People find ‘chimney after chimney & just ash’

AP LOS ANGELES

Since the flames erupted in and around Los Angeles, scores of residents have returned to their still smoldering neighbourhoods even as the threat of new fires persisted and the nation's second-largest city remained unsettled. For some, it was a first look at the staggering reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the gargantuan challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding.

Bridget Berg, who was at work when she saw on TV her house in Altadena erupt in flames, came back for the first time with her family two days later "just to make it real". Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years.

Her kids sifted through debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes as they searched for Japanese wood prints they hoped to recover. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace, holding up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.

"It's OK. It's OK," Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. "It's not like we just lost our house - everybody lost their house." 

Since the fires first began popping up around a densely populated, 25-mile (40-kilometer) expanse north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. No cause has been identified yet for the largest fires.

The disaster took homes from everyone - from waiters to movie stars. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage, but private firms have estimated it will climb into the tens of billions. 

The flames hit schools, churches, a synagogue, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and local landmarks like the Will Rogers' Western Ranch House and a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that dated back to 1887 and was commissioned for wealthy mapmaker Andrew McNally.

Neighbors wandered around ruins on Friday as they described now-vanished bedrooms, recently remodeled kitchens and outdoor living spaces. Some talked about the gorgeous views that drew them to their properties, their words contrasting sharply with the scene of soot and ash.

In the coastal community of Pacific Palisades, Greg Benton surveyed where he lived for 31 years, hoping to find his great-grandmother's wedding ring in the wreckage.

"We just had just had Christmas morning right over here, right in front of that chimney. And this is what's left," he said, pointing to the blackened rubble that was once his living room. "It's those small family heirlooms that are the ones that really hurt the most." 

Elsewhere in the city, people at collection sites picked through cardboard boxes of donated items to restart their lives.

California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone, and evening curfews were in effect to prevent looting after several earlier arrests. The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.