Fire
It has been a devastating week in Los Angeles, and as I write this, fires continue to burn. I live in Pasadena, two miles south of the Eaton Canyon Fire, which ripped through the community to our north, burning houses, schools, churches, nursing homes, restaurants - everything - to the ground in less than a day.
The setting sun, through a blanket of smoke.
Many of my personal friends have lost their homes. Several of my students found that their schools had burned down. Musicians in local symphonies, including the LA Phil and Pasadena Symphony, lost their homes. Many events are canceled for the moment. The community is in a state of complete shock.
I'll share our experience just to illustrate what it was like, because the storm itself felt downright apocalyptic. I emphasize, it was so much worse for my friends who had to evacuate and lost everything. But I still want to illustrate what this was like, at least from my limited perspective.
We knew there was to be a major windstorm - we'd experienced this in 2011, when hurricane-force winds blew down trees, blew off roofs, blew up transformers and caused days-long power outages in the Pasadena area. It was spooky and surreal, but we didn't have fire with that storm. That was the big difference.
On Tuesday the winds started early in the day, and a terrible fire broke out across town in Pacific Palisades. It was very upsetting, but it was far from where I live.
It wasn't until the evening when the winds around us started to howl and the trees swayed wildly. At first, it was just kind of entertaining. We weren't too worried about more than downed trees and branches ("arbage" is what we called it last time) and power outages. We had our flashlights and candles ready.
I watched from an upstairs window as a satellite dish on the apartment roof next to ours blew down and swayed precariously from its cable, threatening to become a projectile at any moment. Somewhere in the distance, a transformer blew, in a spectacular blue-pink flash that seemed to light the entire sky. Then the lights went out. Five minutes later - to my surprise - they came back on. Well, thank goodness.
But the wind was getting worse, the gusts more acute and frightening, and the air started looking thick. We went outside to see what was happening, and that's when a neighbor started running door-to-door, screaming "Fire!"
We peeked around the corner of our building to the north. Oh my god, she's telling the truth, there was fire. It was low on the mountainside, visible orange flames. It was not on our block. However, squinting against the gale-force winds and increasing smoke, I could see why she was panicking - those flames looked like they could be from a building on the next block. They weren't. I was not going to panic; I knew it was several miles away. But it was a very worrisome sight.
The black smoke started really pouring from the mountain now - a blizzard of ash blowing straight our way.
A huge branch from a tree - big enough to be a tree itself, blew down into the street and then was slowly inched by the gusting wind until it blocked the driveway for our condo complex. My son was driving home from work in all this - which stressed me to no end. We had to move the branch so he could get in. My husband and I pushed the giant branch with all our might - it was SO heavy - wind and smoke and debris swirling around us - until it blocked only half the driveway. Now people could get at least get in and out. It was all we could do - we had to get back inside.
When we went inside, we both completely reeked of smoke. We realized we'd better get the masks, if we needed to go outside again. My son got home. He had seen the fire from the highway. We turned on the television, where all programming had switched to constant fire news. We looked at our phones - a very good app called Watch Duty - and we saw that evacuation orders and warnings had been issued for areas just to our north. The border for the warnings was that highway that my son had just been on - walking distance from our place.
My daughter called from across town - "Are you leaving? Come stay with us."
What would be worse, to stay, or to actually try to drive in this mad storm? I started to pack, just in case. I'd take my violin. My little pet frog Alice - I got a little carrier ready for her. A bag of clothes, medication and toiletries. But I was frazzled, it was hard to think straight and pack. As I was packing, the lights went out again. My stress level went up a notch, it was pitch-black. Where was that battery-lantern? I found it, flipped it on. Tried to concentrate on packing.
Should we stay? Should we go? We were not officially in an evacuation zone. But it was clear to me that those evacuation orders might not leave us a lot of time. We'd better be ready.
My daughter called again, more insistent. "Just come stay with us!" In our dark living room, we debated. If we went, we'd avoid the highway, go straight south away from the fire. I was in the increasingly panicked "Let's go" camp - and ultimately that is what we did.
What a drive - my son drove, my husband navigated, and I sat in the back with my violin and a perturbed little frog. As we turned to leave our driveway, we saw flashing lights to our north - another huge tree had blocked the street in that direction. We went south and we went slow, dodging branches and downed trees. At one point we had to take a detour to get around a tree blocking the road. We took the most confusing and circuitous route on surface streets. We passed over the Pasadena freeway and saw it was gridlocked and at a standstill, and partially blocked. We actually drove the perimeter of Dodger Stadium. We finally reached my daughter and her boyfriend, who were so hospitable. Their roommate was out of town - he let us use his bed.
Come morning, the evacuation zones had not changed. Our place was still okay, and neighbors told us that the power had been restored by early morning - to our surprise but great relief. We decided to come back home, despite the still-burning fire and smoke. And indeed it is very smoky, and we've received news that some areas have been ordered not to use the water - we think ours is safe but got some bottled water if that changes.
I realized that for so many people, when they packed and left in a panic, they never got to return. What they packed is what they now have, and their homes and possessions are now gone. This is almost beyond comprehension.
Shortly after I arrived back home I received an e-mail from the Pasadena Symphony personnel director - giving us the music for the next concert in a few weeks.
"It seems surreal to be sending a work-related email when so many are suffering," it said. "For those of you that need a distraction, perhaps some notes to look at will be welcomed."
Actually, yes.
It is snowing ash here today. But playing music, learning music, just using my brain that way - is a great comfort. I can only hope that my students will find comfort in working on and playing their music as well. Amid so much devastation, these small measures of sanity and normalcy do mean something.
Please pray for this community and all the people who have lost so much.
EDITOR'S NOTE: To update everyone, as of late Saturday the Eaton Canyon has largely left the Altadena area but threatens other areas. The affected area to my north is a moonscape of ash and rubble, with nearly 7,000 homes destroyed. The Palisades fire continues to burn and menace that area. How to help musicians: CLICK HERE for a list of musicians that were affected by the fires, with links to their GoFundMe pages. Also see my comment below, for a link to donate to help affected schools.
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Replies
My heart goes out to you and all the people who have suffered loss. Stay safe.
Make sure you have copies of all your important documents in a pack by the door ready to run. It’s what we have to do here in Japan.
Love,
Buri
Laurie, Sending all my love and prayers.
As Buri says, have essentials ready to go. But I hope you don't have to repeat the escape. Best wishes to you and family, Laurie.
An unimaginable experience, and huge loss for so many.
My prayers are with you, your family, and all those suffering there.
My wife Christine and I share the feelings of pain and loss and uncertainty of the California fire. We share our deep concern with you and those who respond to this event. It is a horrendous and incredible tragedy any way one looks at it.
Perhaps playing the violin and listening to great music and performers seems impossible to focus on now. But maybe it can eventually become a blessing that can help heal those who survive. In any case, we hope that you and all others directly impacted can accept our prayers and those of all the others who are aware of your situation.
Glad to hear you are ok, but prayers for those who aren't. I cannot fathom going through that. You are all in my thoughts.
Absolutely frightening! I can only say, fare thee well. I hope you emerge from this fire season intact.
I take a deep breath at the beginning of each summer. We have a "green" belt behind our home that is an accumulation of ladder fuel, dry vegetation, etc. The city of Forest Grove (near Portland, OR) has done much to mitigate the fire danger, but it still exists.
Good luck to you and your family.
It’s horrifying. Thinking of you.
A number of people have asked me about where to donate, and so I offer this to you. One of my friends, a teacher, shared this photo of the auditorium at the Eliot Arts Magnet school in Altadena, California, where one of my violin students attends middle school and had been planning to perform in the school musical this spring.
This is just one of the schools in the public Pasadena Unified School District that have been devastated by the Eaton Fire. Thousands of students and teachers in the district have lost their homes or schools in this disaster. You might think that Pasadena is a wealthy community, but its school district is not. It is where the working people of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre send their children. It's where my kids went to school. And so I am donating to the Pasadena Educational Foundation to help support affected schools and families in the district. Here is the link if you wish to do so too: CLICK HERE
You have my sympathy. I was in the Christchurch earthquakes of Sept 2010 and Feb 2011, and they were no fun. And a niece was in the floods in Lismore, NSW, so she's got war stories too, about how a natural disaster can turn your whole world upside down. (She and a friend survived by getting onto the roof, where tragically they watched someone drowning a few yards from their flat. Grim.)
And knowing me, I've been thinking of how to compose a small piece of music to commemorate it - I keep thinking of trombone crescendos over a progression of discordant string chords, and the woodwinds playing climbing and falling arpeggios. And the horns playing staccato counterpoint/counterrhythm to the timps. FWIW.
I had family in South Pasadena for several years and then they moved to Altadena for another several, before coming "back east" to suburban DC a couple of years ago. Altadena was a lovely, leafy neighborhood that is now mostly utterly destroyed. I have no idea whether their former home still exists; I doubt it. There was some fire in Eaton Canyon some years ago that gave them quite a scare but was nothing close to what is happening now.
The devastation of these large fires is unimaginable to most people. "War zone" doesn't come close. The fires sweep through with blinding speed and they leave behind a few bits of metal and concrete, and the rest is just ashes and mud from all the water used to extinguish the flames and the cinders.
My heart aches for these people, especially for those who are not wealthy celebrities who can just rebuild somewhere else -- in other words, basically everyone. As Laurie notes, even in areas where there is glittering wealth, the majority still comprises regular people, living somewhere between the middle class and dire poverty, with insurance that ranges from inadequate to nothing. Americans have median savings of $8000.
If one wants to help but has absolutely no idea where to start, there is always the Red Cross (and Red Crescent). My wife and I continue to just give locally. Even though Blacksburg is a place that really does not experience significant natural disasters (ice storms have been the most common), anything is possible (e.g., Hurricane Helene had us boiling our water for 10 days), a few smaller nearby communities were all but erased. I have to admit that my preparation for such an event is basically zero.
I live south of Clearwater (FL) 0,08 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in a flood zone on Clearwater Bay. We had two hurricanes this past season (Helene and Milton). We had to evacuate our condo home, returning to substantial damage to our building. Our car was flooded but somehow survived and is still running well. But where can we go. I am almost 92, my wife is 83. I cannot burden my kids who live in Cleveland and Milwaukee.....it is so cold there. I am comforted in the knowledge that my time left is so little, but fear for my kids and their kids whose time left is so much more. We are leaving such a rotten messy future for them, and we all seem so powerless , nor we even have the will to do something about it, even if we could.
Dear Laurie ...
I'm Deeply saddened and horrified by all the News Coverage we are witnessing and viewing the Worst it seems to us, Fire/s Damaged + Area's which were So beautiful when growing up in Los Angeles and
driving there on a Friday evening at Dusk looking whilst riding in a car of a friend to Pasadena with its freshness & loveliness Then, Hurts. On The main Facebook, there is a place people can go to find out if their loved ones/FB friends and others Are Safe or Not so or find a fellow friend of a musician colleague to try finding said person with current situation. I am so upset for all of you and for yourself and Family yet applaud your truly valiant efforts despite this Nightmare, to put out your online Violinist.com Magazine Today, 12th January, 2025 ... {I learned of a kind woman on FB who is trying to locate people with a Van or Car to help her find pets, aka, the doggies & cats amid ruins 'n ruble to get these darlings to a PAWS shelter to be given food; shelter and Love until hopefully still Alive Families can be contacted to come to reunite with their beloved pets so traumatized and forlorn yet unable to talk (maybe bark or purr??) from saddened eyes amid dulled faces not knowing really what is The Matter? ... {I reached out to this very kind woman with a Plan and hope it will become Reality} ... We, here in the Midwest, are all praying for All of You & our LA area friends/ colleagues having grown up with many now worried sick about those in Harms Way ... Please continue to do all you and your Family are doing and Thank You for sharing your experience no matter how difficult with all of us Today ... May a Miracle Blessing of Weather Calm reign on all of the LA Basin sooner than expected and for The End to such a Travesty . . . From the Heart ~ FB Elisabeth Anne Matesky/aka EM in Chicago ~ I will post Violinist.com on FB Timeline forthwith. With sympathies to you and your family plus all on here experiencing these Fire Nightmare's ... Many Chicago Hugs from Many of Us ~ 12.01.2025 ^The School Photograph here is beyond horrific and such that it seems it will be a long time prior to rebuilding it or restoring it. Is there a Hotline for Donations of Music for any Schools of Music in the LA Area Basin? If Yes, kindly post next time ... We've learned the Morte Count is as of late last night up to 16 ... r i p
On Tuesday night a fire flared up not far from our house, and the vicious wind was blowing it straight for us. So, after loading the car with important stuff, including my two cellos, we evacuated at midnight to our daughter's house. All turned out fine (after a scare on Friday of another fire even closer, but it was knocked down quickly), so we are safe. But I know several people who have lost their homes, and my daughter knows at least seven who have nothing left. Instruments, music, equipment, etc. All gone. It is heartbreaking. We are both volunteers with the Red Cross, and there is much to do right now.
@David Aks ... Please accept my personal Condolences for All you and your family have been through and for your spirits in going forward & as Volunteers for The Red Cross which will help dull the ongoing Pain you and your wife feel yet knowing you are Doing God's Works and in so
doing will come out of this Nightmare stronger and with more than before which right now seems an impossibility yet God Works in Strange Ways who draws crooked Lines we Mortal's cannot fathom nor understand ~ If you need a Cello, perhaps contact a Chicago Dealer, Paul Becker & whom I am quite sure might be able to help with some sort of accommodation/s for the forced on you 'lot' in this life at this dreadful time ... Use my name, Elisabeth Matesky, Heifetz Orig pupil of just 7 residing in Chicago, telling him EM suggested his name to ask or inquire about a Cello to use "just for Now" ... Taking a chance, yet we must help our neighbour's and love our neighbour as we love ourselves from The Good Book. Warmed Chicago Hugs ~ Elisabeth "M" also private 'Apostle' "Guinea Pig Heifetz pupil" of Nathan Milstein with warmest wishes for a future to yet be determined by Faith ~ Sunday, 12th of January, Anno 2025 ~ Fwd ~ dmg
Watching the news in horrified fascination from Victoria , Australia. We are thinking of you.
It makes us think of our “Black Saturday “ fires 15 years ago with a huge acreage burnt and 174 lives lost. Similarly a “perfect storm” of factors conspiring to magnify the disaster to previously unimaginable levels. Smoke was detected in New Zealand.
Here, fires tend to become controllable once they reach built up areas. What i find frightening about your fires is that they have just blasted on through, destroying infrastructure, schools shops.
We’ve also been lucky that sometimes rain has fished us out of trouble. I gather that’s unlikely in California atm.
Laurie (and everyone else who has responded): No words can express the combined problems, worry and panic, depression, loss, fear, anxiety, and the whole realm of negatives that have resulted from this monumental tragedy. Like all people, my wife (Christine) and cannot imagine the incredible stress this problem has created and continues to create.
Bless all of you.
Sandy and Chris
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January 9, 2025 at 08:37 PM · I hope your family stays safe, and that your home is spared any destruction!