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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
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