January 7-8, 2025

We evacuated Tuesday night.

I was on my way to Los Feliz. Left before the fire started. Arrived after. One of the others at the meeting said, “Isn’t there a fire by you?” A call to the wife confirmed.

It was a no brainer to run. Winds 60+ miles and hour, sustained. We only talked about should I bail on my obligation or just meet them afterwards? What was the point of turning around and heading back to Pasadena. There would be nothing to be done but watch a house burn.

The Rabbi and his wife put us up at their place. Early Wednesday AM I took the car out and drove around the fire. S was not pleased with this decision.

Altadena was still burning, wind still strong. The fire crews doing all they could, but they were very outmatched. The National Guard had not arrived so nothing was blocked off and no one was stopped from seeing things. There were a lot of people on foot sharing the same shocked look.

Eaton Canyon hours after the fire moved through

Difficult to capture the scene with so much smoke in the air. Further along Altadena Ave the scale of the disaster was becoming clear.

It was not only the foothills. The fire burned down into the city. Later that night a blood moon directly overhead. Typically we see these colors when the moon is just off the horizon and its reflected sunlight has to pass through a long wedge of atmosphere. There was so much smoke and debris in the air, the moon held that color even directly overhead.