It’s been almost a full week since Alex Shekarchian and Moogega Cooper hurriedly packed up a few things and fled the second. natural disaster to turn their lives around in three months.
In October, the couple survived Hurricane Milton, which hit the Florida coast. Now, the unprecedented wildfires that continue to burn in Los Angeles County are among thousands of residents to lose their homes.
“We’ve seen weather events become more and more extreme. A Category 5 (hurricane) was unprecedented,” Cooper told ABC News as natural disasters hit both coasts. “This firestorm was unprecedented.”
A home that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire stands in front of a home that survived in Altadena. California, January 13, 2025.
Noah Berger/AP
Shekarchian recalled driving home last Tuesday evening and seeing a “lightning fire” in the hills near his Altadena home. When she arrived at her home she said there was no electricity and found Cooper sitting inside next to candles “like the candles we had when we survived Hurricane Milton.”
Driven by hurricane-force winds, the Eaton Fire ravaged the communities of Altadena and Pasadena, destroying at least 7,000 structures, including homes and businesses, officials said. As of Monday, the fire was 33 percent contained after consuming more than 14,000 acres.
The Palisades fire has left complete destruction in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 13, 2025.
John Locher/AP
The Eaton Fire is one of several blazes sparked by Tuesday and Wednesday’s Santa Ana wind storm, which occurred during a severe drought, officials said. At one point, seven fires were burning simultaneously in an area of 45 square kilometers in Los Angeles County.
The Palisades Fire in the oceanfront community of Pacific Palisades remains the largest of the wildfires. The Palisades Fire has destroyed more than 5,000 homes and burned nearly 24,000 acres. Monday’s inferno was 14 percent, with firefighters anticipating another Santa Ana wind event through Wednesday.
At least 24 people were killed in the Eaton and Palisades fires, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed. Nearly two dozen people have yet to be found, according to the Los Angeles County sheriff. Many of those killed in the fires were elderly or disabled, officials said.
A third major fire, the Hurst Fire near Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley, was contained by firefighters to 799 acres and was 95 percent contained Monday.
Reconstruction planning
Cooper said the fire that destroyed his home swept through his neighborhood at breakneck speed.
“I honestly didn’t realize I was going to lose my house until we saw the news of the fire spread beyond where I was mentally prepared,” Cooper told ABC News.
Even after evacuating, Cooper said she thought they would find their home still intact, only to find out that she and Shekarchian were a total loss.
The couple said unlike many homeowners, they have home insurance to rebuild and have already decided to do so.
“I think it’s not necessarily the loss of a physical structure, but we’ve lost a home, we’ve lost that temporary sense of community,” Cooper said. “And that’s why I want to rebuild.”
Shekarchian added, “It was an easy decision when we knew we wanted to be a part of that rebuilding with the restaurants we lost, the stores we lost.”
On top of that, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer just days before the fire, Shekarchian said.
Shekarchian, an entertainment attorney, said the movie “Wicked,” choreographed by one of his clients, Christopher Scott, is helping him overcome his fear.
“We’re dancing our way through life,” Shekarchian said of how she and Cooper are trying to keep a positive attitude. “Dancing through cancer, dancing through homelessness.”
‘It was a nightmare’
Jeffrey and Cheryl Ku of Altadena also told ABC News they were among the first people to see the Eaton Fire start at 6:19 p.m. Tuesday at the base of an electrical transmission tower in the hills near their home.
“My husband came home from work, and he ran into the house and started yelling, ‘There’s a fire on the hill. We’ve got to get out,'” said Cheryl Ku. “I ran out, saw the fire on the poles and immediately called 911.”
A burned car is parked on a street as the Eaton Fire continues in Altadena, California, on January 13, 2025.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
A Ring doorbell camera in the home captured the terrifying moments after the couple saw the fire charging into the neighbourhood. The video of the ring shows Jeffrey frantically pouring the outside of his house as he tries to watch the flames that are constantly advancing towards him.
“It was a nightmare,” Jeffrey Ku said. “And I think the worst part was that every time I controlled the fire it got worse.”
The couple said their house was left standing.
Neighbors of the couple told ABC News they also saw the Eaton Fire apparently start near the transmission tower and quickly explode.
“There was no other fire, no flames anywhere,” said resident Pedro Rojas, who shot video of the flames near the transmission tower at 6:24 p.m. Tuesday. “It was so dark, we would have noticed if there were flames anywhere else.”
Firefighters trying to determine the cause of the Eaton fire and other fires told ABC News that they were aware of videos showing flames near the transmission tower when the firestorm began.
Southern California Edison sent a statement to ABC News saying that while the Eaton Fire started in its service area, a preliminary analysis “shows no outages or electrical or operational anomalies for more than an hour after the fire started.” The utility company also said no fire agency has suggested its equipment started the Eaton Fire.
The sun rises behind a fire-ravaged beachfront property after the Palisades fire on January 13, 2025 in Malibu, California.
John Locher/AP
But Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, told ABC News on Monday that the company still cannot rule out that its energy infrastructure played a role in sparking the wildfires.
‘My Guardian Angel’
After losing their Altadena home of 25 years in the Eaton fire, Ivan and Robyn Miguel said the only thing that survived was their ceramic angel in their garden.
“That was my guardian angel in my garden,” Robyn Miguel told ABC News.
While her stove, refrigerator and furniture “vaporized” along with the house, the angel said she survived without even a crack.
“The smoke from the fire marked it. I thought it was a beautiful sign,” said Robyn Miguel.
Ivan Miguel said that when he saw the angel in the ruins, he entered crying.
“It also gave me hope to move forward and rebuild from this experience,” Ivan Miguel said.
The Miguels said their daughter was injured when a ember fell from the sky and hit her in the face while clearing the house.
Robyn Miguel said she now regrets not taking more family heirlooms and photos in the half hour they spent evacuating.
“In those moments I had to put aside that sadness that we didn’t do it because my family and my pets got out safe and that was the most important thing,” said Robyn Miguel.
Learning about his home and business was lost
Mike Geller of Pacific Palisades told ABC News that he lost not only his home, but also the jewelry store his family has owned in Palisades Village for nearly three generations.
Now 48, Geller said he has to start over.
“Thank God I was able to get my birth certificate back. But all the assets my children had accumulated … were gone, decimated,” Geller said. “I’m shocked. I’m not sure how I’m talking to you. I’m completely shocked. I’m going through the motions. It hasn’t really set in yet.”
Patrick O’Neal surveys his home after the Palisades wildfires destroyed it on January 13, 2025 in Malibu, California.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Geller said she has filed a personal insurance claim, but doesn’t know when it will be processed. He said he and many of his neighbors, especially older residents who bought their homes decades ago for $50,000 to $75,000, won’t have the means to rebuild.
“That person won’t be able to come back. And if they do and they have insurance, will they rebuild?” Geller said. “Look, if I’m 75, 80 years old, you know, how long do I have?”
Geller said he and his wife are considering not rebuilding.
“It’s about quality of life,” he said. “If it takes me three years to rebuild, how much time do I really have left at that point?”
‘No one had a chance’
They’re used to saving lives and property, but on Monday, Los Angeles Fire Department veterans Capt. Jerry Puga, Capt. Al Hugo and Firefighter George Baxter told ABC News that the Eaton Fire has left them all homeless.
“I never thought I’d be a victim … but now I’m with my colleagues,” Baxter said.
Baxter said that when the Eaton fire reached the Altadena neighborhood, he tried to defend his home and his neighbor’s residence with only a water hose.
“No one had a chance. No one could have prepared for this. It’s just a natural disaster,” said Baxter, who has been a member of the LAFD for 30 years.
A banner is attached to a tree after residents fled the Eaton Fire, one of six simultaneous fires in Altadena, California, on January 11, 2025 in Los Angeles County.
Ringo Chiu/Reuters
Hugo recalled that as a rookie firefighter, he helped fight a large fire that hit Altadena in 1994, but said he had never seen a fire as bad as the one that destroyed his home.
“As prepared as you can be, no one expected the fire to do what it did,” Hugo said. “It caught everybody off guard. It really did.”
When the Eaton Fire started just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, Puga said he didn’t expect it to grow into a monster inferno.
“That night I went to sleep knowing there was a fire, but I never thought it would reach me,” said Puga.
When Puga woke up the next day and started driving to the city, he said that the erratic behavior of the fire was something he had never seen before and that the fire was moving towards his neighborhood. He said he turned around and went back home, calling his family from his vehicle to warn them.
“As soon as we got to the house, we were able to get out. An hour later, we managed to go back and the house was fully engulfed,” said Puga. “We have lost the house, property, materials but the family is safe and that is the most important thing.”
