L.A. Fire Victim Recalls Harrowing Escape From His Home of 49 Years and Faces Uncertain Rebuilding Process: ‘It Was Like a War Zone’

Herman and Juanita Landry were in their home in Altadena, CA, after returning from celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary last week, when the ferocious Eaton fire raced down from the surrounding hills, annihilating everything in its path.

The elderly couple were lucky to escape with their lives and only the clothes on their backs, but their beloved house where they had lived and raised a family for nearly a half-century—along with all their irreplaceable mementos—was turned into a field of charred debris.

“It was nothing but ash,” Herman, 82, told Realtor.com® in a phone interview on Wednesday. “There is nothing to salvage. Absolutely nothing.”

The Landrys are among the thousands of people who have been displaced by the historic wildfires that have been raging in and around Los Angeles for more than a week, killing at least 25 people and destroying more than 12,300 structures, including countless homes, according to Cal Fire.

Herman, a retired U.S. Marine and former LAPD officer with 40 years of service under his belt, recounted how he first noticed the flames in the distance at around 10 p.m. on Jan. 7, but he and his wife initially decided to stay put.

The dry Santa Ana winds were blowing at ferocious speeds of around 80 mph, causing the fire to spread quickly. By midnight, Herman said, the inferno reached his driveway in the 3400 block of North Monterosa Drive.

“I said, ‘Get in the car, let’s go,'” Herman said. He, his wife, and their adult son, who was staying with them, were forced to leave everything behind. 

“We had no time to take anything,” Herman said.

Cul-de-sac consumed by fire

The family headed to Pasadena, CA, and spent several hours at an all-night restaurant, before attempting to return to their neighborhood to check on their house. 

“We couldn’t get any closer than a mile away. The whole street was on fire. … It was like a war zone,” Herman recalled.

He and Juanita, a retired executive secretary who previously worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers, have been staying at a Marriott Courtyard hotel in Pasadena for the past week.

Finally, on Tuesday, the couple were allowed by emergency crews to access their cul-de-sac where they have lived since 1976. Or what was left of it.

“It’s about 20 homes in the cul-de-sac. All but one was gone,” Herman said.

Heartbreaking photos shared with Realtor.com by the couple’s youngest granddaughter show Herman and Juanita standing next to what once was their tidy five-bedroom, three-bath home with a value of $1.8 million.

All that remained of it now was a thick carpet of charred wreckage, a brick chimney towering above the devastation, and a burnt-out car still parked on the property.

Family planning to rebuild

“The first thing that came to my mind, I thought about Maui,” Herman said, referring to the deadly 2023 wildfires that overwhelmed the Hawaiian island, killing more than 100 people and causing an estimated $5 billion in damages. “Altadena looked identical as that. … We lost about 2,000 to 3,000 homes in Altadena.”

Herman said he remembers about 20 years ago a wildfire ignited in the hills of Altadena, but their neighborhood was spared because there were no hurricane-force winds to spread the flames, unlike what happened last week.

“If it wasn’t for the wind, we probably wouldn’t have lost any of the homes,” he speculated. 

Herman and his wife are planning to stay in the hotel in Pasadena through the end of the month while looking for a place to rent somewhere in the San Gabriel Valley.

In the long term, however, Herman said he wants to rebuild his home in Altadena. He added that he had an insurance policy on his property, but he expressed doubt that he would be able to recoup all that had been lost in the blaze.

One thing that the family will never be able to retrieve are the keepsakes collected over a lifetime, along with the photographs of their two sons, five grandkids, and four great-grandkids.

“All the memorabilia, you’ll never be able to get back,” Herman said. “I’m going to miss them, but I can live without them.”

Asked if he has concerns about the prospect of rebuilding in this high-fire-risk part of Southern California, the stoic retired police officer said: “I’m not that worried about it, but there’s a possibility.”

Shelise Landry, their granddaughter, has started a GoFundMe campaign to help them recover from the loss. So far, the online fundraiser has drawn more than $76,000 in donations.

“These two loving and hardworking people have always put family, faith, and community first,” Shelise wrote of her grandparents in the description. “They’ve weathered life’s storms with grace, but this fire has left them completely devastated.”

Fire containment on the rise

By Thursday, the dangerous winds had finally died down, offering the 22,000 firefighters battling the multiple infernos in Southern California a chance to get a better handle on the situation.

So far, the stubborn Palisades fire, which has scorched more than 23,700 acres and razed countless homes in the upscale community of Pacific Palisades, was 22% contained.

The Eaton fire, which destroyed a large portion of Altadena, including Herman and Juanita’s 1964-built home, was 55% contained.

Analysts at AccuWeather have estimated the total damage and economic loss from the wildfires to be between $250 billion and $275 billion, which would potentially make it the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.

The monumental task of rebuilding is expected to be a fraught process set to unfold over many years to the tune of billions of dollars.

The federal government already has approved spending $100 million to remove paints, cleaners, asbestos, batteries, and other household waste from the rubble before crews can begin carting debris, according to the Associated Press.

Many questions remain at this time: What will the new communities look like? Will the homes be rebuilt using fire-resistant materials? Is the infrastructure going to be upgraded to take into account future disasters? And who is going to pay for it all?

California has been in the throes of an insurance crisis, which is expected to only get worse in the wake of the latest wildfires. Private insurance carriers could be on the hook for $30 billion or more, and the state-backed insurer of last resort, FAIR Plan, is also set to take a major financial hit.

Realtor.com is partnering with the REALTORS® Relief Foundation to raise funds to support victims of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. The foundation provides urgent housing-related assistance to homeowners affected by disasters.