01/12/2025
It has been an intense few days. The fire, perpetuated by extreme winds, was extremely close to my home, and even more threatening to my parents and brother’s homes in a nearby canyon.
We evacuated the girls, along with my parents, 4 cats, 2 dogs, and a chicken (who “accidentally” was carried into the car by one of my daughters🤦🏽♀️)
My husband and I evacuated the chickens and goats to the flower shop in the shop van- who knew how handy a flower shop van would be! I had to walk the alpacas down to the shop at 12:45 am amid wild winds and the fire right on the hillside behind us. Intense cannot explain it. I settled all the animals into the shop (with no power and almost complete darkness) and put up any flowers they would eat- because , you know, they are goats and any plant material is a heavenly treat. (Turns out it didn’t really matter bc my client cancelled the event that I had ordered 400 roses for and received that morning 🤷♀️)
Let me tell you, I never in my wildest thoughts think that I would ever sleep on the floor of my flower shop with 2 alpacas, 20 chickens and 3 goats with just a flash light, communicating sporadically with my brother the entire night, just ensuring he was safe, as well as our family’s homes.
My girls did come home last night and we are settling into the house…. It’s just like camping without power and using the BBQ for dinner but we, and my family, are safe. (Currently, there is still water drops on the mountain behind us and the national guard is blocking anyone coming into our part of Sierra Madre bc looting has been a major concern/issue)
My heat breaks for the many families and friends that lost their homes in the devastating Altadena fires. It is unfathomable the amount of destruction and loss on such a massive scale. (And these were not houses right up against the hill like our neighborhood- these were foothill adjacent neighborhoods that were destroyed by blowing embers. ) Clean up, re building, re establishing will take years. Never will the historic beautiful 1920’s homes be replicated. The Altadena country club, where we have worked for dozens of weddings, is gone, along with a church we have done weddings.