ALTADENA, California — Mike and Susan Christensen have been back to the site of their burned home a few times in the past six weeks. Each time they find something new — and every little thing feels like a win.
“We found one of our youngest daughter’s ceramics, and it’s perfect because ceramics do really well on fire,” Mike Christensen said, smiling.
But the couple also remembers other things that burned completely — such as all of Susan Christensen’s handmade quilts and wedding dress and Mike Christensen’s mission journal.
They think of all the things they left behind when they evacuated on Jan. 7, when the Eaton Fire began burning near a canyon in national forest lands. They thought they would be back, like other times in the past.
But powerful winds and dry conditions made the fire roar across Altadena and Pasadena, California, damaging or destroying more than 9,000 structures in these suburbs north of Los Angeles.
That same day, the Palisades Fire began west of Los Angeles, eventually damaging or destroying more than 6,800 structures in Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu.
Homes, stores, schools, banks, churches and more burned. These communities had long established roots, and residents were proud of their histories. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began clearing debris on Feb. 11, and government leaders have explained that different phases of the cleanup are happening concurrently.
Susan Christensen said they knew early Jan. 8 that their house was gone, but they didn’t see it burn, so she doesn’t have those images burned into her mind. “So when we got here, it was like standing over a grave, really. It was just already gone.”
All around the Christensens’ home are other burned homes, with only the brick chimneys sticking up out of the grey and black rubble. The Christensens pointed out their fireproof safe, where their important papers were preserved, and they say they have good insurance.
Soon after the fire, “we felt like we were going to be fine, and I have felt that way ever since,” Mike Christensen said. “It’s very inconvenient, but it is working out OK.”
Susan Christensen added: “We got to work right away helping other people who we knew needed help more than us. We have other people we have been worried about, and still today, we watch out for them instead of us. We are fine, but they are not as fine, so that’s been the hard part.”
‘It still will be our home’
Grass is starting to grow again on the burned lawn around Matthew and Wendy Garff’s home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Going back to the site on Saturday, Feb. 22, the Garffs pointed in one ashy area to blackened cans of food that were a part of their food storage. In another spot, twisted metal shapes are all that are left of their appliances.
They are not sure if their safe with documents inside survived the flames; it is somewhere underneath the remains of what was two stories of house. Matthew Garff knows his dad’s letters to him on his mission are all gone. He read them often over the years. A hard phone call to make was when the Garffs told their son serving a mission about the fire.
Ash and rubble fill almost every home lot for blocks upon blocks. Matthew Garff acknowledged it is a grim sight. Wendy Garff said it can feel overwhelming, but it feels good at the same time to be back at the site. And they feel a pull to stay — to rebuild, to continue their lives here where their children grew up.
They feel hopeful. “It still will be our home,” she said.
Matthew Garff recently found two intact ceramic bowls in the rubble and hoped he could have had three, one for each of their children. But then he found pieces of a bowl, and his daughter told him she wanted that one to glue back together, because she said things that are broken and put back together are more beautiful.
“That’s such a testament to this whole thing,” Matthew Garff said. “I do believe that someday this community will be put back together, and it will be beautiful.”
Wendy Garff felt for weeks that something was coming. She could never shake the prompting that perhaps one day she could lose everything. But at the same time, she felt that she would be OK.
“Heavenly Father prepared us for this in so many different ways,” she said.
In the days before the fire, she organized and cleaned her whole home, and she filled the fridge with food for an upcoming Relief Society activity.
She wondered at first why she had spent all that time cleaning, just to see her home burn down. “But I feel like it was sanctified somehow. I feel like I left it in its best state, and God knows that.”
Connected to each other
Mike Christensen serves in the bishopric of the Pasadena Ward in the Pasadena California Stake. Besides the homes that burned, many other families are displaced because of various levels of damage to their own homes or neighborhoods.
Susan Christensen said the ward has become even closer through this. “We are surrounded by really good people, and it made us feel more connected to each other. We rely on each other a lot.”
Pasadena Ward Bishop Darren R. Baker spoke about that closeness and the ministering that has been happening in the ward. “One of the things that we quickly learned is that there is no way that the Church functions without the contributions of so many people.”
Whether someone is officially assigned to another person as a ministering brother or sister or not, the whole ward is looking out for one another. “We are trying to emulate the Savior in the way He does that.”
His wife, Amanda Baker, spoke to that as well as they sat together in their historic ward building. They recently were able to return to their home.
“There are many trials that can happen in people’s lives where you try and empathize and help them,” she said, becoming emotional. “We are all going through this together, and so we all know exactly where people are at and we can really do exactly what Christ wants us to do, which is empathize and serve and minister — because we know what we’re all going through together, and it’s just been a beautiful thing.”
Relying on faith and prayer
The Garffs said any time the Pacific Palisades Ward can meet together is healing, because they are together again.
Pacific Palisades Ward Bishop Taylor G. Mammen said ward members are going through paperwork, phone calls, websites, agencies and emails; finding apartments and furnishing them; and buying new clothes and supplies. The stake and ward Relief Society presidencies and stake service coordinators have been working constantly to help.
“The ministering people have been doing for each other has been incredible,” he said.
Bishop Mammen expects it could take several years for things to feel like they are back to normal.
“It doesn’t feel very inspiring at this point in time. It just feels hard. And it’s going to be so long,” he said. “At the same time, I’ve heard members express more faith than I would have expected from them. ... People do feel closer to the Spirit and the Savior because none of us has any choice than to rely on faith and prayer.”
Elder Mark A. Bragg, General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s North America West Area, grew up in the Los Angeles area not far from the Palisades Fire. He said he has seen “an amazing effort to minister to one another and to get busy with the process of cleaning up and rebuilding.”
Members immediately took the long view and started working out what steps were needed to begin to rebuild even while the fires burned, he said. Individuals and families have a sense of urgency and are working hard to make sure everyone is getting the help and resources they need.
They are calmly moving forward on getting their communities the help they need. “I have been impressed by the kindness,” Elder Bragg said.
He added he has also been impressed with how well humanitarian agencies have connected with the communities and are helping in meaningful ways. And the Church is working in many ways to support the recovery efforts.
Love, generosity and kindness
Christina Camiling of the Pasadena Ward lost her home during the Eaton Fire and also faced the death of her husband in August 2024. She had just begun trying to sort through his things, and now they are all gone.
But Camiling told the Church News she has been able to cope with everything because she has an ability to process things quickly and focus on what she needs to do — perhaps it is a form of survival mode, or perhaps it is a blessing of having a positive outlook, she said, but she has been grateful for that gift.
“I am trying to make the best out of this situation, but I recognize others are dealing with it differently,” Camiling said. Recently she was with someone who felt overwhelmed and wished the fires had never happened. Camiling said a prayer in her heart in that moment for her friend.
“I was praying next to her for God to give her some light and for her to be thankful and get some inspiration,” she said. “All we need sometimes is that little thing to get us through the day. It can be moment by moment.”
With that prayer and with every effort she makes to help someone else, Camiling feels better herself, like her own load is lightened. Faith is the most important thing, she said.
Church members across California who suffered losses and rebuilt after previous fires — such as in Malibu and in Paradise — have reached out to offer help, hope and advice to those affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Wendy Garff said some of the advice included to not be so focused on rebuilding homes that they don’t forget to build the youth — to strengthen and fortify them through this time of upheaval and uncertainty.
Mike Christensen spoke about the outreach and support he has received. “We have felt such love and generosity and kindness.”
