Toni Eakes evacuated her home with about a dozen dogs during the chaotic afternoon of the ferocious Palisades fire. She thought she’d be returning a couple of days later, and only packed a light bag for herself.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28 – three weeks later – she was among the hundreds of people who were finally allowed to return to the rubble of what once was their homes.
“This was the first time I was able to get up here and I wanted to see if I could find anything that was salvageable at all,” Eakes, 58, said. “And I wanted to see my house. I wanted closure.”
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People anxious to see what had become of their properties in the wake of the Palisades Fire waited in their cars for hours for permission to return after officials lifted the last remaining evacuation orders.
A line of vehicles stretching two or three miles snaked along Pacific Coast Highway as motorists inched into beachside parking lot No. 3 in Santa Monica, where they had to show ID to receive a permit that allowed them to drive into the burn zone. They still would have to be out of the area by nightfall because a curfew remained in effect.
Officials began letting residents of select areas return starting last week, but only with a police escort. Now the remaining evacuation orders were lifted, and no escort was required.
After waiting about an hour to get a permit to return to the place she rented in the Palisades, Eakes and two friends helped her look through the rubble.
“The best thing that was found was one of my dogs that was cremated, in their metal container,” she said through tears. “So that was a win for me.”
Eakes rescues dogs. She operates a nonprofit organization called A Wish for Animals, which is how she came to have so many, including a few puppies, in her place at once on the day the fire broke out.
When it came time to evacuate, the dogs were placed in crates and loaded into three different cars.
“They were a little stressed,” she said. “They knew something was going on.”
Some of them went to foster homes. The others, including three of her own dogs, went with Eakes to a friend’s ranch.
Eakes’ home was in the alphabet streets part of the Pacific Palisades. Most homes in that neck of town were destroyed.
“It was such a beautiful neighborhood, and it’s just gone,” she said. “And it’s just absolutely devastating. It looks like a bomb hit it.”
Eakes’ friend Kady Doody found a special item while rummaging through the debris. “I found you a good luck crystal,” Doody said.
Eakes gasped.
“This is special,” she said as she held on tight to the remnant of her home. The crystal shone even through its ashy coating.
Planning to rebuild
Just across Sunset Boulevard in the Huntington Palisades neighborhood, Paul Kedeshian accompanied his mother and grandmother to look through the rubble of their home. Paul, 19, would be taking this quarter off from college to deal with the aftermath of the fire.
All three family members sported head-to-toe protective gear, sort of resembling hazmat suits.
“I thought that we were going to have to be like gold miners with a pan just sifting through just complete ash,” Paul Kedeshian said.
While their home wasn’t reduced to total ash, few items were left.
“The things and stuff that I was hoping survived … now I’m kind of hoping to some degree that they didn’t because I know that the state they would be in would just be unsalvageable,” Paul said. “Emotionally, I’d rather just write it off.”
The family did find silverware, melted-down jewelry, and two antique and partially melted typewriters that were owned by Paul’s great-grandfather.
Paul’s mother, Kim Kedeshian, 56, and her mother Katherine Dagermangy, 81, both operate two businesses in the Pacific Palisades: K Bakery and Armav restaurant. Both businesses are temporarily closed because of the fire, which miraculously spared both sites.
Kim Kedeshian confidently said she is planning on rebuilding her family home.
‘This beautiful town’
Returning residents were urged to wear protective gear. Health officials have warned that neighborhoods are filled with toxic ash that’s a mix of incinerated cars, electronics, batteries, building materials, paints, furniture and other household items. It contains pesticides, asbestos, plastics and lead.
Jack Hassett said his family was anxious but not impatient about being let back into the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday. They had toured their burned neighborhood once before in the days after the fire roared through, but were happy to wait for the all clear.
“Making sure that it’s safe for everybody to come in, and letting the firefighters and the EPA and everybody else do their jobs, is always the most important thing,” he said.
Hassett didn’t find much in the ash at his family’s Pacific Palisades house, uncovering only some pottery and assorted kitchenware.
“It’s nice to find those little things that, you know, at one point didn’t mean so much,” said Hassett, 22. “Plates are plates. But now they’re, you know, a memory to sort of look back on … It’s such a scary thing to see all this, but it’s really sort of beautiful in a way.”
Hassett’s sister put up a sign thanking their neighbors.
“We can rebuild this beautiful town together,” it said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
