One year ago today, the Eaton Fire broke out in the San Gabriel Mountains. Fires in the mountains aren’t uncommon, and while they’re always concerning, they usually mean terrible air quality and floating ash.
But paired with hurricane-force winds, things became scary and destructive very quickly. When I heard it was spreading and actually burning homes, it didn’t sound real. Where were the evacuation alerts? Were friends’ homes okay? Was Fox’s Restaurant really gone? Was my favorite photo editing spot, the Altadena Library, gone too?
Driving through the burn zone in the aftermath, it was hard to tell what was what through teary eyes. People’s homes were reduced to ash, with no defining features left besides the chimney. Street after street, chimneys stood - monuments to the homes that were once there, marking the lives, the families, the past Christmases, and the happy memories.
The thing about chimneys in Altadena, though, is that many of them are adorned with handcrafted tiles from the 1920s. Both mansions and humble two-bedroom homes featured these special tiles created by local artisans. These tiles survived when nothing else did.
I set out to photograph as many of these chimneys and tiles as I could. During a time when people had literally lost everything, dedicating my time to photographing tiles felt trivial and kind of dumb at times. But to me, these small tiles became powerful symbols of hope and survival. I teamed up with
@savethetiles , who did absolutely amazing work removing tiles for homeowners for free, storing them indefinitely at no cost, and committing to cleaning, restoring, and helping homeowners reinstall them in their newly rebuilt homes.
And here we are, one year later. I’ve self-published my first book, featuring some of my favorite images. I printed a small run of just 50 copies. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to
@savethetiles , supporting their mission as they move into a real warehouse and begin their next phase.
Link in bio to see the project and purchase the book
#eatonfire #altadenastrong #altadena
