Despite having lost everything in the devastating and still raging Los Angeles County After the bushfires this week, Deisy-Suarez Giles’ family returned to inspect the wreckage of their burned home, where her two young boys were happy to find some of their toys among the rubble.
Suarez-Giles, a three-time entrepreneur, said they ironically moved into their own home Altadena, Californiahome because they lived above a pharmacy during the COVID pandemic, where someone tried to burn the building down in the middle of the night.
“We left downtown LA right after COVID, when there were a lot of protests and also riots happening. We left because the building we were staying in had a Rite Aid downstairs, and the people, you know, they tried to burn the Rite. Aid So we ran down and put the fire out with a fire extinguisher because they were trying to set the building on fire,” Suarez-Giles said. “And I had my youngest, Lucas, who was only six months old, and I thought, ‘They’re going to burn us alive here,’ so we had to get out.
“I told my husband, ‘We had to find a way to find money and get a new house because we just can’t stay here; they’re going to burn us here with our children.’ And we fled from there to be here, and then we get our house burned out,” she added, fighting through tears.
Deisy Suarez-Giles left with her family, including her husband and two boys, in front of their destroyed home in Altadena, California. (Deisy Suarez-Giles)
Suarez-Giles said their home came from hard work, determination and a desire to keep her family safe.
The family learned of the intense fires in the middle of the day on Tuesday, but although they were on alert, they were initially unsure whether to evacuate even as they saw neighbors leaving and taking horses and animals from the affected area. Eaton Fire.
Finally, Suarez-Giles said, around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, they decided it was best to wake her boys, Henry and Lucas, pack a few important items and sleep in the car overnight just in case.
“We woke them up at 1:30, so technically we didn’t leave until 2, because it took some time to get everything together and get out, and within three hours the house was ready.” gone,” she said.
When Suarez-Giles woke her family to leave, she said it was then that the realization of what was happening became disturbing for the boys.
“Henry was very upset about it. He did cry. Lucas was scared when the fire was coming. There was a lot of panic leaving, especially with two small children. Lucas was crying,” she said. “He was really panicking when I woke him up. I said, ‘We have to go, honey, the fire is getting close.'”
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The family of Deisy Suarez-Giles surveys the destruction of their home in Altadena, California, in the aftermath of the Eaton fire in Los Angeles County. (Deisy Suarez-Giles)
Henry, who was interviewed by a reporter Thursday in the aftermath of the fire as he stood next to his mother, recounted the terrifying moments that led to the loss of his home, holding the only two things he has left in this world .
“And then the power went out, yeah, and then we went, and then we went to get our dad, but he came. Then we had power, flashlights, they’re so good, and I went, and they woke us up , me and my brother. And then we left our house,” Henry said. “And then we didn’t realize that our house would burn down like that. And a lot of stuff we left in our house, and it burned, and we had a 3D printer, and it was so special to me, and it makes me a little sad, but I don’t know why, but this is what happened to our house.
“And a lot of things I love are gone. And now everything’s broken, and it’s all lost its color and everything. And these are the only things I have.”
Suarez-Giles said as it got later, the power went out and that’s when some of the panic started to set in. Her youngest son, Lucas, started crying.
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“He started to panic, and then my husband went to get some flashlights and then Henry was very brave, he helped us pack things. I said let’s get everything ready so we can go, and you know what,” said them. “Around 11 o’clock we were still in the house and they said, ‘oh, we’re tired, we want to go to sleep.’ They were tired and I said, ‘Okay, you can go to sleep.’
The remains of the Suarez-Giles house in Altadena, California, after the Eaton Fire destroyed the property. (Deisy Suarez-Giles)
Suarez-Giles said her family were not the only ones in the house when the fire broke out. A teacher from her son’s school rented a room in their house, and he didn’t leave until it was almost too late.
“He was woken up by the fire. My husband tried to let him know that he had to go, but he was aware of everything that was happening because the school was in contact with all the teachers and everything,” she said. “He didn’t think much about it, and he said he almost got burned because the fire was coming through the windows.”
For his part, a brave Henry wanted to return to the site of his former home to fix what was broken and see what was left.
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“I wanted to check if it wasn’t broken and my dad made a video (to show) that it was broken,” he said. “We went, so we know what happened and that was our chimney where Santa Claus comes, and now he’s gone. Now we can’t get presents here anymore.”
According to LA County officials, the Eaton, Palisades, Kenneth, Hurst Fire and Lidia fires have burned more than 35,000 acres, while the Eaton and Palisades fires have claimed at least 11 lives.
