A Search and Rescue Worker Recalls Evacuees in Wheelchairs, Driving Through Flames During Eaton Fire Response

Dan Paige and his partner were already in full gear and responding to the Palisades Fire when the call came in. Another wildfire, close to their hometown of Altadena, had broken out and was gaining ground quickly.

Paige, a retired sheriff’s deputy and a full-time volunteer on the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team (AMRT), describes the night of January 7 as a uniquely horrific time. The command post where responders’ work was coordinated moved location, then moved again, as the Eaton Fire tore through neighborhoods and grew ever closer. Firefighters were working in winds so severe that one response truck had “a pineapple-sized hole in its windshield” that Paige thought might have come from a pinecone. Streets were so filled with debris — downed trees, downed power lines — that at one point Paige feared his vehicle, transporting evacuees, might get tangled in a clump of wires hanging from a tree.

“That was my escape route,” he said.

The smoke was so thick in the air that many evacuees inadvertently fled straight toward the fire, and even Paige — a longtime resident of Altadena and a seasoned rescue worker — described trying to evacuate a medically vulnerable woman and her son without being able to see the ground in front of him, let alone the street he was driving on. “There must have been a dozen times that I got completely turned around,” he said.

For members of AMRT — 25 teammates were working in the field that night — the response was a frantic dash to get as many people safely away as possible.

“We started receiving multiple calls about people being trapped in houses,” Paige said. Many used wheelchairs or had other mobility issues. Others were so blinded by the smoke and flames they couldn’t find their way out of their homes. At a convalescent home, Paige and his partner called an ambulance company to help with transport and helped bed-bound patients into vehicles.

Paige recalled evacuating one older man who used a cane and had impaired vision: He and his partner helped the man into the car and brought him to the nearest evacuation center — only to find it newly closed. The shelter was in such danger from the fast-spreading flames that everyone had been moved to another location further away.

AMRT responders carried out rescue missions through midmorning, Paige said. Occasionally, a teammate would have to stop their work to evacuate their own families. The vegetation surrounding their own station caught fire – the building itself survived — and rescuers grabbed whatever equipment they’d need to finish the night before driving a truck through the flames.

Eventually, he recalled, the most emergent work was over. Then AMRT’s focus turned to the less frantic, but still essential, task of combing through burned-out neighborhoods. They were looking for human remains, for pets left behind, and for remaining infrastructure. Paige described being unable to rescue some frightened animals, and simply setting up feeding stations amid the devastation for them. The remains of two pet tortoises deeply saddened Paige, a tortoise owner himself.

Because so much vegetation is burned and mudslides are a serious concern, Paige said, AMRT is currently working to identify risks and prepare for further rescue work. He’s concerned about the ongoing danger — and the long-term impacts to his community.

While Paige’s current home withstood the flames, “my old neighborhood is gone,” he said. Older adults who’ve lived there for decades “are not going to come back. They’re people who have been a staple in the community.”

“How will it get back to somewhat normal?” he wondered.

Despite the dangers, the importance of search and rescue work continues to resonate with Paige. “Almost every rescue we’ve had had a positive outcome,” he said of his work with AMRT. “It’s definitely rewarded.”

But one dark image from the Eaton Fire still stands out to him.

After many hours of responding, and with teammates still carrying out rescue missions, Paige headed back to the Palisades Fire to assist. His clothes were covered with tiny holes where embers had burned through the fabric, and his skin was marked with small burns, but there was still work to do. He’d assumed it was still nighttime, but it was already midmorning: The sky was black with smoke.

“There’s nothing brighter than the first light of next morning,” he said. But “it was completely dark in Altadena.”

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Direct Relief supported the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team’s response to the Eaton Fire with a $25,000 emergency grant and a range of personal safety and protective equipment.