Firefighters open up about shedding their very own houses in LA wildfires

Hundreds of individuals, together with at the very least 12 firefighters, have misplaced houses within the Los Angeles County wildfires, based on the California Hearth Basis.

Amongst them are Pasadena Hearth Division firefighter Charles Hawes and hearth engineer Chien Yu, an 18-year veteran of the division.

Hawes was combating flames about one minute down the street from his dad and mom’ dwelling, the place he lived together with his 2-year-old son Liam, when he noticed it was on hearth.

“It was type of like a fever dream the place simply all the things was on hearth,” Hawes recalled to “Good Morning America.” “I walked up the road and will see my dad and mom’ complete roof was on hearth. I felt so helpless … we’re presupposed to be fixers on this job, and that wasn’t the case that night time.”

Hawes took “GMA” by way of his neighborhood, which he fought so onerous to save lots of.

“There’s nothing. It simply takes the breath out of you,” Hawes mentioned. “The onerous half is shedding the sentimental issues. We’re by no means gonna lose the recollections.”

Yu had spent hours in a single day combating fires in a neighboring city earlier than he realized his Pasadena dwelling, which he shares together with his spouse Kim and sons Hudson and Atticus, had burned down.

“They took me off the rig simply to get some reduction, you already know, get some relaxation. I requested ’em, ‘Hey, can we please go by my home to see if it is nonetheless standing?'” Yu recalled. “So we got here up, and it was gone. It was burned to the bottom.”

Yu mentioned he’s “devastated” at shedding his dwelling and feels regretful for what occurred.

“Possibly I ought to have tried to remain, you already know? Possibly I should not have gone to work, you already know? Possibly I ought to have stayed and tried to battle it, seize extra stuff,” he mentioned.

Whereas the vast majority of his house is gone, Yu was capable of salvage at the very least one sentimental merchandise – his marriage ceremony ring.

“We had gone again with my crew and I used to be type of half jokingly saying, like, ‘Hey, perhaps I may discover my ring.’ I knew the place it was at so with out even asking, the blokes jumped in, began trying by way of and certain sufficient, they had been like, ‘I feel that is it,'” Yu recounted.

Regardless of the large private toll, Hawes and his fellow firefighters are nonetheless again at work and combating a number of energetic fires, together with the Palisades Hearth and Eaton Hearth in Los Angeles County and the Auto Hearth in Ventura County.

“Sadly, I do not assume you actually have a possibility to only type of roll over and quit with this job. We now have an obligation to serve the neighborhood,” Hawes mentioned. “I wanted time to be with my household and spend time with my household. That was a precedence. However I needed to additionally give time to my neighborhood and get again to the neighborhood, work with the coworkers, get again in it.”

The firefighters say the bond between them and their households is what’s serving to them get by way of these troublesome instances.

“I feel, personally, it is my dad and mom and my child that actually hold me going, my 2-year-old son,” Hawes mentioned.

Added Yu, “We gotta stick collectively. We’re gonna make it by way of it. On the finish of the day, it all the time works out.”

To help the California Hearth Basis and its mission to supply emotional and monetary help to firefighters and their households and communities, Planet Health and its Los Angeles franchise introduced Friday on “GMA” they’re donating $100,000 to the nonprofit.

Uber Eats and Postmates additionally introduced they’re donating $500,000 in vouchers to the California Hearth Basis for use on meals, groceries and different important gadgets.