Practically one 12 months after the Eaton fireplace incinerated their block in west Altadena, neighbors gathered once more, greeting each other with hugs that spoke to a bond solid by shared loss.
They’d agreed to fulfill with me at the identical burned-out lot the place we’d gathered in February, and discuss once more about what they as soon as had, what they misplaced, how they made it by a wretched 12 months of grief and uncertainty and what they see within the months and years forward.
Of the 2 dozen homes on their stretch of West Palm Road, all however two have been destroyed in January. Even now, the block is a ghostly panorama of vacant properties in neat rows, like plots in a cemetery. Of the 2 homes that survived, just one has been occupied because the fireplace.
“It’s like being in solitary confinement,” mentioned Robert Hilton, a retired instructor who evacuated in January however returned when he discovered that his home had defied the percentages.
Development continues alongside West Palm Road in Altadena on Dec. 2. In January, almost your entire 200 block of West Palm Road was burned down.
Hilton lives alone. Very alone. Simply him and the coyotes and the reminiscences of the best way issues was, again when he’d take certainly one of his selfmade devices throughout the road on a lazy Sunday and strum tunes whereas Steve Hofvendahl and Lily Knight hosted a farmer’s market on the entrance porch of their little yellow farmhouse.
As in February, we gathered on the “house” of Monica Koskey and Peter Kaiser, who organized a potluck. Neighbors introduced chairs and meals, together with Thanksgiving leftovers. Final time, the property was affected by the charred stays of the Koskey home, and the scent of annihilation nonetheless hung within the air. This time, the lot had been cleared, and Koskey was keen to point out off one thing sudden.
Earlier than the fireplace, she didn’t have a pumpkin patch.
She does now.
A few the pumpkins are the dimensions of basketballs, with 10 or extra smaller ones attempting to catch up. The vine was rooted in what had been Koskey’s entrance yard and crawled to the place her home stood. In “Cinderella,” she mentioned, the fairy godmother turned a pumpkin right into a carriage, and Koskey mentioned she’s hoping her personal fairy godmother will flip “a pumpkin into my previous home once more.”
Nevertheless the pumpkins received there, it was an uplifting sight, as was the greening of the mountains and foothills simply up the best way.
![]Monica Koskey stands on the debris of her home where pumpkins have begun growing](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3b077a5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x5461+0+1/resize/1200x800!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F07%2F23%2F4da175844a48b45f90064a40dc87%2F1531947-me-revisiting-west-palm-eaton-fire-klb-50.jpg)
1. Monica Koskey stands on the particles of her house the place pumpkins have begun rising on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025 in Altadena, CA. In January of 2025, almost your entire 200 block of West Palm Road in Altadena was burned down throughout the wildfires, leading to many members of the neighborhood attempting to determine methods to rebuild. 2. Anthony Ruffin, left, and Monica Koskey, proper, embrace whereas visiting the remnants of their house that burned down throughout the Eaton wildfires on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025 in Altadena, CA. In January of 2025, almost your entire 200 block of West Palm Road in Altadena was burned down throughout the wildfires, leading to many members of the neighborhood attempting to determine methods to rebuild.
That pure magnificence is without doubt one of the nice attracts of Altadena, however the threat of windstorms, wildfires and floods is a part of the discount, with local weather change elevating the menace. You see loads of for-sale indicators within the foothill communities as a result of individuals are uninterested in the danger, or afraid of soil contamination left by the fireplace, or unable to fulfill the price of rebuilding even when that they had insurance coverage.
However once I requested if anybody had determined to bail, not a single hand went up, though Bryan Martinez admitted that for a short time, he wasn’t certain.
And what have been his doubts?
“Simply the inconvenience and the effort,” he mentioned, together with a query: “Will I have the ability to afford it?”
So what turned him round?
“The individuals and the mountains and the surroundings and the quiet,” he mentioned.
Jeffrey Xiong mentioned he’s apprehensive about his mother and father returning to Altadena. He recalled that simply after his household moved to West Palm in 2009, the Station fireplace raged, destroying 200 buildings and killing two firefighters.
“I nonetheless keep in mind standing in the lounge and simply watching the mountain on fireplace. That was our welcome to Altadena second,” Xiong mentioned. “My mother and father are getting up there in age … and for them to retire on this surroundings is just not very comforting. We’ve had a number of conversations.”
His mother and father, Aimin Li and Shigang Xiong, smiled, listened politely, and respectfully disagreed.
“He can’t change our minds,” Li mentioned.
They’ve lived in a number of L.A. communities, Shigang Xiong mentioned, however none like this.
“Aimin and I made a decision to return again as a result of it is a actually lovely space,” he mentioned. “Not just for the character, however for the individuals.”
My introduction to West Palm Road got here by the use of Anthony Ruffin, a longtime social employee who was my pal Nathaniel Ayers’ case supervisor. Ruffin and his spouse, Jonni Miller, are within the enterprise of housing homeless individuals, and they grew to become homeless when the fireplace erased their house.
They’re surviving, as greatest as they’ll. And they’re struggling.
“I do know I’ve damaged down and cried just a few occasions by this course of,” Ruffin mentioned. “It’s been scary at occasions, it’s been nerve-racking at occasions. … I simply determine I’m in the identical boat everyone else is in.”
Neighbors collect final month within the yard of Monica Koskey’s house that burned down within the Eaton fireplace.
The insurance coverage fund that pays for his or her short-term lodging will run out in January, Ruffin mentioned, however they don’t see how they’ll get again into a brand new house earlier than subsequent summer season, given all of the planning and allowing and building nonetheless in entrance of them.
“I’m scared to loss of life,” Miller mentioned, about the opportunity of not having the ability to return. If their plans fall by, it will be like dropping all the pieces a second time.
They’ve a home in the meanwhile, Ruffin and Miller mentioned, however not a house.
“House is the place you are feeling comfy,” Ruffin mentioned. “So in that sense, I’m homeless.”
Ruffin had lived on West Palm since he was somewhat boy, and staying on that block is a matter of pleasure and household historical past. His mother and father purchased there as a result of a lot of the remainder of L.A.’s actual property market was off-limits to Black individuals, however west Altadena’s doorways have been open.
Miller continues to be incensed that west Altadena acquired late evacuation warnings and restricted firefighting companies as the fireplace unfold. Eighteen of the 19 Eaton fireplace deaths occurred in west Altadena, and roughly two-thirds of the victims have been Black.
Knight and Hofvendahl have been the one two within the group who mentioned they’re not but certain they’ll return, and Knight cited the emergency response as one cause.
“I don’t have faith that they’re going to resolve the issues that precipitated a lot hassle for western Altadena,” she mentioned.
As actors closing in on 70, Knight and Hofvendahl assume the business has modified in ways in which would make it possible for them to reside in Oregon or Washington and work from there.
“I’ve been ready since my 20s to have the ability to begin over, and do I wish to blow that?” Knight mentioned. “It’s actually sort of thrilling to think about an entire new life at our level. … We don’t must be in Los Angeles anymore for what we do.”
And but.
Hofvendahl grew to become obsessed with gardening in Altadena, the place he turned their double lot into an orchard, with greater than 150 fruit bushes, lots of them exotics. Finger limes, pomelos, pawpaw and sapote, to call a handful. After considering the fireplace had destroyed nearly your entire orchard, he started seeing indicators of life, and figures about two-thirds of the bushes might survive if he invests the time to meticulously graft stalks onto rootstock.
1. Oranges develop on the remaining fruit bushes after the Eaton wildfires affected Steve Hofvendahl’s house on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025 in Altadena, CA. In January of 2025, almost the whole thing of Steve Hofvendahl’s property burned down together with lots of his fruit bushes. 2. Burned flower pots after the Eaton wildfire is seen within the yard of Steve Hofvendahl’s house on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025 in Altadena, CA. In January of 2025, almost the whole thing of Steve Hofvendahl’s property burned down together with lots of his fruit bushes. 3. Small shoots develop from the bottom of a Peter’s Honey Fig tree
Steve Hofvendahl stands among the many remnants of his fruit bushes that have been burned by the Eaton fireplace.
“I spent each weekend up right here all by the summer season watering, as a result of a variety of stuff got here again, and I don’t have it in me to simply let it die,” Hofvendahl mentioned.
He’s undecided if poisonous soil could be an issue, however he’s certain of 1 factor. The best way that backyard and the porch market grew to become a centerpiece of the block was “one of many nice artistic acts of my life, and I didn’t even know we have been doing it. We have been simply expediently attempting to resolve the issue of — what can we do with all this fruit?”
“I’m certain Altadena will do stuff like that once more,” he mentioned. “I’m certain this neighborhood will do stuff like that.”
However no matter what he and Knight determine, what occurred as soon as earlier than will all the time exist in a way. It’s a part of the bond that made a set of modest properties a thriving neighborhood, and the residents have caught collectively because the fireplace, utilizing a textual content chain to share tips about sources and rebuilding methods, frustrations, hopes and fears.
They’ll now carry that cherished previous into an uncharted future.
“I virtually really feel like we’re pioneers, like we’re coming again with our little coated wagons,” Koskey mentioned. “To see what it’s going to appear to be is sort of cool. You don’t have that chance fairly often.”
This time, she mentioned, they’ll have the benefit of fire-hardened properties to restrict threat.
Ruffin and Miller had vowed to rebuild their conventional house precisely because it was, however in desirous about beginning anew, they’ve as an alternative settled on a contemporary design with massive home windows and extra pure gentle working by the home.
Maxwell Could, who has been coming again to the road a few times weekly to verify on issues, mentioned he and his spouse, Lauren Ward, will “flip the kitchen and eating room round” and add a toilet.
Lauren Ward, left, and Maxwell Could stand on the remnants of their house that burned down throughout the Eaton fireplace.
They adorned their empty lot for Halloween, as did Ruffin and Miller (a skeleton nonetheless stands within the entrance yard sporting an “Altadena Sturdy” T-shirt, and he’s about to get a Santa hat). Could and Ward additionally adorned for Christmas, and we walked down West Palm to see their handiwork.
An enormous pink bow — ”such as you get whenever you purchase a automobile,” Could mentioned — hangs on a deodar tree that survived, and a miraculously wholesome orange tree is loaded with ornaments. A small lemon tree, as soon as thought lifeless, is coming again robust.
“Coming right here makes us really feel comfy, and like we’re house once more,” Could mentioned.
The residents know there are extra attempting occasions forward.
“As a lot as we attempt to create space for hope,” Koskey mentioned, she fears dealing with Christmas “not having the ornaments and decorations that my son made or that have been from my childhood … I’m frightened of how that may damage. Christmas so quickly adopted by Jan. 7, I’m afraid of, and wish to cover from how a lot it might damage.”
She neatly summed up the cycles of what they’re going by — what everybody, in the end, goes by.
“Ache, hope, loss, life.”
The parkway strips on the nook have been full of yellow marigolds that have been planted to honor loss and welcome restoration. They struck me as daring symbols of defiance and resilience.
A block away, 4 younger boys walked alongside West Palm, coming from the route of the park Ruffin used to play in as a boy. They have been chattering innocently and mentioned they’d been to the cookie retailer on Lincoln Avenue and have been headed house, to a home that survived.
It was essentially the most regular, hopeful sight conceivable.
