Monday, January 20, 2025

‘Nobody Thought This Could Happen’

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, MANAGING EDITOR

Karina Maturino details the night the fire took everything from her

Like a lot of residents in Altadena, Karina Maturino, 25, has seen fire on the mountain before.

And like many people who have had that experience she assumed the fire would not reach Fair Oaks Avenue and Calevaras Street where she was staying.

The Eaton Fire broke out on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

Driven by extreme wind, the fire destroyed Altadena, killing at least 16 people and burned more than 7,000 structures and scorched 14,117 acres. Firefighters said they reached 33% containment on Monday.

But the job could get harder as more extreme winds are forecast for the early part of the week.

As local residents of Altadena and Pasadena know Fair Oaks and Calevaras is on the ascent to the mountain, but far enough from Eaton Canyon and the locations of previous fires including the Bobcat Fire to justify her assumption.

But after her cell phone died, she was forced to make continued trips to her car to get updates on the fire. To make matters worse, the power was off and she could not charge her phone.

Then she learned that neighborhoods were being evacuated.

“They started evacuating from the higher North Altadena areas,” Maturino told Pasadena Now. “I was starting to worry because I have family and friends that live close to Farnsworth Park, and I couldn’t even reach out to them to see if they were okay. I assumed if they got any evacuation notice that it was time to head out.

Maturino’s brother in law arrived and said he was beginning to worry because the fire had reached Lake Avenue and Altadena Drive, a location not in a direct line to her, but off the mountain and into the community.

She went to her brother-in-law’s house, so she wouldn’t be in the dark, still thinking everything would be okay and left her dog behind. She has not seen the dog since.

Like many other residents in the City, she went to sleep having received no evacuation order with the fire still a ways away.

Just in case, she packed a suitcase which included some photos.

But when she woke up at 3:30 a.m. it was obvious things had changed where she lived.

“Everything was red,” she said. “The evacuation order was in place. But the fire had already reached our area.”

According to Maturino she lost everything.

“Everything,” she said. “Any little thing, any little project that I had from my childhood, from my dad’s childhood, from my sister’s childhood, any little trinkets or drawings that my nieces drew for us, all gone.”

Maturino currently is staying with her sister, but she fears that may not last too long. Currently six people are cramped in the one-bedroom apartment.

“I’ve been trying to reach out to any assistance with Federal Emergency Management Agency and our insurance,” she said. “But the wait time has just been so long because everybody’s struggling to find help.”

But even as she waits, she has advice for other people struggling to find their way.

“I would just say stay strong and reach out to the community. There are people out there willing to help. There are people out there willing to do things for you. This a horrible tragedy, nobody was ready for this. Nobody would have ever thought something like this could happen.”

To help Karina Maturino, visit her Gofundme page at https://gofund.me/45fe5260