Altadena family of four stays brave in face of devastating wildfire losses: ‘Things I love are gone’
Despite losing everything in a devastating and still raging Los Angeles County wildfires this week, the Deisy-Suarez Giles family returned to inspect the wreckage of their burned home, where her two boys were happy to find some of their toys in the rubble.
Suarez-Giles, a three-time owner of the business, said it was ironic that they moved into theirs Altadena, Californiahome because during the COVID pandemic they lived above a pharmacy, where someone tried to burn the building to the ground in the middle of the night.
“Right after COVID, we left downtown LA, when there were a lot of protests and riots. We left because the building we were staying in had a Rite Aid downstairs, and people, you know, tried to set the Rite Aid on fire. So we ran down and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher because they were trying to set the building on fire,” Suarez-Giles said. “I had my youngest, Lucas, who was only six months old, and I thought, ‘they’re going to burn us alive here,’ so we had to get out.
“I told my husband, ‘we had to find a way to find money and get a new home because we just can’t stay here; they’re going to burn us here with our kids.’ And we were running away from it to be here, and then we burned out of our home,” she added, fighting back tears.
Deisy Suarez-Giles, left, with her family, including her husband and two boys, outside their destroyed home in Altadena, California. (Deisy Suarez-Giles)
Suarez-Giles said their home came about through hard work, determination and a desire to keep their family safe.
The family found out about the raging fires in the middle of the day on Tuesday, but although cautious, they were initially unsure if they should evacuate, even though they saw neighbors leaving and moving horses and animals away from the affected area. Eaton Fire.
In the end, Suarez-Giles said, around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, they decided it was best to wake her boys, Henry and Lucas, grab a few important things and sleep in the car for the night just in case.
“We woke them up at 1:30, so technically we didn’t leave until about 2, because it took us a little bit of time to like, you know, kind of gather whatever and go out, and within three hours, the house was gone.” , she said.
As Suarez-Giles woke her family to leave, she said that’s when the realization of what was happening became unsettling for the boys.
“Henry was very upset about it. He was crying. Lucas was scared when the fire was coming. There was a lot of panic, especially with two young children. Lucas was crying,” she said. “He was in a big panic when I woke him up. I said, ‘we have to go honey, the fire is coming.'”
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The family of Deisy Suarez-Giles is investigating the destruction of their home in Altadena, California, after the fire in Eaton, Los Angeles County. (Deisy Suarez-Giles)
Henry, who was spoken to by a reporter after Thursday’s fire while standing by his mother’s side, recounted the terrifying moments that led to the loss of his home as he clutched the only two things he had left in this world.
“And then the power went out, yeah, and then we, and then we went to get our dad, but he was coming. Then we had power, lamps, they’re so good, and I left, and they woke us up, I and my brother and then we left our house,” said Henry. “And then we didn’t realize that our house was going to burn down like this. And a lot of things that we left in our house, and it burned, and we had a 3D printer, and it was so special to me, and it’s going to make me a little sad, but, I don’t know why, but this happened to our house.
“And a lot of what I love is gone. And now it’s all broken, and it’s all discolored and stuff. And these are the only things I have.”
Suarez-Giles said the power went out later and panic set in. Her youngest son, Lucas, began to cry.
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“He started sizzling, and then my husband went and got the flashlights, and then Henry was very brave, helping us pack up. I said let’s get everything ready to go, and you know,” she said. “Right around 11, we were still in the house, and they said, ‘oh, we’re tired, we want to go to sleep.’ They were tired, and I said, ‘OK, you can go to sleep, I’ll just stay up.'”
The remains of the Suarez-Giles home in Altadena, Calif., after the Eaton fire destroyed the property. (Deisy Suarez-Giles)
Suarez-Giles said her family wasn’t the only one in the house when the fire closed in. A teacher from her son’s school rented a room in their house and didn’t leave until it was almost too late.
“He was woken up by the fire. My husband tried to, you know, inform him to leave, but he was aware of everything that was going on because the school was in contact with all the teachers and everything,” she said. – He didn’t think about it, he said that he almost got burned because the fire was coming through the windows.
For his part, brave Henry wanted to return to the site of his former home to confirm what was broken and see what remained.
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“I wanted to check it and see if it was broken and my dad took a video [to show] that it’s broken,” he said. “We went, so we know what happened and that was our chimney where Santa Claus comes, and now he’s gone. Now we can no longer receive gifts here.”
According to LA County officials, the Eaton, Palisades, Kenneth, Hurst Fire and Lidia fires have burned more than 35,000 acres, and the Eaton and Palisades fires have claimed at least 11 lives.
