I told my kids, 'don't look back.' What it was like to flee from fires in LA

I have lived in Los Angeles for 24 years. We’ve lived in our current house since 2006. We built it in 2005 and moved in 2006. We overlook Eaton Canyon. Eaton Canyon is on the border of Pasadena and Altadena, both towns that are in L.A. County. We’re less than 10 miles from downtown L.A. I’m married with two kids and a dog. 

I’ve heard about fires during my time in L.A. Where we live was actually created by a fire. You always think, "those poor people, pray for them." And then it’s you. 

Here is my experience. I am very used to power outages a couple of times a year. In the summer because of brownouts with extreme heat and in the winter because of high winds. On Tuesday morning, our power went out for a few hours. Then it was turned back on. And I was very lucky, because it was on when I needed to broadcast. And during the day, I was sitting outside doing a Zoom meeting with a cup of coffee in 70-degree weather. A few hours later at 5:10 pm, the power went out again. But now it’s dark. 

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So, my son and I were looking for the flashlight and the batteries and the candles and doing what one does when there’s a power outage. Because we were expecting high winds of up to 100 miles an hour, we went outside the house to move furniture and other things so that they wouldn’t blow away. Really high winds can pick up chairs and tables and go through your house or your neighbor’s house. 

We were securing items in the front of the house when, all of a sudden, my son said," Look, mom, what’s that?" 

It was a huge cloud of dark gray smoke rising from the house across the street from us. It was so close to us that my son could have thrown a football and hit it. 

At first, I honestly thought there was something on fire in my neighbor’s backyard. My son called 911 and was told he was the second person to have called. 

As that was happening, I saw orange to the left of the rear of that house and I realized it wasn’t my neighbor’s backyard that was generating the smoke but that it was coming from the base of the mountain behind that. 

Then, moments later, fire trucks and police trucks came up the street. The first responders were saying things but we couldn’t make out what they were saying. So, I flagged a police officer down and asked, "are you telling us to evacuate?" 

He said, "Where’s your house?" 

I pointed and he said, "No, the fire’s on the west side of the street, you’re on the east." 

But I know from watching the news over the year, that fires jump and in a second they can change direction as the wind does. 

My maternal instinct was telling me, "get your kids and dog out of the house now." Not knowing if I would I ever see our home or neighborhood again, or if something would happen to us. I posted the video on Facebook. 

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I got back inside the house, and I told the kids, "I think we’re going to go." And within seconds the police are there with the bullhorn saying, "Evacuate immediately! Evacuate now!" 

We did not have a bag packed and it’s pitch black. We blew out the candles so that our house wouldn’t burn inside. My kids were very emotional, because I told them, "get a change of clothes, your phone, computer and chargers." At that time, they still had school the next day and my son had volleyball tryouts, too.  

We couldn’t find our dog, because it was pitch black, or his collar or his leash! 

My next thought was, "Oh my, we need food for him." And then, my next thought was, "Where are we going, where are going to stay?" 

I grabbed my purse, my keys, my phone and charger, my dog and two kids and walked out the door with the clothes on my back. And that’s it. 

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My street was the first to be evacuated because of this fire. There were fire trucks coming up the street – so may of them, I’ve never seen that many. Ther were police, ambulances and forest trucks, too. It would have been hard to get out of our neighborhood and it would have been complete chaos and pandemonium, except the first responders who took charge, told people to wait or go and then controlled the traffic. 

Considering the circumstances, the first responders were amazing and they got us out fast. 

Driving down the hill to my right was an inferno. It was surreal. It was so bad, my kids couldn’t look at it. 

I told my kids, "don’t look back." I had already looked in the rearview mirror and seen the flames and I honestly thought, there’s no way our house will survive this. 

As a mother, I was trying not to let my kids see me cry. I travel a lot for my job, working in LA, DC and New York. I typically stay at a Marriott and I knew there were Marriott hotels within a few miles of our house. I was literally calling the hotel on speaker from my car but the service kept going in and out. I also had to find a hotel that would take pets. We were very lucky that the hotel was able to take us. 

Right now, where I’m staying at this Marriott, more than half of this hotel is filled with people who were evacuated. 

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My kids go to different schools. My daughter’s school is at the top of a mountain. Classes at that school was cancelled on Tuesday because of high winds. Her school was also cancelled for today. But my son, we did not find out that his school was cancelled for Wednesday until last night when were at the hotel. And I was so relieved because my son hadn’t been able to do his homework and he had volleyball tryouts. I was hoping I could just get them some food and rest. We still don’t know if they have school on Thursday or not.

Now that I’m at the hotel, and we’re safe, there are other thoughts that have been coming to me. 

We have family dinner on Sunday nights. Because of our four schedules, we can’t have dinner together every night like we did when the kids were little. On Sundays, my husband will ask everyone a question. This past Sunday, just coincidentally, the question was, "If you had to leave the house and could only take one thing with you, what would it be?" I thought about a cassette I still have with the answering machine recording of my dad’s voice. My dad died in 1992. 

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Earlier in the day, I was listening to the reports about Pacific Palisades. We have friends there and I suggested to my husband that we should check on them. And I thought to myself, "Gee, I wonder where we would go?"  I do have two cousins here. But most of our family is on the East Coast. And it’s hard for four people and a dog to just to descend upon someone. Earlier in the day, I looked up what hotels near us take pets. 

Before I even got to the hotel, I thought about that Sunday dinner question. And I thought about my mother’s engagement ring, my grandmother’s ring, my wedding album, my piano I haven’t played for many, many years. I used to be quite a piano player. And I always thought, I’ll do it again when I’m retired. I think about some of the sentimental things: tea cups that were my great-grandmother’s. And then I started to think about all my clothes. I am a woman, after all, and I did think about it. 

My husband’s mother from India just died a few months ago. There was a photo of him with his mother. That was what was on his mind Tuesday night. 

Then you start to think, how am I going to do this? If we lose the house, where are we going to live? Do we have enough money from insurance to replace it? Would we rebuild? It’s like a three-ring circus in my head right now. 

I’ve always been one of those people that says, "You got out alive and you’re OK." That’s what matters. But, honestly, saying it is one thing, this is another.  

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I know that the house is just a building. But there are memories in that building and there are things in that building that are very special. There are cards that my kids have made me, pictures, love letters that my husband wrote me when we were dating. 

We don’t know if our house is OK. And these are all the things on my mind while we wait to find out.

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