LOS ANGELES—When Anthony Ray Souza got an alert on his phone to evacuate his home in Altadena at the start of the Eaton Canyon fire, he and his wife grabbed what they could—birth certificates, social security cards, photos—and fled.
They ended up at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, now converted into a shelter for evacuees of the fire—which has leveled most of Altadena, tearing through more than 13,000 acres and still only three percent contained as of Friday.
“It was one of the saddest things you could see, because all the senior citizens were there. Rows and rows of nothing but seniors from convalescent homes, screaming in pain and crying,” Souza told The Epoch Times.
Scrolling through Instagram, Souza happened on a post he assumed was fake: Two lawyers, a married couple, had bought up blocks of hotel rooms in the San Fernando Valley and were inviting evacuees to shelter there.
Still hopeful, he sent a message and was surprised to learn the offer was real.
“They’ve been a blessing,” Souza said of Gina Zapanta and Mike Alder, who run two joint law practices in the Valley. “Gina actually gave me a hug when we met. For her to embrace us the way she did, it was a sigh of relief.”
Zapanta and Alder moved their own family out of their Sherman Oaks house Wednesday amid raging winds, planning to stay in a hotel for a few days until things calm down.
“I saw how bad things had gotten the next morning and had my staff drop everything, call local hotels and start reserving room blocks,” the attorney said.
Currently, she and Adler have 52 rooms across a few hotels housing 162 parents, children, and pets, they said.
Having a community outreach department at their law firm allowed them to mobilize quickly with infrastructure already in place, the couple said. Now they are directing staff to pivot toward sourcing community care packages, while providing space for people to work and recharge their phones at her offices—and complimentary consultations to help people with insurance issues and potential scams preying on fire victims.
“It’s devastating. People are told to leave their homes, they’re pulled over near parks, staying in their cars, they need places to charge electronics,” said Zapanta, who is currently prioritizing housing parents with children who have lost their homes or are under mandatory evacuation.
“Because children will carry this trauma into adulthood, we want them safe and secure.”
Alder said he hopes others will realize they can help, too.
“What we’re learning is the power of everyone to step up. We’re self-funded and we put it together to move quickly. ... We believe one is more than zero,” he said. “Everyone can help—financially, or with their time, mental support. That’s what we continue to push on our social media. It’s going to require our whole community.”
Like Souza, most of the people Zapanta and Alder have helped are evacuees from the Eaton Fire in the Altadena and Pasadena area, northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
As of Friday, Souza was waiting to hear whether his home was still standing.
“A neighbor said the whole street is pretty much leveled,” he said. “It looks like a bomb went off—power lines are down, there are trees in the street, and the fire hopping from one house to the next.”
Souza struggled to describe the scene he fled just days before.
“It’s like being inside of a horror movie. Gas lines are down, houses demolished, and there’s this ugly hissing sound from gas coming out that’s been lit by a flame—just the ugliest sound you can think of.”
Souza said his family will be at the hotel provided by Zapanta and Alder until Sunday. After that, the plan will be to get a trailer and head out to Palm Springs, where he can park it on his brother-in-law’s property until they figure out what’s next.
The Eaton fire has continued to spread, recently threatening critical communications infrastructure towers near the Mount Wilson Observatory, relied upon by media and first responders.
Aerial imagery shows more than 7,000 structures damaged or destroyed so far, while 1,600 first responders continue to battle the flames, according to the latest updates from the state agency.