Altadena Residents Share Stories About Surviving the Eaton Wildfires | Billboard News
Written by djfrosty on February 6, 2025
After the devastating Eaton and Hurst fires impacted the community of Altadena in California, local residents share their firsthand stories of how the fires burned their homes down, how they’re trying to rebuild and more.
Keep watching this Billboard News special to learn more about those impacted.
Julian Perry:
Just seeing around, like the waves of black smoke coming over the houses and looking down the street, and I can’t even see down the street, but I can see the house over there. You know, it was fully engulfed in flames.
Adam Clingmon:
I lived here for 40 years. This was just my community. This is where I grew up, my neighbors, my friends, we got the emergency text around 6:30, maybe little earlier than that. Then we saw it on TV that there was a fire in Eaton Canyon. And maybe 15 minutes after that, we get another text saying that we have to evacuate.
The Edwards Family:
Every house, except for three on our street, burned down. And then she lives pretty far. I remember … Yeah, one mile, far in the sense of a fire, but yeah, she lives exactly one mile away, west of it.
Julian Perry:
Hearing the loud explosions and the pops and that crunch of the wood was, you know, was terrifying.
Adam Clingmon:
Most people are freaking out. I’m staying calm thinking, like, “You know, we’ve had these before, it’ll be all right.” And so we start packing stuff up. My mom, my sister, my nephew, they evacuate. My dad wants to stay. So I was like, “I’m gonna stay as long as my dad stays.” But then around 8:39 o’clock, the power goes out, and that’s when it gets scary. And then we go outside, and we can see a huge glow on the mountain, a huge glow. That’s when I got scared.
Keep watching for more.