(NewsNation) — Rubble and debris litter the small town of Altadena, California, whose approximately 44,000 residents are scrambling after the Eaton Fire destroyed homes, churches, businesses and everything in between.
“Hotel to hotel until I get some assistance. I have nothing but my dogs and me,” said Tonya Robinson, who lives in Altadena, as she fought back tears. “One thing I do have is God. My church here where I’m at right now, I got food, I got blankets, I got food for my dogs. I got everything that I need right now.”
Altadena, about 14 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, is known for its resilient working class.
The Eaton Fire was 27% contained as of Sunday morning, according to the Los Angeles National Forest.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., recently spoke to NewsNation about the area, which is within her district.
“Altadena has working people, people who may not have enough money by which to go and rent a hotel, maybe for, you know, months to come,” she said Friday. “I would like to ask you and any other media individuals that may be listening to do everything that you can to get attention on Altadena.”
Waters said the area “has just about been flattened.”
Up in flames within four minutes
Altadena residents Jason Rhodes and Alina Kiessling lost their home in the Eaton Fire after evacuating with their 3-year-old daughter, who will turn four soon.
“We went to bed feeling a little uneasy, and I was checking my phone every few minutes for updates,” Kiessling said.
The next morning, Rhodes went outside to get the car ready.
“Within minutes, he came inside and said, ‘We have to go right now,'” Kiessling said. “It took four minutes for our house to go up (in flames).”
They were one of more than 150,000 who were forced to flee in the greater Los Angeles area.
They were only able to grab some clothes and important papers and drove about 40 miles away to stay with friends.
11 dead, all from Altadena
Eleven people have died from the Eaton Fire, all of which were Altadena residents, NewsNation affiliate KTLA reported.
Scenes of devastation have replaced what was once a thriving middle and working class community in Altadena. In a matter of days, thousands have lost their homes. In some cases, entire blocks are wiped off the map. Homes passed down from generation to generation are gone.
“Everything’s gone, and it’s just so devastating, just my whole neighborhood, both streets, I’m a corner house, and from the small street going down to the street going across, there’s no homes, maybe one. And it’s just, it’s just devastating,” said Kimberly Grant, an Altadena resident and business owner, to NewsNation.
Altadena town Councilmember Sylvia Vega detailed the devastation on NewsNation’s “Morning in America with Hena Doba” Sunday morning.
“When something happens, you want to be able to be able to go to your church, you want to be able to go to school and have some normalcy, and for so many in our community, they’re not going to have that.”
She has a message for her constituents.
“We will rebuild,” Vega said. “We will survive.”
Strained water supply
The area is dealing with a water system issue, resulting in unsafe drinking water and a lacking supply. Power outages are widespread as well.
The water still needs to be assessed.
“We need to know that our drinking water will be safe,” said Altadena Councilmember Milissa Morona, whose home was spared but neighbors weren’t so lucky.
“If winds pick up, I fear I may lose my house as well,” she said. “When I was leaving my house yesterday a couple days ago, there were tornado-type winds coming at me with fireballs. I don’t know that they (firefighters) could have done anything.”
