The Eaton Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Value of Planning
2025 was off to a great start, we spent several days with friends and dogs up in Mount Shasta. We all had a fabulous time and as expected Mabel our Husky mix LOVED the snow and surprisingly Hannah loved the snow too! Hannah amazed us because she won’t walk outside when it’s raining. There are no fence lines and there is a creek in our friends’ backyard so we got GPS trackers for both girls just in case. But since they had done so well with recall training we didn’t have an issue. We all had such a great time that we extended our stay by a couple days, celebrated New Year’s Eve with snow and good friends then drove home January 1st.
Mabel our Husky mix had a spay day appointment for January 7th and pre-op blood work on January 2nd, blood work came back good and the spay day was a go.
We had weather warnings of an incoming windstorm starting later Tuesday morning, January 7th. We live in north Pasadena and normally when these wind events happen they don’t get the high winds but this storm was going to affect us.
The wind started very early Tuesday morning, it woke me up at around 4 AM and it got progressively stronger. There were talks of rolling blackouts and by 7 AM we talked and decided to reschedule Mabel’s spay; trees were down all over and we did not want to risk the power going out at the vet’s office during her surgery.
News broke that there was a brush fire in Pacific Palisades and the winds were just getting worse.
By Tuesday afternoon the wind gusts were so strong that they were shaking the house, I wasn’t concerned since the house is solid, she was built over a hundred years ago. Mabel was annoyed by the wind because it imposed on her yard time, but poor Hannah was stressed and spent most of her time in her “cave” with white noise and music on.
At 6:30 PM we knew that there was a wildfire just east of us and we could see the glow from our front porch. Thirty minutes later the fire had quickly spread, moved west and could be seen easily from our front yard. It was at this point that we packed a “go bag” and put the GPS trackers on the dogs. We watched the fire and the local news consistently and eventually I took the dogs in the room so they could rest for a while Scott monitored the fire. I fell asleep at about 2:30 AM and woke up at 6:00 AM to “we need to evacuate.” I quickly got my bearings and went out to the backyard; the smoke was horrendous and there were explosions every five to ten seconds. The sky was black except for the orange glow of the fires just north of us and police were driving down the street behind us announcing to evacuate ASAP. We grabbed our bags, the dogs and our kitty Butch and left. A downed tree was blocking our south exit so we went north, when we got to Woodbury Ave. there were houses on fire, telephone poles and bushes at the cemetery were on fire, consistent explosions…to say it was surreal is an understatement and I still cannot find the right words to explain it.
We drove around for a bit, we parked for a bit. We were both in shock and just hoping our house would be there when we got home.
Thankfully the winds started to die down and late morning we drove back to our neighborhood. It was untouched by the fire storm and we decided to stay home and defend what we could. The downed tree was still blocking the street, so Scott decided he was going to move the tree with the Jeep so that we had two exits, luckily our neighbor and his sons grabbed chain saws and they cleared the tree. We kept the dogs in the house as much as possible and locked Butch kitty in the bathroom in case we need to evacuate again.
The balance of the day we kept the perimeter watered and watched for any signs of smoke and many of our neighbors did the same thing. We watched the Eaton Fire spread on KTLA, friends and acquaintances lost everything, people that evacuated and couldn’t take their pets to the evacuation centers took them to the Pasadena Humane Society, animals injured in the fires were also taken there for treatment since they have an ICU and surgery center.
It was complete devastation. And what did this community do? They immediately banded together to help others. Scott is a member of the Eagles Lodge in Altadena, they are located on Woodbury Ave and had no power or water, but they jumped into action to help fellow members and the community. Water, food, clothing, shoes, toiletries and pet food were donated and passed out, no questions asked. World Central Kitchen set up in their parking lot to feed the community and FEMA set up there as well. Members that lost their homes are up there volunteering their time to help.
Out of all the ugliness of the Eaton Fire, the community banding together is quite a beautiful thing.
The Eaton Fire took an estimated 9,400 structures and there have been at least 17 deaths. These totals do not include the Palisades fire; that fire destroyed 6,662 structures and took at least eleven lives. The Pasadena Humane Society is still overwhelmed with displaced pets and wildlife. If you can donate to them every little bit helps. Here is the link to the Pasadena Humane Society: https://pasadenahumane.org.
The Eagles Lodge is also accepting donations to continue with assisting the community and members who have lost everything. They are a non-profit and if you would like to donate to them monetary donations are accepted and checks can be made out to:
Altadena Eagles 719
Memo line: Eaton Fire donations
Address:
Lyz Eagles Eckhardt
1353 E. Garfield Avenue, Unit B
Glendale, CA 91205
This was an experience that I hope nobody must go through and I have written this as a bit of therapy for myself and to make sure that everyone is prepped and ready to go in case there is an emergency. I started using a checklist for traveling after Lucy was diagnosed with diabetes and over the years it has grown to include items needed in case of a disaster. To print up the checklists click here.
And I know this can be hard but if you need to evacuate try not to panic, if you go into “robot mode” you can get what needs to be done to get to safety. Luckily neither Scott or I panic in an emergency so we took care of business and then worried once we were all safe. Having lists ahead of time along with a go bag really helps getting to safety efficiently and quickly.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and if you can donate thank you in advance!
Until next week stay comfy, don’t stress and you got this!
Michelle Miller-Matlock
AAHA Certified Diabetes Educator
Founder/Administrator of DDO: Diabetic Dog Owners University
Administrator of Diabetic Dog Owners on Facebook
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