Jackie McDaniels’ home was on fire with her brother-in-law and nephew inside when she flagged down a fire truck for help.
“Whoever is in there is no longer alive, and I pray to God they were there,” she recalled one of the firefighters telling her before advising her to flee the Altadena area. But it was terrifying to have to leave them there.”
Now, like many people, McDaniels is facing the harsh reality of grief and questions about what more she could have done. Experts say these survivors are themselves victims. The fires that swept through the Los Angeles area this month were fast-moving and intense.
“It’s a whole other beast when you’re propagating this much disruption,” said Benjamin Hatchett, a fire meteorologist at Colorado State University’s Cooperative Atmospheric Research Institute.
However, this does not alleviate the pain and questions faced by the families of the more than 20 people who died. Some people didn’t escape, some didn’t know what was going to happen, and some survived other fires unscathed.
Among the dead is Darris Curry, who in his youth rubbed shoulders with old Hollywood elites. To her family, she was called by a different name.
“Mama Dee, that’s a fire,” her granddaughter and namesake Darice Kelly said as she drove the 95-year-old to her home in Altadena on January 7th after a day of medical tests. I remember saying that.
But the flames they saw seemed very far away and the lights were still on. Now, Kelly wishes she had asked more questions and wishes she had left sooner.
“I will live with this regret for the rest of my life,” she said.
More people could return home to Altadena once evacuation orders are lifted for the area. Annette Arreola reports for Today on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Los Angeles.
This saddens Jennifer Marlon, a wildfire and climate researcher at Yale School of the Environment. He said larger factors were at play, including California’s hottest summer on record, which killed the plants that started the fires.
“These are generally not situations that people really expected,” she says. “It’s incredibly tragic that people are blaming themselves and feeling guilty.”
But that’s a common reaction, said Tory Fiedler, disaster mental health manager for the Red Cross, who helps coordinate wildfire responses.
“Most of us derive a sense of self and worth from acts of service to others,” she said.
“When we can’t do that, we feel very disappointed,” she added. “I feel guilty that I couldn’t help. It wasn’t enough. I survived, but others didn’t, and I can’t help them. And only I It’s not that I survived and others didn’t, but I don’t know what to do about it.”
Adding to the pain is the fact that many families are still waiting for official notification from doctors, a process that can take weeks.
Throughout that painful wait, Carol Smith continued to pray. Her son, Randy Miodo, a 55-year-old surfer known to friends as Crow Daddy, had lived in the Malibu home for 30 years, first as a renter and then as an owner. Known as the “Crab Shack,” this place was a popular hangout for surfers, and rental boards were always available.
On Friday, several Los Angeles sports teams hosted a donation drive to help victims of the fire, including the Gonzalez family who lost their home in the Eaton fire. Jonathan Gonzalez reports on NBCLA News on January 18, 2025 at 6 p.m.
She said she has never evacuated during a wildfire, including during the Franklin Fire in December, when her home lost power for three days.
“I’m scared,” she remembered him telling her the last time they spoke. She begged, “Don’t worry, please go to a safe place.”
But he remained unmoved and told her: “I have a hose. And he said, ‘Pray for the Palisades, pray for Malibu, and I love you.'”
After human remains were discovered inside the house, detectives told her that the fire had exceeded her son’s expectations and was moving the size of five football fields per minute.
In Altadena, cinders were flying as McDaniel loaded his car into his car before dawn on January 8th. Before leaving, her late sister’s husband, Anthony Mitchell, 68, who lived nearby, assured her that an ambulance would be on the way. They had come to evacuate him and his bedridden son Justin Mitchell, 35, who suffers from cerebral palsy.
However, as she approached the highway, he called her back and said, “Stay with me until they get here.”
A community is rallying around a man whose Altadena bike shop burned down while he was out protecting at least three homes from the Eaton Fire. Macy Jenkins reports on NBC4 News on January 18, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.
When she pulled up, she saw her nephew, who loved his collection of children’s books and was watching various TV shows such as “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “The Golden Girls,” looking irritated in the background. I heard it.
His brother-in-law was reassuring him. “Daddy’s here. He’s leaving now. Daddy’s coming. Daddy’s here.”
But then they caught fire. The last words she murmured before her brother-in-law rushed home were “help me.” When I opened the door, black smoke greeted me.
“You are helpless,” she recalled, sobbing through the thick smoke as she fled, describing how she, too, was nearly lost and her home destroyed.
She’s not sure what they could have done. The family thought the ambulance Anthony Mitchell had called hours earlier would arrive in time. Perhaps, she said, if they had known otherwise, some of her relatives might have carried her nephew out with sheets.
Her nephew’s brother, Jordan Mitchell, 33, was living at home to help care for his younger brother, but he was hospitalized with sepsis at the time and could not do anything.
“I said to myself, ‘I’m my brother’s keeper,’ and I’m proud of that,” he said, adding that he chose him because it fit his father’s and brother’s wheelchairs. “And I was very protective of him. I didn’t think he would be gone so soon. I knew I was going to take care of him for the rest of my life.” I did.”
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