back on but I decided to run out and “grab food and some essentials.” I ended up getting some waters, power bars and protein shakes… I probably should have gotten more stuff but, hey, I didn’t think I’d need much.
The one thing I am grateful to have done is get fully dressed. Working from home, if I didn’t run errands beforehand, I would usually be in sweats and slippers all day. But stepping out to the store, I had on essentials like actual tennis shoes and a sweater.
TIME: 2:07 P.M.
At this time, I recorded another video of the raging wind. The Palisades fire was in full effect. The thought of a fire happening in our neck of the woods (completely on the opposite side of Los Angeles) never crossed my mind.
The video I took would be the last time that I would document my backyard, our back neighbors’ homes and our orange and persimmon tree, as well as our garage before it all burned down.
The winds were scary, but my only concern was that the huge tree seen in the back would fall on top of us. (The tree would go on to be severely burned but standing. It eventually would get cut down, which made me sad.)
TIME: 5:19 P.M.
The power went out. I was working from home and, as I was the only one logged on, I Slacked my team with the update.
I went on to light candles, find flashlights and keep my husband updated. I continued to work, writing in the Slack channel, “Sitting in the dark, these winds are crazy. Will try and monitor as much as I can.”
TIME: 5:43 P.M.
I took a photo of my dimly lit living room and sent it to my boss as an update. I was trying to conserve as much of my laptop and phone battery because I had no idea when the power would return and I probably had a couple hours left of my shift.
TIME: 6:18 P.M.
I could tell that my dog was starting to get anxious so I decided to sit down with him on his bed and read for a bit. I was still technically monitoring for work and every so often would check my Slack and news to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.
I took this photo and shared it with (I think) my sister and friend.
TIME: 6:37
And this is when I started panicking.
Someone had just published an article and I hopped on my cell hot spot to post on our work’s social media. While connected to the Internet, I decided to google Altadena for any updates on the power outage. Instead, I saw reports that a fire had sparked by the mountains.
I instantly sat up and looked outside my window. This is what I saw!
I freaked out! Like, really freaked out. The glow was so bright and I had no idea how close or not it was.
I called my husband, who instantly got into survivor mode and told me to grab some essentials and GET. OUT!
It was difficult because since the power was out I was grabbing a flashlight, while trying to grab my most prized possessions. Let’s just say I was not prepared and had no idea what to grab. I grabbed my backpack, put my personal and work laptop in there (can’t remember if I got the charger), my wedding rings, my late mom’s rings, Milo’s favorite toy and waters in there.
In a separate suitcase, I put my toiletry bag, two changes of clothes (but no undergarments or socks), and I don’t even know what else. After a while, my husband called me again as he was driving home from work and could see the glow in the mountains. He told me to get out ASAP and go to a safe location, but I wasn’t done grabbing things. I was overwhelmed and decided to just get out and leave with only the stuff I had purchased earlier in the day and my backpack. I told him that when he got to the house to grab my suitcase I packed.
As I was locking the door, I had Milo on his leash and the wind scared him. He pulled me off the front porch and I fell face down. I tried not to freak out and told myself to breathe. I looked to my neighbors’ homes but I didn’t see any activity. I got me and Milo inside my tiny car and I tried to think of where to go.
I decided to drive into Pasadena and go to the Target, where I knew had a covered parking lot. I waited for what seemed like hours for my husband to get home, pack up some stuff and meet me where I parked. He told me to look for hotels and I called around for pet friendly ones. I was still trying to stay calm and not freak out. As I waited more people started arriving and gathering in the parking lot with their family and pets.
My husband eventually met up with me (he has his own eventful story of his experience – including driving close enough to see where the fire was and realizing he should turn back. He never told me this until months later.)
TIME: 8 P.M.- ISH
We eventually made it to Glendale and stayed at the Embassy Suites, shout out to their team during that time. They took in so many people and pets.
I was glad to have some space for Milo to roam around because he had a lot of energy. I also know how fortunate we are that we were able to stay in a hotel that night and for, like, five days later.
Now Milo isn’t allowed on the bed, but my anxiety was up and we were worried. It didn’t help that I had the local news on and kept seeing new fires pop up. I switched between channels to get an update on Altadena.
Below is Milo laying on the hotel bed with his favorite toy, his baby, at 10: 33 p.m. He took up most of the bed.
That night it was hard to go to sleep. The winds didn’t die down and my husband continued to check the neighborhood apps like Next Door and Ring.
We tossed and turned all night, hoping and praying the fire didn’t cross the main street, Lake Avenue.
It eventually did…
Jan. 8, 2025:
We were not ready for what was to come. My husband had grabbed a couple of my sentimental things, like my mom’s photo albums from the garage, when he got home the night before.
But he didn’t think about grabbing any of his sentimental belongings from the garage, where he kept most of his stuff and our important documents in our filing cabinet.
He monitored the fire all night on the apps and in the morning, we opened up the blinds and saw the below.
TIME: 7:38 A.M.
The sky was black. From one side was the smoke from Palisades and on the other from Altadena. The air quality was horrible, with ash falling like light rain.
Since we had Milo, we had to take him out a couple times a day to use the bathroom. He was restless but it was so windy and smoky, we didn’t want to stay out too long.
It felt eerie. The fire had spread and the news stations were in Altadena.
I don’t recall the exact time my husband decided to run out and check on our home. It must have been somewhere around 8 a.m.
I put on the news, which was very stressful and anxiety inducing since now I started seeing Altadena landmarks and streets I knew on fire.
My husband came back emotional, I had never seen him like that. At the time, he said our home was gone and on fire. He tried to go back and there was fire everywhere. We were destroyed, broke down and couldn’t believe what was happening.
I decided to text our neighbor, who I had texted the night before about how we had evacuated. They also were in shock.
We mourned.
TIME: 9:30 A.M.
At around 9:30 a.m. our neighbor sent us a video of our houses. He wrote that he “couldn’t tell if your house was on fire.” Unfortunately, theirs was on fire and our neighbors, he wrote, “was burned to the ground.”
Because of this video, my husband decided to drive back to our house and see if he could save it.
The next couple of hours were a blur, filled with high emotions, sweaty palms, tears, calls to family and friends.
When my husband got to the house, he called me and said the house was still intact. I could hear the smoke detector going off and I was so scared. I didn’t want him to rush into a home filled with smoke.
He said that when he opened the door to our home, it was filled with smoke. Then he saw our window by the fireplace shatter and the curtain catching on fire. The timing was crazy because he was able to put it out.
Hurried breath he asked what I wanted him to grab for me. People remind you what important documents to get, but those are replaceable. I thought about my “treasure box,” which had a lot of mementos, including birthday cards my mom gave me and souvenirs from trips. I asked for my stuffed bear, Peppy, my dad gave me. Every time I remembered something, I would text him.
I also didn’t want him to stay there too long in case the fire started reaching the house. All I kept thinking was that I didn’t want him to have a Jack situation like in “This Is Us.” If you’ve watched the show, it’s not good.
TIME: 11:04 A.M.
As the hours passed, I continued to watch the news and kept seeing more Altadena landmarks on fire. At 11:04 a.m., my husband sent me a video of the firefighters saving our home. (I won’t share at this time because of sensitivity to him and my neighbors who’ve never asked to see what was happening to their homes).
In it, he says that they are trying to save our home. You can tell that our garage has burned down but the main structure was not on fire.
As he recalls, he turned on the sprinklers, was hosing stuff around when a fire truck came up our street. He flagged them down, stopped in front of them and asked them to please save our home because it wasn’t on fire yet.
They did.
The incredible team from El Dorado Hills in Northern California had pulled an all-nighter to get down to Altadena to help. We were among their first stops and we are forever in their debt.
TIME: 11:15 A.M.
He did send me this photo and wow. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
I still wanted him to get out and stay safe.
As the news kept covering the Eaton fire, I stumbled upon a video from NBC Bay Area. They had interviewed the incredible firefighters who saved our home. The video below shows them after saving our house and on our street.
The fire chief was told that it looked like he had done “a pretty good job saving as much” as he could.
With a solemn face, after just getting to the area, he replied, “We’re saving as much as we can.”
He added that it was “frustrating” and resources were “just not enough.”
TIME: 12:44 p.m.
My husband was still at the house. I kept texting him to keep me updated on how he was doing. I had seen on the news that the tanks at the gas station down the street hadn’t been turned off and people were worried they would explode.
I just wanted to be in constant contact with him. I just wanted him to be safe.
He eventually sent me more photos after the firefighters left. He got on the roof and showed me the devastation around us.
Our home on the right, standing but damaged.
He stayed for hours. When he finally took more stuff out of the house, packed his car, he drove back to the hotel. Seeing him covered in soot, dirt, ash and his face mask filthy black, made me cry.
What had he just experienced? It was too much.
We did what we could, he said. If the winds changed and the fires started again, we did what we could.
The fires weren’t contained for weeks. According to The Associated Press, 31 people died and about 13,000 homes and other residential properties were destroyed, with thousands also displaced.
I grew up in Ramona, California, and one high school year we had to evacuate our entire small town. I was used to wildfires. For years when I was a teen, I would sleep with a giant trash bag under my bed in case we had to evacuate. But I never experienced something like this.
NOW: January 7, 2026
The months, and now year, that followed, people are still processing what happened. Lives have changed. My next door and back neighbors are rebuilding but haven’t really started yet. Our garage is being rebuilt but we are still not home because of the smoke and fire damage.
People have opinions and frustrations about how everything was handled. But, everyone has a story. Everyone in the city remembers where they were and what they had to do to stay safe.
As I’m finishing writing this, it’s a sunny day in Los Angeles. However, the wild just rustled the trees outside and my body froze. Any sign of wind just brings a bit of fear.
It’s a heavy time. Be kind. Follow up with people who have experienced natural disasters or unimaginable situations.
La Vida Liz 
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