(NewsNation) — The two palm trees that stand in front of what was once the home of a victim of the Palisades fire are named for her twin grandsons. They now serve as a reminder of what once was in the Altadena community of Los Angeles County.
The remains of the brick home are part of a neighborhood devastated by the wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres and have left at least five people dead. But the home’s owner, who identified herself as Fran, tells NewsNation that neighbors are now coming together to cope.
Fran told NewsNation that she and her husband have lived in the community for 26 years. After the wildfires began earlier this week, she and others are putting together the pieces of their lives that have been torn apart.
“We were a neighborhood,” she said. “(We) helped one another, greeted one another. We’re always here for one another, and we’re still going to be here for one another.”
Fran described the community as a beautiful place made up of smaller homes and a collection of residents who raised their children in the same quiet neighborhood.
“It was friendly,” she told NewsNation. “A good place to be.”
Fran said after the wildfires began earlier this week, she learned she had 20 minutes to evacuate. She said she wasn’t able to collect much and was left feeling scrambled. Her neighbors grabbed the possessions they could and left.
Within an hour of the fires being reported, the homes in her neighborhood were gone.
“We still can’t believe it,” Fran told NewsNation. “None of us has anywhere to go. Nowhere to go.”
