West
California wildfire survivor shares story of narrowly saving his own house from Eaton Fire: 'A miracle'
A survivor of the devastating Eaton Fire that devastated the Altadena area of Los Angeles County recently spoke up about his experience fighting the inferno.
Justin Christie, a resident of Altadena, spoke with Fox News Digital on Saturday afternoon about his experience. As of Saturday evening, the Eaton Fire, which began on Tuesday, is only 15% contained.
Christie explained that his family has lived in the area since 1967, and had never seen anything as destructive as the Eaton Fire before.
“[I’ve seen] tons of fires on this hillside,” Christie recalled. “When I saw this, when I came out in the street and I saw the flames up on the hillside, something just told me this was different.”
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Justin Christie is pictured in front of a view of damaged structures and homes caused by the Eaton Wildfires in the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Getty Images/Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“I really got frightened, and I started to think [about] what I needed to do to prepare for it.”
Christie said that he was especially alarmed after seeing one of his palm trees catch on fire, which had never happened before. He quickly got all of his family members into his car and drove them away from the scene.
“I’ve never, in all the fires, never had one of our trees catch on fire,” he said. “And that was the one that really said, okay…we’re in big trouble.”
Christie later drove by to check on the status of his house – when he realized no one was going to extinguish the fire on his palm tree, Christie decided to put matters into his own hands and fight the fire himself.
“I thought my house, many times, was going to go,” he recalled. “From 8 in the evening to 12 o’clock noon. This house here, that burned next to me, was the last one that was to put me in danger.”
“When that one finally calmed down…I had a little sense of relief.”
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Congress members tour the wildfire disaster zone in Altadena on Saturday. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
But Christie said that that sense of relief was short-lived before another neighbor of his suffered a fire in their garage. Though Christie’s house was unscathed from that fire, the resident described the whole situation as “just shocking.”
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s just enough to make you want to cry,” Christie said. “So many people just lost everything.”
“And I never, ever thought….we’ve been here for so long…I always thought we were just far enough out of the fire’s reach.”
When thinking back to the experience, Christie described the sounds and sights of the wildfires as “incredible.”
The auditorium at Elliott Junior High is barely recognizable after being ravaged by wildfire in Altadena, Calif., on Friday. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“The breaking glass, the explosions from gas lines, people’s propane tanks, cars catching on fire,” he vividly described. “It just sounded like several freight trains coming at you.”
Overall, Christie said that his house’s survival from the Eaton Fire was nothing short of a miracle.
“It was some miracle that I got a hold of the fire…the wind died down at one opportune time,” he said. “And if it hadn’t….it would have caught this trellis I have next to me, it would have caught my house on fire and I would have been done. And there were several times when I wanted to leave, but I didn’t. I stayed.
“If I had left, the house would be gone. Totally gone.”
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Alex LaRosa hit for a .262 batting average in 50 plate appearances for the Bishop Gorman baseball team through its 32 games played entering Thursday.
But with a chance for the Gaels to punch their ticket to the Class 5A state tournament, LaRosa came up with the biggest swing of his season.
LaRosa hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning and broke a tie game, which proved to be the deciding run in Gorman’s 8-4 win over Centennial on Thursday night at Durango High in a 5A Southern Region winners bracket final.
The Gaels (28-6) have qualified for the 5A state tournament, which begins May 14 at Las Vegas High. The Gaels also advance to Saturday’s 5A Southern Region title game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Durango.
“My teammates, they just push me to be better in everything to do,” LaRosa said. “I know if I get on, they’re going to to get the job done and score me. My job, hitting in the bottom of the lineup is making sure I get on base anyway I can. I just put a good swing on the ball and it got out.”
Centennial falls to the losers bracket final and will play either Arbor View or Palo Verde at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Durango to determine Gorman’s opponent for Saturday and the South’s second spot in the state tournament. Arbor View and Palo Verde play in an earlier elimination at 4 p.m. Friday at Durango to determine Centennial’s opponent.
”It feels good, we fell short the last couple of years (of reaching the state tournament),” LaRosa said. “It just feels good to finall be in it and hopefully we keep going and win it.”
LaRosa’s blast was much needed after a disastrous bottom of the fifth inning for Gorman. The Gaels led 4-0, but Centennial (25-10) cut into the deficit when Jaxon Burr singled which scored Chase Hurley, who led the inning off with a triple.
Then Jake Turner hit a fly ball to left-center field, and as Gorman center fielder DeMari Hall and Logan Grubbs dived for the ball, they collided and the ball went all the way to the wall for a two-run, inside-the-park home run.
Four batters later, Gorman catcher Austin Argenta threw to first base to pick off runner Trevor Henson, but Argenta’s throw was wild and sailed into left field, scoring Kane Barber from second, tying the game.
“I had just given a speech right before we went out to hit that we were good, we weren’t losing this game,” LaRosa said. “We’re still in this game and the dugout went crazy. We just exploded after that.”
LaRosa, who finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, followed up with his home run in the top of the sixth, which hit the top of the left field fence. That caused a brief discussion between the three umpires before they confirmed it was a home run.
“I was just looking for a fastball to drive into the gap so my teammates could drive me in, but I got lucky, back spun it and it got out of here,” LaRosa said. “At first, I thought it was gone and then I looked up and the ball bounced back in the field.
“Then the (umpire) told me it was a home run and I kind of blacked out. It was a surreal feeling.”
Grubbs added an RBI single in the top of the seventh for Gorman. Chase Wilk was 2-for-4 with a home run in the second, a run scored during a three-run Gorman fourth inning and an RBI on a ground out in the seventh.
Justin Rodrigues had a two-run double in the fourth capped off the fourth inning for Gorman, which put the Gaels ahead 4-0. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 and recorded the final three outs on the mound for the Gaels.
Hurley and Burr each had two hits and a run scored for Centennial.
“It feels good, just returning to a national powerhouse that we were,” LaRosa said. “It’s the standard to be in the state tournament every year and compete for that state championship. So it feels good to bring the culture back to Gorman.”
Other 5A baseball results
No. 2S Arbor View 11, No. 2M Faith Lutheran 3: At Durango, Devin Martin’s two-run home run capped off an eight-run fourth inning for Arbor View, which helped the Aggies (30-7) roll past Faith Lutheran (16-15) in a 5A Southern Region elimination game.
In the fourth inning against Faith Lutheran, the Aggies scored twice on bases loaded walk, a wild pitch, a two-run single from Rhett Bryce and an RBI single by Angelo Ugarte before Martin hit his home run.
Martin finished with three RBIs and Ugarte added two RBIs. Rookie Shepard and Kingston Kela each recorded an RBI for Faith Lutheran.
No. 3M Palo Verde 7, No. 2D Desert Oasis 5: At Durango, Stone Amsden’s grand slam highlighted a seven-run seventh inning to give Palo Verde the lead, and the Panthers (26-8) held on to beat Desert Oasis (26-8-1) in an elimination game.
Desert Oasis, the Desert League’s No. 2 seed, led 4-0 entering the seventh. Owen Anderson and Matthew Simmler each had an RBI single, and Kyle Johnson scored in a wild pitch before Amsden’s homer put the Panthers, the Mountain League’s No. 3 seed ahead.
Amsden finished 2-for-4 for Palo Verde. The Panthers had just six hits.
Lincoln Guillermo was 2-for-4 with a home run for Desert Oasis, and Brody Griffith was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Landon O’Dell had an RBI single for the Diamondbacks and Aidan Smith added an RBI and a run scored.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
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