Even when the evacuation orders are lifted, many families have no home to go back to.
Nearly every day for the last nine days, Raymond Sarkis, 32, has tried to get back into the Altadena neighborhood to see what’s left of the home he and his wife purchased in 2021, after nearly a decade of saving up. They spent months making repairs, pouring “sweat and tears” into it and got married in the backyard that same year.
An insurance agent and a neighbor have told Mr. Sarkis that the house burned to the ground, and even showed him a couple of photos. But he wants to see for himself.
“I need to just stand there and take it in,” he said. “To look myself, to find something.”
He added: “I would take half of a kid’s toy. I would take a necklace. I would take anything you can think of that would just remind us, just to have like a keepsake of, ‘Wow, this happened.’”
So far, he has not been able to get that.
“I have gone to every goddamn street corner, every street opening — there are no less than two police officers and a military vehicle, sometimes two,” he said.
Eric Escott, 62, has been able to sneak back into the charred wreckage of Altadena twice since being evacuated. His house is still standing, and he was able to leave with some essential items. But those two times he returned, he has been leaving food for his cat, Rosie.
Mr. Escott has not seen Rosie since he evacuated, but the wet food he left out on Thursday was gone when he returned on his last visit on Sunday.
Rosie, a feral cat his wife adopted and slowly coaxed into trusting her, was skittish and unfriendly, and rarely interacted with Mr. Escott. He said there was no way she would have shown up when he was there or allowed herself to be taken away from the neighborhood.
But his wife, Jessica, died several years ago, and he said he now views Rosie as a link to her. “It’s been two and a half years of her kind of coming around to me,” he said. “She’s kind of a little joke, but we all love her in a way.”
Residents say there have been small moments of gratitude and relief during this chaotic period. Neighbors and friends have bonded, donated supplies and checked in on each other.
A church service on Thursday morning was uplifting, said Ms. Clark, the victim of the theft in Westwood, and a group of mothers from her children’s school helped the family get new clothes and other items. Maggie Rothschild, 72, who had to evacuate the Brentwood neighborhood, near the Palisades fire, said she was grateful for the friends who had “taken me in with such hospitality.”
“My dogs are safe and I’m safe,” said Ms. Rothschild. “You can’t complain. You have to feel sad for everyone else. You have to feel lucky and blessed.”
Late last week, Ms. Spruell, whose birthday card from her grandfather is still waiting in her empty home, and her mother needed an escape from the hazy skies and reminders of loss, so they went to stay with some friends in the desert in Palm Springs, east of Los Angeles. When they arrived, there was a surprise awaiting Ms. Spruell: balloons and a birthday cake. She teared up.
“It was reminiscent,” Ms. Spruell recalled, “of the community that Altadena is at its heart and soul: truly caring for others.”
Amy Graff and Kate Selig contributed reporting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/us/la-fires-evacuations-homes.html
