Overwhelmed by the loss
The green, one-story frame house that looks across Camp Plenty Road in Canyon Country toward a now-seared hillside was John and Teresa Lewis’ first. They bought it four years ago, before rising prices could push them from the market.
The Lewises, both 36, put a lot of sweat equity into the house. They remodeled the kitchen and redid the electrical wiring. They put solar panels on the roof in March. “John and I put up the fence in the backyard, the two of us ourselves,” Teresa recalled. “It seems a little more disturbing to my husband because he’s done most of the hands-on stuff.”
Last Sunday, they kept their eyes warily on the far-off sky, watching the orange glow of a fire they hoped would keep its distance from the home, in which wedding photos looked out cheerfully from the walls, and a shelf of teddy bears hung over the bed in the main bedroom. By 3 in the afternoon, however, embers were flying above the house.
“Just in case, I packed a few days worth of clothes, and I hadn’t quite unpacked yet from my business trip earlier in the week, so I had some business clothes,” Teresa said. “But then when I saw the embers, I thought, ‘Let me pack up our photo albums and a Bible that we keep some important information in.’ Then, John ran in and said, ‘Come look outside here.’ ”
Embers had ignited fires at the front of the house and near a woodpile and barbecue grill in the back. John was rushing back and forth, trying to extinguish the flames with a garden hose. “I said, ‘You know what? We’ve got to go,’ ” Teresa said.
John returned to the house that night, after the fire had moved on. He and Teresa couldn’t tell whether the flames entered through the kitchen door or, by way of an ember, through the roof.
Either way, they were dumbfounded by their losses, large and small. “I really doubt there’s anything salvageable in the kitchen,” Teresa said. “Maybe the pots and pans.
“Our engagement picture was by the front door. It had the signatures of all the people who went to the wedding. But the glass melted onto the picture. I haven’t really worked inside much on the china cabinet to see what can be salvaged or not. A lot of that is wedding gifts. You can’t really see in here very well, and I don’t think it’s very safe right now.”
Now the priority is finding a rental house, “so we can have our dog stay with us and try to get some semblance of order in our lives while we rebuild here. That’s our plan. We’re looking for a place to stay temporarily, six or eight months. I don’t know if we can build in that time, but our insurance will cover up to 12 months. We had, fortunately, just increased our insurance.”
Teresa is director of human resources for Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, and her husband is a pest control technician. Their employers, she said, have been understanding about their predicament, but their financial obligations beckon.
Teresa has been told she can take this week off, “but John’s work is mostly on commission, and so he needs to get back to work pretty soon, so we can stay afloat.”
“When they took the photo of me, I was just kind of -- it was almost overwhelming, just a lot to take in,” Teresa said. “I was just kind of pondering what happened and feeling a lot of sadness. I think the word that comes to mind is that it was surreal. I don’t know if it’s completely sunk in yet. At this point, we’re just trying to think of moving on and getting things back into order and trying not to reflect too much on the past.”
-- By James Ricci
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The damage caused by forest fires, particularly brush fires, in Southern California simply cannot be estimated. For many years, the brush fires have begun to burn each August and September. During these months, fires can usually be seen burning in a half-dozen areas of Los Angeles County. Following the first “Santa Ana” desert winds in May, similar fires frequently occur. For example, on May 17, 1945, the Los Angeles Times reported: “Firemen Kept Busy as Heat Again Hits 90.” On this particular day, 388 grass fires were reported in the county. A glance at the scarred hillsides, in fact, is sufficient to indicate the damage caused by forest fires.
-- Carey McWilliams, “Southern California: An Island on the Land” (1946)
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I see your hair is burning
Hills are filled with fire.
-- The Doors
“L.A. Woman” (1971)
