What to save if your house burns down? LA wildfire victims share their answer: From a goat to cassettes

With flames raging from half a dozen fires, thousands of Los Angeles residents were forced to answer the same question. For others, there wasn’t even time to save that precious memory

Jan 17, 2025 - 11:00
What to save if your house burns down? LA wildfire victims share their answer: From a goat to cassettes
Steven Kolker poses next to his mug, the only thing he was able to salvage from his home after the Pacific Palisades fire in Los Angeles.

Fire is not patient. Flames do not wait; they do not hold back, they do not put up with anything or anyone getting in their way. Since last week, Los Angeles County has been facing the worst wildfires in its history, fueled by multiple blazes, particularly two: the Palisades Fire in the northwest, near the beaches of Malibu, and the Eaton Fire in the northeast. Together, they have burned 40,000 acres, destroying homes and the lives of those who once resided there. More than 80,000 people remain displaced after eight days of emergency. Some fled with only the clothes on their backs. Others had more time, perhaps a few moments, to think about what to take from their homes, to choose that object whose loss might leave them with lingering regret.

Seguir leyendoSteven Kolker, with his New Zealand travel mug.Caden Eckhoff, 20, at his home with his parents in Pacific Palisades, where he rescued a ceramic chameleon.Altadena resident Veronica Vackova with the cassettes her partner Chad Robertson saved from the fire in Altadena, Los Angeles.Rezvon, 24, with pet goat Coco, who she saved while escaping the fire, at the Westwood shelter for those affected by the Palisades fire.Marni Galef, a real estate agent whose family has lived in Pacific Palisades for three generations, managed to take only a couple of bags of household items and her laptop. In this photo, she waits in a line of cars, hoping the police will allow her to check on the condition of her home after the fire.