“I have never seen anything like this, yet we have some experience with fires in California”: Salomon Huerta can’t believe it. Taking refuge with his sister an hour’s drive from home, he learned that the house he had been renting for three years in Altadena, in the wooded heights of Los Angeles (beyond Pasadena), was nothing but ashes. At 59 years old, he and his wife are faced with a blank page of their existence, nevertheless relieved to have been able to escape the blaze.
“I was painting at my nearby studio when my wife called me to warn me that she saw the fire approaching and that we had orders to evacuate. A wind of madness was blowing. I rushed home and found her hurriedly gathering a few things. I did the same and we jumped in the car, hoping not to suffer the fate of people who had found themselves in traffic jams and had to flee on foot, leaving everything behind,” says Salomon.
“Our neighbor is dead”
If the painter was able to save most of his paintings that remained in the workshop, much of what was precious to him burned: “I am sad because I lost my art books, my archives, my photos, valuable clothes,” he lists. But that’s nothing compared to the drama that played out a few meters away: “My 95-year-old neighbor could not be rescued and she died. » Everyone knew each other in the neighborhood and Salomon says that another neighbor, who refused to leave his house, was forced to do so.
Impossible to return to the site: “The police forbid us because torn power lines are lying on the ground and it is dangerous. » While the fires are still not out, Salomon and his wife are already looking for another place to live. “It won’t be easy because we won’t get any money from insurance and it will be very difficult to find the equivalent of what we had in Altadena because prices are already very high in the region. »
