When Michael Olson saw the Eaton Fire later, the flames at the base of the power tower looked small and seemed manageable.
On the evening of January 7, the wind blew a flurry of sparks on the hillside above his Pasadena home.
“Within 10 minutes, the whole landscape lit up,” Olson, 70, told The Times. “It was just a mountain of flames.”
Only a dry creek bed separated his backyard from the fire. As Olson and his wife drove away, fire trucks rushed into his neighborhood.
“We left home thinking we would never see it again,” he said.
Instead, Olson and his neighbors returned to find their homes untouched by the fires, which devastated swathes of south and west Altadena and killed at least 16 people. Some returned to find scorched trees and damaged decks in their backyards — signs that the fire was approaching danger. One home’s gutters were sagging and appeared to be melting.
However, dozens of homes near where authorities suspected the fire started were unscathed. Despite being surrounded by ash and rubble, some residents have returned to nearby areas. It is difficult for them to obtain food and other basic supplies as the evacuation zones are guarded by armed forces and police and no one is allowed in or out.
Those who remained are now trying to figure out why their homes at the center of such a devastating fire survived while so many others burned.
“God’s will?” Olson asked. “Good karma? I tell people I used up a lot of good karma that day.
Strong winds started a massive fire, but some houses survived
Residents of Canyon Close Road, which is built against a hill, have uninterrupted views from their backyards to the power towers where Olson and other residents said they saw the fire on Jan. 7 around 6:15 p.m.
There are several theories to explain why the Eaton Fire burned through Olson Street and the Horseshoe surrounding the surrounding neighborhood, but not a single house caught fire.
“Could be wind, brush clearing, luck,” said Scott Brown, a firefighter assigned to Los Angeles County Fire Station 66 about a mile east of Kinnilea Canyon. His best guess: “All three.”
To understand how the fire spread and the decisions that led to some homes being saved, The Times spoke with fire officials, first responders, residents and experts and reviewed hours of emergency crews’ radio communications since the night of the Eaton fire.
Firefighters were stationed on streets east, west and south of the fire. They sprayed water on the burning hillside, but 70 mph winds blew embers over their heads, sparking new fires two miles behind them.
“This is something I haven’t experienced in 20 years,” said Pasadena Fire Department Battalion Chief Danny Nausha, the fire’s original incident commander. “We placed the equipment closest to the fire to prevent them from entering the building, but many embers would fly into nearby areas.”
Olson and his neighbors believe their homes survived for two reasons. First, Pasadena and Los Angeles County fire departments were able to flood their streets — the first place firefighters responded to the Eaton fire — and then fires in other communities forced them to allocate resources.
Like Nosha, Olson credits the wind. The same wind gusts that blew infernos from the fires and rained down burning wood like cluster munitions on streets to the west and south may have saved their own homes, Olson said.
“It just overwhelmed us,” he said.
At 6:26 p.m. on Jan. 7, about 15 minutes after the Eaton Fire was first reported, firefighters near Canyon Close Drive reported that the fire had spread to 10 acres and was “underneath high-voltage power lines,” according to radio transmissions combustion. A minute later, workers on nearby Canyon View Lane reported over the radio that embers were blowing toward homes.
At 6:33 p.m., a firefighter on Canyon Close Drive reported a “huge embers” and called for help, eventually requesting five more engines, according to the transmission. More than a mile away, embers had ignited trees and buildings, Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustine said.
Immediate support was not available as other departments in the area were already stretched that night.
Brendan Thorn, 28, used a garden hose to guard his home on Canyon Close Road when he saw embers arcing overhead, “just a huge ball of fire.” ”.
Most sailed on the house his great-grandparents built 70 years ago.
“We’re very, very grateful,” Thorne said, “but especially my mother, she felt very guilty, which is as weird as it sounds.”
Thorne’s next-door neighbor, Laurie Bilotta, said the heat was so high when an ember fell in her backyard that it melted a metal ladder in her backyard. Some brush also caught fire, but Bilotta’s home of 39 years survived.
On Wednesday, Bilotta, 72, pointed to the trees in her backyard.
“Not a hair on their heads, not a leaf on their branches was touched,” she said. “It’s a miracle.”
Firefighter’s Oath: “I Will Defend My Castle”
About a mile east of Bilotta’s home, Brown defended his home in Kinneloa Canyon.
Brown, 44, got off work on the evening of January 7 and had just had dinner at Villa Catrina’s in Arcadia when he received an alert about Eaton Canyon.
Brown returned to his station, picked up his equipment and headed home. He filled his car with personal belongings and then used the techniques he learned as a firefighter to protect his home.
“I’ve been planning this day for 31 years,” said Brown, who was in eighth grade when the Kinneola fire threatened the house in 1993. “I will defend my castle.”
Brown dragged flammable furniture away from the house, doused the roof and walls with water and turned on sprinklers, then did the same to his neighbor’s home.
With the help of fire trucks, Brown extinguished nearby localized fires until 1:30 a.m., when winds subsided for several hours, allowing firefighters to contain the Kinneloa Canyon fire.
Brown said he spent the next seven hours going door-to-door making a grilled cheese sandwich and making sure water lines didn’t break, reducing the supply for firefighters.
Nausha crews with the Pasadena Fire Department jumped from one house fire to the next, trying to keep up with each new fire started by swirling embers.
“When a fire spreads, you put it out in one area and then quickly move to the next area,” he said. “They are constantly moving from one fire to another. “
Life in the evacuation zone: ‘Like the Berlin Wall’
By Wednesday, some residents had returned to Canyon Close Road, which remains under an evacuation order. As long as the area remains guarded by the National Guard, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and California Highway Patrol, some people don’t plan to leave the area, fearing they won’t be allowed to return.
Residents described a siege-like situation. Their home has electricity and limited cell service, but no gas. BJ Thorn said some people were living on emergency food supplies – peanut butter powder and applesauce.
BJ Thorn, a retired elementary school teacher, said her sister was turned away at a National Guard checkpoint with a load of food from a Ralph’s store. BJ Thorn asked her sister if she could use the phone to pass the food over. The troops said no.
“It’s a bit like the Berlin Wall,” she said.
BJ Thorn and her son spend most of the day indoors. She said she feared the National Guard would “escort” them out of the evacuation zone if they were found outside after the 6 p.m. curfew.
“The Sheriff’s Department is also very, very eager to find someone robberies,” she said.
