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Mountain View News Saturday, March 1, 2025


Meet Frankie – Your Loyal, Love-
Soaked Lap Cat! 

Frankie is a stunning orange tabby 
with a heart as big as his personality! 
This affectionate boy is the ultimate 
cuddler—once he claims your 
lap, he’ll stay there for hours, happily 
snoozing until he hears the chirping 
of birds or the glorious sound of 
a can being opened.

Frankie is a one-and-only kind 
of guy. He craves undivided attention and will thrive in a calm, 
pet-free, and child-free home where he can be the center of your 
world. His favorite pastimes include playing with his feather wand 
and fluffy balls, keeping himself (and you!) entertained for hours.

Frankie has a condition called hyperesthesia, which is well-managed 
with just one medication. He was previously adopted into a loving 
but multi-cat household, where he became overstimulated and displayed 
aggression. However, now back with us and on his prescription, 
he has been nothing but his sweet, snuggly self.

If you’re looking for a devoted companion who will shower you 
with love, Frankie is ready to be your perfect match. Could you the 
purrson who sees how fabulous he is? See more of him and apply to 
adopt Frankie at https://www.lifelineforpets.org/frankie.html. 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

[Nyerges is the author of several books including “Self-Sufficient Home” 
and “How to Survive Anywhere.” He also leads wilderness classes every 
weekend. He can be reached at School of Self-Reliance, Box 41834, Eagle 
Rock, CA 90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]


PROFILES FROM THE FIRE: DANIEL MacPHERSON


“Fair Oaks Avenue was like a tunnel 
of fire!

 

Daniel McPherson has been a lifelong 
Altadena resident. He attended 
St. Elizabeth Catholic school, and 
graduated from St. Francis High School in next-door La 
Canada. He’s a machinist, an auto mechanic as a hobby, a 
local histo-rian, and a retired engineer. In the 1993 Kinneloa 
Fire, while living in his family home on Pinecrest, 
he saved the home with garden hoses. In 1999, he purchased 
a home on Las Flores, just east of Fair Oaks, where 
he was enjoy-ing his life and retirement.

That is, until Tuesday, January 7.

 

MacPherson saw the fire to the east in the mountains on 
January 7. “I had no idea that the fire would make it off 
the mountain and into Altadena,” says MacPherson. “I’ve 
seen fires take the houses in the past on the interface between 
the city and the mountains, but it’s never burned 
down to where I am. This fire absolutely blind-sided me.”

On Tuesday evening, MacPherson had just said goodbye 
to some visitors and the wind just starting to pick up 
around sunset. “To the east, I could see the glow of fire in 
Eaton Canyon. I could see the fire burning but I didn’t 
worry about it too much, explained MacPherson. “It’s not 
unusual for us to get strong winds up here. We’ve had 100 
mph winds before that knocked down large conifers and 
eucalyptus trees. In 2009, some houses got crushed by 
trees on my block!” he said. “So the winds always concern 
me. My gut tightens, and you get this wor-ried feeling, 
because of the possibility of big trees coming down. 
I’m very well aware of the fire danger,” he con-tinued, “but my biggest concern was an oak tree falling on 
my car. I actually moved one of my old Chevys to the street that night so a tree couldn’t fall on it. Moving 
it to the street saved it from the fire!”

Once the sun set, the power in Altadena was turned off, and so “I had no light and no information from 
the outside world. It was just me and the raging wind,” says MacPherson. 

Past midnight, MacPherson and a neighbor were looking at a fire over in Rubio Canyon and around 
Echo Moun-tain. “We were standing in the backyard with hoses, watching the distant fire burning. We 
didn’t see a lot of em-bers then – didn’t see embers til about 5 a.m.,” he explains.

MacPherson explained that he felt it would be easy to go to bed, since the assumption was that the fire 
would be somewhere else when he woke up. “Most people on my block did not see an impending danger, 
since the wind was blowing smoke away from us and the air was clear. Otherwise, the night was pitch 
black with the wind howling.”

MacPherson points out that at no point did he get any warning or evacuation notice. Keep in mind, all 
the power was out, and McPherson uses a flip-phone.

“At about 5:10 a.m., it was clear that the fire would get to me, which it did in about 5 more minutes. The 
neighbor said the house down the street was on fire, which was my first hint that things weren’t going to 
go well. We still ran around with hose and put out embers and little fires, and we put out a burning fence.”

MacPherson describes that at about 5:15 a.m, thick black smoke suddenly came down his driveway at 
100 mph with big embers. “Within a very short period of time, the houses on both sides of my house 
were on fire.” His shed out back was burning, and the neighbor’s privacy bushes out back were burning. 
He found that his hose was not as good as he expected, since it kinked a lot.

He saw his neighbors’ stucco homes burning, with flames getting into the eaves. He points out that two 
houses on his block survived, because “they had concrete covered eaves,” explains MacPherson.

“It all happened rapidly -- in 5 minutes I saw my neighbors’ homes all going up in flames. I tried to open 
my front door (to get things) and the inside of my house was maybe 2000 degrees. I could not get back 
into my house,” he said.

He got into his truck at 5:20 a.m. He could see the eaves of his house starting to burn. He had no 
chance to grab anything, except his wallet and phone. He could not get his glasses, his medications, spare 
clothes, or anything.

“The smoke was so thick I could not see my hand,” he said, “and my vision was starting to cloud. I lost 
my glasses and my mask from the wind.”

To top it off, when he drove down his driveway to exit his property, he couldn’t see anything and his truck 
drove over a low cinderblock wall, which trapped the truck. MacPherson describes how he panicked, but 
kept trying to go in reverse, and tried turning the wheel, and it finally just seemed to pop over the wall, 
allowing him to es-cape. “That saved my life,” says MacPherson, who saw everything on fire through 
blurry eyes as he drove away.

He stopped seeing fire when he got south to Woodbury, and once he got to Lake Avenue, he looked to the 
north and saw a shocking sight of 100 foot high flames up here and there in Altadena. “I didn’t realize 
the enormity of the situation until then. “There was no one to talk to and no one to tell me anything,” he 
added. “Just me and howling winds and these flames.”

 

MacPherson said that one of his neighbors, an elderly woman named Kim, stayed home, figuring the fire 
depart-ment would put out the fire. She was found dead eventually, in her bathtub where she probably 
figured she’d be safe. “I lost maybe 6 of my neighbors to the fire,” explains MacPherson. It got so hot that 
it melted glass.”

MacPherson drove to the motels in Pasadena which were all full. He finally found a little place to the east 
called the El Rancho, and he was there for almost a month. His vision was completely blurred, and he 
couldn’t breathe around 6 a.m.

Urged by family members, he drove himself to the emergency room at Huntington Hospital and both his 
eyes and lungs were treated. “They washed out about a half- teaspoon of black particles from my eyes. 
My lungs are still sore (as of 2.24.25)”

A friend took him to get toothbrush, soap, and other needed items. He got some new clothes at Big 5.

MacPherson is currently staying at a house in Pasadena, paid for by his insurance company for a year.

It took him a week to get back to his property. “It was unbelievable when I saw my place. Seemed like a 
dream, and it’s still hard to believe this happened 2 months later. I wake up from sleep and I realize I am 
in a motel and my house is gone, burned. And I worry,” he said.

MacPherson hasn’t decided whether or not he will rebuild “It seems unlikely” he said, “Inflation is astronomical, 
and it would cost a fortune.” He wasn’t sure his insurance money would be sufficient. He 
has applied for FEMA help, which had been delayed due to a data breach which affected him. So far, he’s 
received no actual aid from FEMA. 

He has a lot of suggestions for what should have been done, and what could be done better in the future. 
He en-courages residents to get good hoses ,and lobby their local water company to increase water pressure. 
He says that everyone with a swimming pool needs to get a water pump to help with fires.

MacPherson believes that brush clearance and backburns should have been maintained, but had not 
been. He was aware that major resources were fighting the Pallisades fire when Altadena started burning, 
but he feels that fire department personnel had abandoned sectors to take resources elsewhere. “All 
Altadena resources were somewhere else,” said MacPherson, “but I don’t know where. I called the Fire 
Department and begged them to come and they said we can’t come, we’re busy, but they didn’t say where 
they were busy. They were basically telling me I was on my own” says MacPherson with a bit of bitterness.

He also blames the increased density in parts of Altadena for the problem, since there are now streets 
where it would be nearly impossible for a fire truck to get through.


Pet of the Week

 
Meryl is the kind of dog who steals hearts 
wherever she goes. At seven years old, this 
gentle pit bull mix has mastered the perfect 
balance of sweet affection and easygoing 
charm. On a recent outing with Pasadena 
Humane’s Wiggle Waggle Wagon, she greeted 
every passerby with a wagging tail and a 
hopeful gaze, soaking up all the attention she 
could get. Of course, she loved all pets and 
cuddles, too!

 One of Meryl’s favorite things in the world 
is making new friends—both human and canine. She quickly bonded with another dog 
during a recent outing, and the two became inseparable for the day, happily walking side 
by side and enjoying each other's company. Meryl might thrive in a home with another 
friendly, medium-sized dog who can be her buddy. She has a wonderful, adaptable 
energy—excited for walks and new adventures but just as content to stretch out on the 
grass and relax.

Meryl already knows some basic commands, like "sit," and takes treats gently, proving 
she’s not just loving but well-mannered too. She’s the kind of dog who will make a 
house feel like a home, bringing warmth, companionship, and a little bit of fun. If you're 
looking for a devoted and affectionate pup who will always be by your side, Meryl is 
ready to be your new best friend.

 The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, 
and age-appropriate vaccines. 

Walk-in adoptions are available every day from 10:00 – 5:00. View photos of adoptable 
pets at pasadenahumane.org.

 New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA 
Animal Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for 
your pet. 

 Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adopters by 
phone calls or email.

MacPherson standing on what was his front 
door with Las Flores sign.

Photo by Christopher Nyerge