David Perez - (Altadena Fires)

Here is a link to my Youtube Channel with a VIDEO that shows the BEFORE and AFTER of my studio from these Wildfires - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga0ey7ard38

This GFM was made by David Perez, I lived in Altadena for 10+ years.

I couldn't ask for more in life before this. My place was small, and compact, but had a unique Hobbit-like cottage vibe to it and I still had biggest pride in living there. Nobody in our area thought the fire would actually spread all the way to us 4 tenants on the property, including the landlords's main house- but the nightmare came true.

As we started seeing the fire on the mountains from afar, my neighbor Jim told me that he has lived on the property for decades and mentioned there was "always fires winds every year", so at first, we assumed it was nothing to be too alarmed over since I myself have lived here for a decade and have seen these winds pass many times. Soon enough, we both knew this time wasn't the same as the other years, as we saw the fire get bigger and closer by the minute. It eventually looked like a wall of flames, flames so big I could see them perfectly from a mile away.

Panic was starting to fill the air a little bit as I could see all my neighbors starting to pack their cars on the entire street. I also saw that cars were zooming down our side street "highland ave" to avoid the increasing street traffic on Altadena Dr. The wind was at 70+ mph this entire time, and there was no power at the time either - so everything occurred in the darkness of the night…that is, until the flames got so big that there was a light orange glow across our entire property.

There wasn’t enough time, light, or clear thoughts to do this right..

Other tenants and I got whatever we could, left the area, and shortly after evacuating, the next thing we know... POOF - everything turned into ash and is gone except for my primary car, iphone, and what I was wearing at the time.

I’m Still processing it all right now and can't put it into words what this feels like exactly. The hardest part of each day so far, is waking up and realizing another priceless memory that was lost in that place that can never be had again - A posession or keepssake that has a story to tell behind it, the memory of a loved one who's passed, things that didn't deserve to be burned into nothing before saying goodbye to them.

I am thankful for still having my life, my girlfriend Fatima who has been there for me 100%, my family, my friends and having faith in God, and that is what is most valuable in these times right now the most.

Losing a TV, DVD collection, all of my clothes, and other valuable items is bad..but what I regret the most was not having the time to take any of the sentimental items… the yearbooks, the band flyers, the band recordings, the 'goosebumps' collection, the photos and holiday cards on my fridge of my family, the gifts that friends gave me over the years, the books given to me by my mother, and all the other tangible and cherished memories collected over a lifetime that I felt created my identity or lived experienes of my past..etc.

All support is greatly appreciated, and will never be forgotten.

I want to give a Big Thank you to anybody who took the time to read this and offer support towards my future, and also give a big Thanks to Marci Ruiz for pushing me to start a go fund me.

Altadena was such a beautiful neighborhood and I'm going to miss it forever. My heart goes out to everyone else in the Altadena neighborhood that was also impacted.. I can't imagine what other people lost having entire homes and decades of roots living here...

Here is hoping we all come back bigger and stronger than we were before. God willing.

-David Perez