As firefighters and officials continue to battle massive fires around Los Angeles, a man in the hard-hit Altadena area told Global News how he stayed behind to try to save his home and those of his neighbors.
The Eaton Fire swept through the area near Pasadena, leaving ash, debris and destruction in its wake.
Residents were told to evacuate, but one man decided to stay to save his home.
Armed with a garden hose, Felipe Carrillo made a dangerous and desperate attempt to save his home and the home of a few neighbors in Altadena.
After a few hours of flooding his home and surrounding areas, Carrillo said he ran out of water, so he turned to his pool and used dirt to douse hot spots while embers rained down from the sky.
“My truck was right at the end of the driveway,” Carrillo said. “I had the keys…ready to go. Worst comes to worst, jump in, I could go left and right – I had an escape route.”
Carrillo, a husband and father of two, said he did not see the firefighters until the next day.
“When you’re in the moment, you don’t think about it,” Carrillo said of the danger he faces. “At first, my goal was to get the house wet and leave. I knew that if I left, there would be nothing left… I couldn’t live with myself, or live with the fact that at least I wasn’t trying.
Carrillo, who works for the Highway Patrol, said he and his wife, an elementary school teacher, put their savings into the house. They have lived there since 2009 and raised their children there.
The community struggle has been exacerbated by a critical issue: water. the New York Times Reports A power outage meant to prevent new fires from igniting inadvertently disabled the pumps that firefighters rely on.
Get daily national news
Get the day’s top political, economic and current affairs news, headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“We are not a third world country,” Carrillo said. “We are America. And you’re telling me in America we don’t have water? There’s something wrong here.”
The death toll in the Altadena area from the Eaton wildfire continues to rise as search efforts continue.
“We searched approximately 364 properties in the Altadena area, and unfortunately, during that search, we found three deceased,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said in a news conference on Sunday.
While firefighters expressed gratitude for Carrillo’s actions, they reinforced the reality of the risks he was exposed to and urged everyone to heed officials’ warnings to evacuate when asked to do so.
Carrillo admitted that he could have died trying to save his house from the flames.
The curfew remains in effect and officials are working to determine the cause of the fires.
Everyone is on their toes with more wind in the forecast. The fighting is expected to intensify in the coming days.
&Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
