As Chiara Triska and Thomas Stubbs watched the flames of the Eaton fire in California spread rapidly after it broke out on January 7, the couple started preparing for the worst.
“We could see the smoke. We couldn’t see any flames, but it looked very intense. So I think just out of an overabundant sense of caution, we started preparing,” Triska, 47, told Newsweek.
The winds had been fierce since the day before and some neighbors had lost power, she added.
Triska and Stubbs were prepared to lose power too but were hopeful the situation wouldn’t become more dire as the winds appeared to be moving the fire in a different direction.
Stubbs thought they may have wait things out somewhere else for a few days.
“For about three or four hours, it was constantly going the other way,” the 43-year-old told Newsweek. “So we were prepping for very worst case scenario. If the worst thing happens, we’ve got documents and clothes for a few days.”
But as the night went on and the fire grew larger, the couple decided to leave and avoid the chaos of a hasty evacuation.
“Every few minutes, it got bigger,” Stubbs said. “You could see it coming, genuinely, like a wave across the mountain. My only description to people has been it was as if we watched a movie on fast forward. Every time the wind blew, you saw the flames burst even more. That’s when we decided we should be going now, we knew it was gonna be hours, potentially, if it ever made it there. But for us, it was like, ‘I don’t want to leave in a panic.’”
They left their home on Terrace Street, just a short walk from the Angeles National Forest, at around 11:30 p.m. on January 7 before any evacuation orders had been issued.
“We left before we received anything, just because we can, we could see it, and we got scared,” Triska said.
Stubbs added that they contacted neighbors to let them know they were leaving and suggested they do the same.
Just a few hours later, flames had engulfed almost every home on their block.
Now, all that remains of the house the couple bought in 2021, just a year before they got married, are the concrete steps leading up to it.
Theirs is among the thousands of homes destroyed by two huge blazes in the Los Angeles region that firefighters are still working to contain after more than two weeks.
The Eaton and Palisades fires, among the most destructive in California history, have collectively burned more than 37,000 acres, destroyed more than 14,000 structures and killed at least 28 people since they broke out on January 7.
The Eaton fire was 95 percent contained by Thursday evening, while containment on the Palisades fire was 75 percent, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Firefighters are also battling several smaller fires that started this week.
Triska and Stubbs said their hopes that their home may still be standing were dashed quickly when they got word from a former neighbor who visited the area on January 8.
“It’s all gone, is what he said,” Stubbs said. “We feel fortunate in one respect, because he took a photo. We didn’t have the hope that some people had for a few days.”
The couple said they had spent most of their time at their home in Altadena since Triska and Stubbs both worked remotely. “Our home was not only home and house and sanctuary that we built…we were there all the time,” Triska said.
Stubbs, who is a composer and songwriter, said he had lost the recording studio that he built inside the home. “That’s gone,” he said.
But as devastated as they are about their home, the loss of their community and two neighbors has hit them hardest.
The couple said they had learned that Anthony Mitchell and his son Justin Mitchell did not escape the fire from his other son, Jordan Mitchell.
Triska said she was “in shock and disbelief” when she heard about their deaths.
“Anthony was the first person that that we ever met in the neighborhood, and he was so welcoming, and he was so kind,” she said. “Just trying to figure out what happened with them and why that happened is really upsetting.”
Jordan Mitchell told local station KCAL News that his father, an amputee, and his brother who had cerebral palsy, had waited hours for help that didn’t arrive. They could not leave on their own since they were both in wheelchairs, he said.
“We knew everyone around us, and that’s been the harder part,” Stubbs added. “It sounds cheesy but I’d say, most days we’d sort of talk about how lucky we were just to be there.
“We realized everybody there felt the same, and talking to people at the evacuation center…you just hear so many stories that are the same, and people have spent their lives there and still caring and worrying about other people as much as their own sort of heavy situation.”
The couple have been staying at a friend’s home in Atwater Village while looking for somewhere to live while they work to rebuild their home.
Stubbs said he is hopeful the government comes through for those that have lost their homes. “They can’t let this amount of places and people just not be dealt with but we know the realities of red tape,” he said.
Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that temporarily suspends requirements for permits and reviews under environmental laws to allow victims of the wildfires rebuild their homes and businesses faster.
Triska described Altadena as a “magical place,” and hopes the devastated neighborhood will be able to build itself back up.
“We’re hoping for the best, but we just don’t know,” she said. “The hope is that people can help each other right now and help navigate this. The reality could shift at any moment, but right now, the plan is rebuilding…the plan is to stay close while we can, not only just to be close to our property, but to help the community and our neighbors.”
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