When the Magallon and Gonzalez families received evacuation orders during the Eaton Fire, neither had any inkling that they were seeing their home for the last time.
“Not in a million years would I have thought we’re never coming home,” Diana Gonzalez said.
After losing their homes in the fire, both families were invited to speak at and participate in the OneLife LA event at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Jan. 18.
Both families spoke to Angelus about the harrowing first hours of their ordeal, as well as the challenges and signs of hope that have followed since.
‘God was telling me, I didn't abandon you’
Hours before the Eaton Fire started, Rodrigo and Diana Gonzalez were planning for Father Joseph Fox, OP, to come and bless their Altadena home. Then the power went out.
Armed with flashlights, Fox went room by room to bless the house. Afterward, the family moved to Diana’s mother’s house in Pasadena to have dinner and get her home blessed.
That’s when their phones started to light up with texts and calls from neighbors about an evacuation order.
Leaving the children at their grandparents’, Rodrigo and Diana trudged their way back to Altadena, dodging downed power lines and fallen tree limbs. They packed up the dog, stumbled in darkness to gather two days’ worth of clothes and headed back to Pasadena. It was the last time Diana saw her house.
After waking up to early texts from friends saying they were fine, the couple thought their house was OK. But when Rodrigo and Diana’s father ventured back into the neighborhood to check, things were not OK.
“It was something that I’d never seen before,” Rodrigo said. “Apocalyptic. It was horrible. More than 100 homes, either burned or on fire.”
They reached their street and only three houses remained standing. The Gonzalezes’ house was in the middle, somehow still untouched. But the shared fence with the neighbor’s house was on fire, and the men burned their hands tearing it down. With no water in the home’s hoses, they used water from inside the house to fend off the flames. But as they’d put out one fire, another would appear.
Eventually, even with N95 masks, the smoke became too much to endure. But the two men left feeling like they’d saved the house.
When they came back to check on the house a couple of hours later, armed with large water bottles, fire extinguishers, and shovels, they found the house engulfed in flames.
The next day, Archbishop José H. Gomez invited the family to a Mass for fire victims at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
“We weren't in the mood to go to Mass, we have to be really honest,” Diana said. “But we did. We knew it was the right thing to do.”
The couple was asked to bring up the gifts at Mass, and as she did, Diana said she felt a calm rush over her.
“I felt like God was telling me, ‘I didn't abandon you,’ ” she said.
Since then, they’ve been flooded with food, clothing, and offers of shelter. Sitting on several boards associated with the LA Archdiocese, they’re used to being the ones giving. But nothing prepared them for how to receive.
“When we get a gift, it’s people saying, ‘I love you,’ ” Diana said. “It’s like God’s way of saying I got you, I’m still here.”
Although the couple, along with their children Isaac, 10, and Penelope, 8, are still searching for the “why” in their fire loss, they are confident that God is going to get them through.
“I feel like he chose the right family for it,” said Rodrigo. “With our faith, it’s like, ‘bring it on.’ I hate saying that because no one wants to deal with this stuff. But I feel like our faith has equipped us to deal with this.
“If we're going to be used as a as an example for something, we're ready to receive it, and we're ready to respond to it.”
‘She came to me before I even asked’
On the afternoon of Jan. 7, the Magallon family noticed faraway smoke from their Altadena house. Having only lived in their dream home since 2020, they asked a neighbor how worried they should be.
The neighbor said not to worry, that the fire always moves away from them.
This time, it didn’t. Backed by 100-mph winds, the fire kept moving steadily toward them, kicking up dirt and fire embers.
The couple decided to leave and head to George’s mother’s house in Atwater Village, where the couple are still parishioners at Holy Trinity Church. There they watched the news, looking for any clues about their home’s condition. In the morning, they found out.
Only a few charred walls remained standing, and something else. As Jennifer walked through her courtyard, ash and cracked roof tiles everywhere, she saw something under a small arch: her Virgin Mary statue.
“Anything could have happened to her, and yet she's still standing,” Jennifer said. “And I just felt like it gives us hope. It gave me hope to still stand because when I saw my house, I literally wanted to fall to my knees. I could not believe it.”
Speaking to the OneLife LA crowd, Jennifer described the strength she drew from seeing the Virgin Mary statue sitting nearby unscathed.
“She gave me hope and strength in one of the most difficult moments of my life,” she said. “I often pray to her and ask her for strength and guidance. This time, she came to me before I even asked.
“This beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary will always be a reminder of everything I have, and not what I lost.”
Seeing that sign has given the family an additional injection of faith that the couple has passed on to their children, Diego, 24, and Sophia, 20.
George, a general contractor, says he’s ready to rebuild. Jennifer is an aesthetician with a business in Pasadena, and is back to work. The couple has been overwhelmed by the support they’ve received.
“I stopped saying, ‘Why did this happen to us?’ ” Jennifer said. “And one day, I’ll know why, but we’re still here."
“God’s given us a second chance,” George said.
Those who wish to donate to help fire victims can visit angelusnews.com/howtohelp.
