Pasadena family meets firefighters who saved their home during Eaton Fire​on February 7, 2025 at 5:12 am

PASADENA, Calif. (KABC) — After several days of searching, homeowner Eric Mills and his family were finally able to meet the fire crew who saved their home during the Eaton Fire. They wanted to thank each firefighter personally for their heroic efforts.

“It was a lot of emotion packed into it,” said Mills. “Very welcoming and actually kind of helped fill in some of the gaps of the storyline of how it happened, and how they happened upon the house.”

The family saw their home catch fire on their Ring camera. You can see the flames burning in the upper left eaves in the footage. They heard firefighters suddenly show up and knock down the flames.

“The fire department shows up, puts it out, but then they leave, and it reignites. At that point, you’re like, ‘I don’t see anybody. They’re not coming back a second time,'” said Mills.

But they did, and that Los Angeles County Fire crew was from Station 164 in Huntington Park.

“I got a text message saying that people were trying to find us and reached out, so it was cool to have them come here and tell us that it was still standing,” said firefighter and paramedic Tim Marino.

For the crew, it was a chance to celebrate one of the few wins from the firestorm.

“We don’t get to see a lot of times the outcome, so it’s special for the homeowner and very special for us that we were able to make an impact and get a family back to their house, so it means a lot to us,” said Capt. Frank Maggiore.

The crew knows what it’s like to lose a home away from home. Last May, the same team fought to save their own fire station after it went up in flames in the middle of the night due to an apparent engine fire.

During the full circle meeting, the Mills family and the firefighters chatted and shared hugs, each person grateful for the others’ efforts.

“We really need to celebrate those that, when everybody was leaving, they were going towards it,” said Mills.

“Hero … you know, that’s a good title to have but we’re here because we love this job and we love helping people,” said Maggiore.