When six-year-old Henry Giles returned to his home in Altadena with his parents, he knew exactly where to look.
The front gate and wall on the property are all that remain intact, with the mail in the mailbox intact. There are two burned-out cars on the driveway in the back, and a ruined swing set in the back. But there was a bucket and a toy lawnmower hidden in the bushes.
“Mom, look, they are alive! We hid them in the bushes because we knew there would be a fire!” Henry shouted excitedly
Henry and his brother Lucas examined the remaining plants, “This one survived! This one did not survive. Our tomato plant is dead.”
Few other treasures have survived. Henry’s family packed light things, not wanting to overload the car in case they had to sleep in it. Just a few essentials and the family dogs.
“Henry was sad. He got a new 3D printer and it was destroyed. He asked me why I didn’t take it and I said because we could only capture important things. He said, ‘It was important to me.’ , ” his mother Daisy told the BBC.