Thousands of people, together with no less than 12 firefighters, have misplaced properties within the Los Angeles County wildfires, in accordance with the California Fireplace Basis.
Amongst them are Pasadena Fireplace Division firefighter Charles Hawes and hearth engineer Chien Yu, an 18-year veteran of the division.
Hawes was combating flames about one minute down the highway from his mother and father’ residence, the place he lived together with his 2-year-old son Liam, when he noticed it was on hearth.
Charles Hawes, a firefighter for the Pasadena Fireplace Division, is one in every of no less than 12 firefighters who’ve misplaced their properties in Los Angeles space wildfires.
ABC Information
“It was type of like a fever dream the place simply the whole lot was on hearth,” Hawes recalled to “Good Morning America.” “I walked up the road and will see my mother and father’ complete roof was on hearth. I felt so helpless … we’re imagined to be fixers on this job, and that wasn’t the case that night time.”
Hawes took “GMA” via his neighborhood, which he fought so laborious to save lots of.
“There’s nothing. It simply takes the breath out of you,” Hawes stated. “The laborious half is dropping the sentimental issues. We’re by no means gonna lose the reminiscences.”
Yu had spent hours in a single day combating fires in a neighboring city earlier than he discovered his Pasadena residence, which he shares together with his spouse Kim and sons Hudson and Atticus, had burned down.
Chien Yu, a hearth engineer for the Pasadena Fireplace Division, misplaced his Pasadena residence within the Los Angeles space wildfires.
ABC Information
“They took me off the rig simply to get some aid, you realize, get some relaxation. I requested ’em, ‘Hey, can we please go by my home to see if it is nonetheless standing?'” Yu recalled. “So we got here up, and it was gone. It was burned to the bottom.”
Yu stated he’s “devastated” at dropping his residence and feels regretful for what occurred.
“Perhaps I ought to have tried to remain, you realize? Perhaps I should not have gone to work, you realize? Perhaps I ought to have stayed and tried to combat it, seize extra stuff,” he stated.
Whereas nearly all of his house is gone, Yu was capable of salvage no less than one sentimental merchandise – his wedding ceremony ring.
Flames rise from a construction because the Eaton Fireplace burns in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 8, 2025.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
“We had gone again with my crew and I used to be type of half jokingly saying, like, ‘Hey, perhaps I may discover my ring.’ I knew the place it was at so with out even asking, the blokes jumped in, began trying via and positive sufficient, they had been like, ‘I believe that is it,'” Yu recounted.
Regardless of the large private toll, Hawes and his fellow firefighters are nonetheless again at work and combating a number of energetic fires, together with the Palisades Fireplace and Eaton Fireplace in Los Angeles County and the Auto Fireplace in Ventura County.
Pasadena Fireplace Division firefighters and their households be part of “Good Morning America” stay on Jan. 17, 2024.
ABC Information
“Sadly, I do not suppose you actually have a possibility to only type of roll over and quit with this job. We have now an obligation to serve the neighborhood,” Hawes stated. “I wanted time to be with my household and spend time with my household. That was a precedence. However I needed to additionally give time to my neighborhood and get again to the neighborhood, work with the coworkers, get again in it.”
The firefighters say the bond between them and their households is what’s serving to them get via these troublesome occasions.
“I believe, personally, it is my mother and father and my child that actually preserve me going, my 2-year-old son,” Hawes stated.
Added Yu, “We gotta stick collectively. We’re gonna make it via it. On the finish of the day, it at all times works out.”
To help the California Fireplace Basis and its mission to offer emotional and monetary help to firefighters and their households and communities, Planet Health and its Los Angeles franchise introduced Friday on “GMA” they’re donating $100,000 to the nonprofit.
Uber Eats and Postmates additionally introduced they’re donating $500,000 in vouchers to the California Fireplace Basis for use on meals, groceries and different important gadgets.
