All 17 people who died in the Eaton fire lived in an area where evacuation orders came hours later than others, even as homes nearby were already burning. Some people never received warnings at all.
All 17 people who died in the Eaton fire lived in an area where evacuation orders came hours later than others, even as homes nearby were already burning. Some people never received warnings at all.
As the first embers of the Eaton fire began showering homes in Pasadena and Altadena, Calif., this month, evacuation orders went out within minutes. But one neighborhood did not get the order to leave for hours, well after some homes there had already caught fire.
The consequences appear to have been fatal.
Of the 17 people who died in that fire, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner, all lived in an area west of Lake Avenue that wasn’t ordered to evacuate until after 3 a.m.
It was more than seven hours after other orders went out to neighborhoods closer to the fire’s starting point, and hours after fire officials had received reports that houses in the area were burning. Even then, some people said that they never heard from officials that they needed to get out.
“The terrible loss of life in western Altadena deeply concerns me,” Kathryn Barger, the county supervisor for the area, said in a statement on Tuesday. “There must be a thorough examination of the lifesaving emergency notification actions that took place the terrible evening the Eaton fire started.”
Among the dead was Dalyce Curry, a 95-year-old resident who had been dropped off at home around midnight by her granddaughter, who thought all was safe. About three blocks away, Anthony Mitchell and his son Justin called for help evacuating after 5 a.m. Both died when flames consumed their home.