Randy and Miki Quinton held hands as they walked uphill into what remains of their neighborhood in Altadena, the unincorporated Los Angeles suburb where they had lived for more than 20 years. After they entered the barricaded neighborhood through an open alleyway with two of their friends on Friday, the husband and wife confronted a scene of utter devastation: The Eaton Fire had incinerated hundreds of homes and cars in the middle-class neighborhood, leaving behind only ash-soaked chimneys and flaming gas lines. The Quintons’ own house had been vaporized, along with all their belongings.
“Twenty-four, forty-eight hours, and it’s all gone,” Randy Quinton told Grist.
The Quintons and thousands of other families now confront a living nightmare as they begin to recover from the most devastating wildfire outbreak in modern U.S. history. The Palisades Fire, which overwhelmed coastal neighborhoods about 30 miles away, and the Eaton Fire have together killed at least 24 people and destroyed well over 10,000 structures…