An Altadena resident talks about saving her home, surviving the Eaton Fire
A survivor of the Eaton Fire that devastated the Altadena area of Los Angeles County recently spoke about his firefighting experience.
Justin Christie, an Altadena resident, spoke to Fox News Digital on Saturday afternoon about his experience. As of Saturday evening, the Eaton Fire, which started on Tuesday, is only 15% contained.
Christie explained that her family has lived in the area since 1967, and had never seen anything as devastating as the Eaton fire before.
“[I’ve seen] tons of fire on this hill,” Christie recalled. “When I saw this, when I pulled off the road and saw the flames up on the hill, something just told me this was different.”
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“I was really shocked, I started thinking [about] what I needed to do to prepare myself.”
Christie said she was terrified after seeing her palm tree on fire, which had never happened before. He immediately put all his family members in his car and drove them away from the scene.
“I have never, in all the fires, I have never burned one of our trees,” he said. “And that’s what really said, okay … we’re in big trouble.”
Later, Christie stopped by to check on the condition of his house – when he saw that no one would put out the fire in his palm, Christie decided to take matters into his own hands and start the fire himself.
“I thought my house, many times, was going to go away,” he recalled. “From 8 o’clock at night until 12 o’clock in the afternoon. This house next to me is the one that finally put me in danger.”
“When that one finally calmed down… I felt a little relief.”
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But Christie said that sense of relief was short-lived before one of her neighbors was caught in a fire in their garage. Although Christie’s house was not affected by the fire, a resident described the whole situation as “shocking.”
“It hurts. It’s enough to make you want to cry,” Christie said. “A lot of people have lost everything.”
“And I never, I thought….we’ve been here so long…I always thought we were far enough out of the fire’s reach.”
Reflecting back on the experience, Christie described the sounds and sights of the wildfires as “amazing.”
“Broken glass, exploding power lines, human tanks, burning cars,” he explained clearly. “It sounded like a lot of freight trains coming at you.”
Overall, Christie said her house’s survival in the Eaton Fire was nothing short of miraculous.
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“It was a miracle that I caught fire…the wind stopped at once,” he said. “And if it hadn’t….had caught this trellis that I have next to me, it would have set my house on fire and I’d be done. And there were several times when I wanted to leave, but I didn’t. ‘t.
“If I left, the house would be gone.
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