There has been an outpouring of support for people who have lost everything in the bushfires, including support for families affected by the Eaton fire.
Hundreds of families who lost their homes attended a community meeting Sunday night at Pasadena City College to hear the latest information and find resources about the Eaton Fire.
Joyce Baugh was at her home in Altadena when she noticed the fire several miles away. Bo said she got what she could, but before she left, she knocked on the doors of her neighbors, many of whom were elderly, to see what was going on.
“I told him to get ready because there was a big problem with the fire, and he said, ‘I didn’t hear you.’ I told him to calm down,” Bo said.
Derek Russell Jr., who lives a few doors down from Bo, said he also knocked on doors to get people out.
“Nobody thought of that. There’s no way it would come down where we live,” Russell said.
Beau and Russell said when they left their townhome Tuesday, they had no idea it would be the last time they would see it.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, but we’ve had fires before, so maybe it’s not that bad,'” Bo said. “This time I said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll completely contain it.'”
“I thought I’d be back in the morning, so I grabbed a few things,” Russell said.
A townhome community lost everything in the Eaton Fire. Beau said she even lost the ashes of her husband, to whom she was married for 33 years.
“All I had was two pairs of pants, a couple of jackets, a nightgown and some shoes from home. But I said I’d come back because it would be contained, but it wasn’t,” Bo said.
Russell, who just lost her father in November, returned Thursday to see for herself.
“Devastation, sadness, anger,” Russell said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow, I don’t have a home to go to, and I’m still in shock.”
Bo and Russell are left with little, but each has assets, and Altadena’s neighbors band together in times of need.
“First of all, I’m a survivor. I’m happy to be alive. I’m going to do everything I can to better myself at this point,” Bo said.
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