ALTADENA, California — Arizona firefighters were among those monitoring a neighborhood in Altadena, a community north of Pasadena, where a mix of life past and present coexisted in the wake of the Eaton Fire.
“We’re really trying to button up the area as best as possible before anything else, before that wind comes in,” Capt. Shaun Jones of Central Arizona Fire and Medical said Sunday about the threat of further fire sparked by Santa Ana winds forecast for early in the week.
The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management sent 100 people to Southern California to combat wildfires that erupted on Jan. 7, according to spokesperson Tiffany Davila. In addition to Central Arizona Fire, a second Arizona agency was deployed in Altadena and another two were positioned in the Cleveland and San Bernardino national forests, Davila said Sunday.
Other firefighters seen working the residential streets of northern Altadena were Californian.
Residential streets alternated, randomly, between houses lost to the fire that rolled down from the mountain last week and those that withstood the inferno. Children’s playsets were covered in soot and swimming pools looked like black lagoons. Grayed-out chimneys were all that remained intact on most properties.
Jones said Central Arizona Fire had brought five trucks and a water tank to the scene and were doing tactical patrols to prevent flare-ups. The crew had arrived in Altadena on Wednesday morning to help battle the fire.
Water, and sometimes a mixture of foam, was used to douse flames from consumed structures and objects adjacent to burn spots, Jones said.
The fire took out most of the homes in Altadena south of West Loma Alta Drive and north of West Altadena Drive between Lincoln and Fifth Oaks avenues.
Among community meeting spots lost to the fire was the Altadena United Methodist Church, its small marquee sign still listing Sunday’s service time.
As of Sunday night, 11 people had been reported killed in the Eaton Fire, five firefighters had been reported injured, and 1,422 structures destroyed and 212 damaged, according to CalFire.
The volume of devastation was unlike anything Jones had seen in his career. “This is very heartbreaking,” Jones said.
A seemingly unaffected yellow bungalow provided a pop of color on one devastated street. A squirrel could be seen running in front of the house that was guarded by a white picket fence. A fully stocked Little Free Library post stood curbside.
A small older-model Ford pickup appeared emblematic of the neighborhood’s condition — the front half of the white truck was toasted brown by the flames, while the rear had gone unscathed.
Though Jones expressed regret about the homes lost to the fire, he also reflected on those that firefighters had managed to save. A grateful homeowner whom Jones had encountered on Wednesday had briefly returned to his house.
“It was good to see him,” Jones said. “Just that one ‘thank you’ was totally worth it.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona firefighters protect ravaged California neighborhood