LOS ANGELES — The City of Angels became a city of ashes this week as residents returned from fleeing the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, searching for any trace of the homes they cherished.
But 83-year-old Walt Butler refused to give in to despair, even after surveying what remained of his home in the Altadena area and the burnt carcasses of his cars, including his prized Corvette Stingray.
“The Big Guy has been looking out for me,” Butler said Friday. A pillar of the community who raised a family, ran a successful shoe store, and helped support local youth athletic programs, he added: “It’s easy to die and living wasn’t meant to be easy.”
Butler, a former track-and-field star known as “The Jet,” said he may have lost a lifetime of mementos and the house he called home for 60 years, but he hasn’t lost his determination to keep going.
“I’m pretty much a tough guy,” Butler said.
In the devastated Pacific Palisades neighborhood, Albie Fuentes returned to what remained of the popular local eatery where he had worked as a server for 15 years and which was now in ruins.
“Oh, my God, oh, my God,” said Fuentes, his voice cracking with emotion as he saw what used to be Cafe Vida.
But Fuentes, whose boss has called him “an integral part of the community,” said Pacific Palisades will come back, and hopefully he will too.
“I gonna miss you so much,” he said. “But we’re gonna bring this back, OK? We have to bring it back because it’s too much love.”
Butler’s and Fuentes’ stories were two of many in a city where destructive wildfires, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds and tinder-dry conditions, have been burning since Tuesday, forcing more than 180,000 people from their homes.
So far, there have been 10 reported deaths, but authorities fear that number is likely to rise as the fires continue to devour entire streets and thousands of structures in heavily populated areas of Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, local real estate agents like Joe Cilic warned that unscrupulous property owners were already taking advantage of the catastrophe, allegedly gouging suddenly homeless people into leasing emergency housing at exorbitant prices.
“In a normal marketplace you can do that,” Cilic said. “After a disaster, it’s a crime.”
Cilic, who works for Sotheby’s and has long been active in the Pacific Palisades community, said he too was forced to lease a new home after the fires burned down the house he shared with his wife, Amy, their two kids, Alexander and Sofia, and their two dogs.
“It’s not our dream home by any means,” Cilic said of the rental, adding that it came unfurnished and the first things he invested in were blow-up mattresses. “But it feels good to have an address.”
Cilic said he’s been fielding calls from dozens of other people like him, many of whom are still grappling with the loss of their homes and pretty much all of their possessions.
“They’re trying to find their new dream home, and they’re just not going to get it right away,” Cilic said. “I was lucky. When I signed the lease on my rental, there were already 30 other people already vying for the same property.”
Elizabeth Hall, who evacuated when the Eaton Fire began ravaging the Angeles National Forest and Altadena area of Los Angeles County, wrote on Facebook that the “forever home” she and her husband, Brian, had hoped to spend the rest of their lives in was all but gone.
Also a real estate agent, Hall posted pictures of their Altadena home on Thursday showing it burned down to the foundation with a chimney still standing and only the in-ground pool appearing intact, ashes and debris coating the surface of the water.
“Many of you know we’ve moved quite a bit over the years, but this house was different,” she wrote. “We worked tirelessly to make it our dream home, remodeling every inch. Brian poured his heart into the landscaping — what I lovingly called ‘working on the railroad’ every weekend. We were so close to finishing and couldn’t wait to welcome friends and family to see the result of all that hard work.”
A “bit of a fashionista,” as she put it, Hall wrote that “now all I have is a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt — not even my favorite jeans.” She punctuated the sentence with a crying emoji.
Elsewhere, suddenly homeless L.A. residents like Josh Wiensch chronicled their losses and posted pictures of their ruined homes online.
“Here’s what’s left of my home in altadena,” Wiensch posted on X. “There isn’t a home standing anywhere nearby. Pure devastation.”
Crystal Linares, who is from Pasadena and was in Guatemala when the fires broke out, posted before-and-after pictures of her family’s now-ruined home on Facebook, along with a video showing the flames engulfing the house to the sound of a distraught neighbor yelling futilely at the blaze to “please go.”
“I’m not going to make it through here,” he can be heard telling another unidentified man as the flames draw closer and closer.
Linares wrote: “Less than a month ago I shared a video showing our beautiful dream home that we built and after 5 years was finally finished in 2024. Our home was burned along with my in-laws. The scene is horrific. We didn’t have time to grab anything. We’re still in disbelief.”
Film producer Bill Johnson, who owns a home in Pacific Palisades, also posted a photo of the wreckage.
“Sadly this is what’s left of our home — I’m grateful for all the wonderful people who came and created beautiful memories there with us — time now to create something new,” he wrote on Facebook.
Mattias Hernandez, whose home in Pacific Palisades was completely destroyed, posted video of two young men throwing a football under sunny skies on a lawn beside the ruins of his house.
“One last toss at my home in Pacific Palisades,” he wrote. “This is pure devastation across the community.”
Jacob Soboroff reported from Los Angeles. Randi Richardson and Corky Siemaszko reported from New York City.
