Retirement of the Old House owner delayed by La Fires; He will continue to work

• Kenneth Graham, 57, lost his home and all his things in the fire eaton.
• Graham paid $ 163,000 for the house in 1996 and has spent hundreds of thousands on renovations since then.
• He said that while he is insured, he would have to postpone the pension to help cover the costs of reconstruction.

This strong essay is based on a conversation with Kenneth Graham, 57, the Pasadena Forest Supervisor, whose home Altadena was destroyed in the fire of Eaton. The interview is edited for length and clarity.

I have been with the urban forestry city team of the Pasadena city since 1989 and have been working every season since.

We always prepare for storms, some of which are soft, but it ended to be one of the biggest wind storms I have encountered in my 36-year career.

I worked all night in the morning and on the way home, I received a phone call informing me that my home was on fire.

My home was behind a three-storey building that had burned on the ground, along with apartments in the neighboring country and five neighboring properties. When I arrived in my country, I also saw it, it was destroyed.

I bought my home in 1996 to create a lasting legacy for my family that could be passed through generations.

My home was about 75% paid, and I all decided to retire – but this devastating obstacle has delayed my plans for at least four years.

I was working during the fire

As a forestry supervisor, I run a team of 16 city employees, including four arborists and three contract service teams.

We are responsible for the maintenance of over 60,000 trees throughout the city – oversight of planting, removing and reducing trees. We also respond to emergencies throughout the city, such as the latest wind storm.

When Palisada’s fires began and Eaton, we were already following the weather report and we knew that a storm of wind was coming – though we didn’t know how heavy it would be.

Over 300 trees fell, blocked harmful roads and homes, cars and private properties. The situation was urgent, especially with traffic stops and people trapped in their homes or cars.

I was assigned to the midnight change at 6am and worked about 18 to 19 hours. We cleaned the roads across the city, demanding a lot of coordination to make sure everyone could leave and return to their homes.

My whole life was burned

When I arrived in my Altadena neighborhood, the whole block was on fire and there were no fire trucks in my eyes.

Relevant stories

My family had evacuated with nothing but clothes on their backs. Everything – our home, three classic cars, family photos, furniture, jewelry – lost. My mother had just died, and we lost her pictures and my father’s grace.

Fire damage reaches over $ 1 million. I have insurance, but it doesn’t replace everything.

There is some good news: one of my two dogs survived the fire. She was broken quite badly, but he was alive.

I was building generating wealth with my house, now you are throwing between Airbnbs

I bought my house for $ 163,000 and renovated it in a three bedroom, with two baths. Over the years, I have invested several hundred thousand dollars in property.

I added an extra bedroom, reappearing the pool, restoring the whole house, remodeling the kitchen and bathroom, installed hard wood floors and updated air conditioning and plumbing. We had recently spent about $ 15,000 on an asphalt overlap for the road.

At first, my wife, daughter, her husband, baby and I’m staying in a hotel, but we are now switching from Airbnb to Airbnb weeks a week.

It is difficult to provide permanent housing because everything has increased its normal price three times, and the owners of the owners want you to have monthly rent three times and a high Fico score.

My house is destroyed but I am determined to rebuild

For now, I’m using the savings I had set aside for retirement just to survive. I will surely have to get back to work for at least a few years to make it happen.

I have visited my house another day, and it seems we will have to wait long before we can go back inside. One of my main concerns is our safety and if we are going to protect if another fire occurs.

Still, I really love our neighborhood. It was the perfect place to raise my family and be close to my work. It was a quiet community, close to wonderful neighbors-there was much to appreciate.

Going back to Altadena and reconstructing my home will take a lot of money and years.

‘Everything changed in just 1 day’

Normality in my life feels like a long way.

All day long, memories appear in my head, and I understand, “Wow, that’s something I’ve lost.” Hard hard to afford.

What makes me continue is to see so many others who face the same battles. To know that many other people are in the same situation makes this experience much easier.

My forest crew has also been a great support, keeping me and my family based and helping us stand. They started a gofundm for us, and we have raised $ 34,000 so far.

The way they were gathered after me was really beautiful.

I’m not thinking of leaving Altadena. I am invested in the area.

Just just strange to be able to go home quickly. It feels like everything changed only in one day. I’ve been able to go to work in seven minutes or less, but now, because I’m living farther, there is traffic, and I don’t even want to deal with it.

It’s a different life now.

That said, I have hope. I have gone through many battles before and will not allow this to defeat me. I am determined to dominate, return to Altadena and recover my life.