Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, January 18, 2025

MVNews this week:  Page 2

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Mountain Views News Saturday, January 18, 2025

THANK YOU FROM YOUR UPPER CANYON 

“MARLBOROUGH TERRACE” NEIGHBOURS!

Thank you, Bill Duvall, Jay Calleton and Dyon Taylor, our dear neighbours, for putting out 
hotspots and embers on Tuesday night, January 7th, 2025 in our upper canyon. You did this 
during that treacherous wind event, in the dark, on steep terrain and in life threatening conditions. 
Ya’ll stayed back attempting to save homes while many of us evacuated. We understand you 
worked throughout the night. 

We also extend our most heartfelt thanks to our neighbours who joined in later to fight on. 

They include Taylor Caruso, Giovanni DePaolis, Connor Haas, Mike Hodgkinson, Miro Serrell 
Freed, Duane Waliser, and Andres Zamorano. 

Additionally, this resident learned that more upper canyon dwellers jumped into action by dousing 
the flames on the other side of our neighbourhood. Thank you so much Ray Fountain, Serge 
Lakobrija- and your stepfather Milan as well as our neighbour: Hovik Oganezov.

Apologies if anyone was missed or not mentioned, here. We have since learned that the lower 
canyon also had residents up by the Dam and other areas flighting flames – the Hagen brothers 
and Richie Wisz along with Miro, a former ‘Hotshot’ who was interviewed on CNN. 

You are all our brave heroes. We owe you an enormous dept of gratitude. 

Sadly, we lost a home on Churchill Road that once belonged to the late, great Minor Harkness of 
the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue team. The other home lost is artist Lynne Fearman and her 
husband, Ed. Our hearts go out to these neighbours.

Still, we cannot thank you all for the efforts 
to save the homes along the hillsides 
below Mt Wilson trail, it could be that the 
entire upper canyon was saved!

enough

Some of our neighbours had just moved 
in to this beautiful canyon and some are 
‘old timers’ having lived here for decades, 
like Bill Duvall. Many were well prepared 
for evacuation – as in this resident’s case, 
it happened to be our 5th fire experience 
since 1992. The previous four fires had 
little to no wind events, but this Eaton fire 
was a different animal. On January 16th 
, we viewed our home (s) from up above 
on the hillside and can see scorched earth, 
trees and debris that are just a few feet 
away from the back of our houses. Thanks 
also goes to the tireless work from volunteers 
who are now on our Mt Wilson trail 
clearing brush, and getting it prepared for 
the next phase: to protect our homes from 
potential mudslide issues. 

Gratefully, 

The residents of the upper canyon, founded 
in 1921 as Marlborough Terrace. 

by Catherine Adde 

KitCat Cottage - Upper Canyon Neighbourhood 
Watch

Sierra Madre


IT’S JUST “STUFF”

 

Throughout this past week, this perfunctory phrase has been uttered with increasing frequency. 
I guess it's often hard to find the words when addressing people in the heart of a 
personal tragedy. “Stuff”, being used to show gratitude that despite the person’s material loss, 
they still have the gift of life.

Having personally had a family home destroyed in the East Bay fire in 1991. That “Stuff” 
Matters! The “Stuff” we so casually refer to is the tangible reflection of the life lived in those 
homes. Every purchase in the house tells a story of a hard worker that invested time, sweat, 
and tears in creating a home for themselves and their family. Every scrap book, is the history 
of those efforts and the efforts that came before. Every single lost item in this time of unpredictable 
tragedy is like an eraser, that cleared the chalkboard of the family’s existence.

It's not stuff!

 It is the embodiment of the lives that lived there. It is the monument of the dedication 
that it takes to turn a space into a home. It is the destruction of the rare instances of dreams 
realized. It is painful it will take years to recover; if at all, and so much of the “Stuff” is irreplaceable. 
It is Not Stuff! 

Fred Thomas, SM 

A poem for all who have lost so much to the fires.

"HOMELESS"

Don't give me lessons to learn

or tell me God had a plan

all I knew is gone

houses once echoing

with laughing friends

after school snacks

begrudging homework

streets endlessly biked and skateboarded

now silent paths in an eerie land

shut up and just be here

in the rubble with me

and my burnt-edged heart

full of tears unwept

bear witness to what is no more

hold me

as homeless memories wander

in my black hole of grief.

©2025 Wendy Lew Toda

Image (a home in Altadena): Michael Burton


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com