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Lessons Learned from the Eaton Fire
I’m taking some time to reflect on the past few days.
We finally have electricity back.
The eastern part of the Eaton Fire has at least stalled, and with 5,000+ structures reported to have been destroyed by it, the fire did not reach our town.
The air still smells of smoke.
I am frazzled.
And we have so much.
Between lack of sleep, watching the fire creep towards us along the San Gabriel Mountains, the loud alerts from LA County telling us to evacuate immediately then five minutes later telling us the alert is not for us, hearing from friends and clients of their lost homes, and then hearing about people slamming California and LA County officials in awful ways, it has all taken a toll.
And we have so much.
Tuesday night we lost electricity. No lights, cell coverage, or Wi-Fi. Our sole connection was a hand-crank radio we had in our earthquake box. It worked! Thanks to the amazing coverage from LAist (89.3) we had some information about the fire.
Wednesday morning I drove south and finally found a store with power, an Arco gas station. They let me plug in my blender so I could blend Nadia’s breakfast. She has megaesophagus and has to have her…
