The Davila, Stone, and Montanez family, with deep roots in Altadena, have witnessed the tragic impact of the Eaton wildfire firsthand. This story chronicles their heartbreaking losses while highlighting the enduring spirit of the community they call home.
Bryan Davila stood in the kitchen of a Monterey Park Airbnb on Thursday, Jan. 9, his family\u2019s rented refuge, and flicked on the stove. The flame lit and he flinched. Dani\u2019s father, Rene Stone, has returned to Altadena every day for the last week, trying to get past barricades to see for himself what the fire has wrought. And Dani\u2019s grandmother, Helen Montanez – who is nearing 90 – keeps asking to go home. To a home that\u2019s no longer there. And so much more.
This family, with more than 60 years of history in Altadena, is among the victims of the Eaton fire, a capricious, unrelenting inferno that, as of Wednesday afternoon, had burned more than 14,000 acres in this working-class neighborhood north of Pasadena. Thousands of structures have been lost. At least 16 people have died. Myriad families have been displaced by the carnage. And in this one clan – the Davila, Stone and Montanez family – the story of Altadena, the story of a community beloved by its residents, the story of hard-working immigrants striving to build generational wealth and realize the American dream, is cast in relief against the devastation of the Eaton wildfire. \u201cWe have so much history in this city,\u201d Dani Davila, 37, said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting updates about friends and families who have lost homes. I could name at least a dozen.\u201d Bryan and Dani Davila at their Altadena house during Christmas 2024. (Courtesy photo) From left, Dani Davila, Alexandria Stone, Helen Montanez and Dana Stone at Dana and Rene Stone’s house. (Courtesy photo)Bryan Davila holds his daughter, Meli, during Christmas 2024. (Courtesy photo)Bryan and Dani Davila on their wedding day, with a 1967 Cougar. (Courtesy photo)Bryan Davila, 35, emotionally recounts the night he had to flee his Altadena home before flames beame too dangerous and later was destroyed during last week\u2019s Eaton fires. His wife Dani\u2019s parents and grandmother each had homes burn down too. Davila is pictured at the Hacienda Heights house of his sister, Shiara Davila-Morales on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) Bryan Davila, 35, shows the last picture he took of flames behind his neighbor\u2019s home at 12:37 am last Wednesday, before fleeing Altadena. His home, his wife\u2019s parents and grandmother\u2019s homes also perished in the Eaton fire. Davila is pictured at the Hacienda Heights house of his sister, Shiara Davila-Morales on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)Dana and Rene Stone, with Dani Davila as a child, in front of the Rose Bowl. (Courtesy photo)They waited too long to leave, Dani Davila said. They were smoked out. But they eventually fled, arriving safely, at first, to the Hacienda Heights home of Bryan Davila\u2019s big sister, Shiara Davila-Morales, and then to Monterey Park. In the days since, they have cried. They have laughed about the absurdity of it all. They have mourned, for themselves and their community. And now, slowly, they have begun to think about rebuilding. They will not give up on Altadena.This is a story about three generations of the same family that each lost their homes in the Eaton fire. But it\u2019s also about Altadena itself – and its resilience
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