Eleven of them were killed in the Eaton fire. The death toll is expected to grow when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.
In Altadena, fire crews were walking house to house with shovels, looking for hot spots that were still burning. Sheriff’s deputies patrolled the streets and blocked residents from returning to their homes at checkpoints.
FAST-MOVING FLAMES
Perez provided a harrowing account of how the Eaton fire rapidly intensified early on Wednesday. The first indication something was wrong came on Tuesday evening. His neighbours were outside staring at a faint glow far in the distance.
“To be honest, I didn’t really consider it too much of a threat just because it was way out there,” he said.
Then the winds began to howl and blow toward them. The fire was coming right at them at alarming speed. “It looked like it was sprinting down a football field. It was flying,” Perez said.
Then he and his neighbors lost sight of the flames. Perez said that was the most nerve-wracking part of the night.
That soon changed. Looking up his street 180m away, entire homes and businesses were engulfed in flames. Perez told his neighbours to leave.
“I was willing to go to the end. I saw the firefighters, everybody was already shorthanded, so I wanted to do my part,” he said.
Fire and law enforcement officials discourage people from staying at their homes during wildfires because it can put residents and first responders in danger.
