PERSONAL: "Nothing prepares you for this": A lifelong resident reflects after losing her home in Altadena fire

Record ID: 1898024

  • Title: PERSONAL: "Nothing prepares you for this": A lifelong resident reflects after losing her home in Altadena fire
  • Date: 10th January 2025
  • Summary: PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 9, 2025)(REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EATON FIRE EVACUEE ALITA JOHNSON SEARCHING FOR ASSISTANCE AT EVACUATION CENTER (SOUNDBITE)(English) LIFELONG ALTADENA RESIDENT ALITA JOHNSON, 61, SAYING: JOHNSON: “Did you lose your home? Well, yeah. It's not there anymore, you know? VOLUNTEER: "Sorry about that." JOHNSON: "That's okay. Stuff happens
  • Embargoed: 24th January 2025 03:43
  • Keywords: ALTADENA DESTROYED HOME EATON FIRE PASADENA WILDFIRE
  • Location: ALTADENA AND PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: ALTADENA AND PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,North America,Wildfires/Forest Fires
  • Reuters ID: LVA001215910012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:During the first full day since high winds in Los Angeles blew the Eaton fire from the foothills into the urban community of Altadena on Wednesday (January 8) morning, evacuated residents returned home.
    For some, like Alita Johnson, 61, a lifelong resident of west Altadena who grew up playing on the streets that are now filled with charred debris and ash, she had no home to return to.
    "Nothing prepares you for this amount of destruction. I mean, there's no manual. There's no book." said Johnson with tears in her eyes. "That night when we left, it was so frightening. I could barely my hand in front of me because the visibility was so bad, and the winds were whipping just ferociously.”
    Johnson told Reuters that she was initially optimistic when she left her family's home that has been passed down through generations, that the fire department would manage to stave off the fire from reaching the large amount of homes it eventually burned. But that mood changed.
    Johnson feels the city or county could have been better prepared for the fires burning across the region.
    "How come there wasn't enough ground personnel? You know, you're going to have a wind event, you're going to attach a fire advisory to it. The probability of you being able to fly the the planes that is needed to combat a fire is probably zero," she said.
    Johnson and her boyfriend walked around her neighborhood, greeting and hugging neighbors, sharing stories of a frightening night they endured as a community.
    Johnson said her neighborhood in Altadena, which she said is predominantly residents who are people of color, was neglected by authorities.
    Residents in her neighborhood and across Altadena and Pasadena continue to assess the damage and begin efforts to rebuild as morel high winds are expected.
    (Production: Matt M. McKnight)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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