Help Cate Heneghan get back on her feet after the Eaton Fire

This fundraising campaign is for Cate Heneghan, who lost her home to the Eaton Fire on January 8. Cate is a proud Altadenan and a senior engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). All funds raised will go directly to Cate to help her get back on her feet and assist with needs that might not be fully covered by other sources of aid. Thank you for your support.

Cate courageously helped her neighbors escape the fire. Here's Cate's story, in her own words:

Fire Storm on 2600 block of McNally Ave

The fire started at ~6:30pm on Tuesday night, January 7, 2025. By Wednesday morning all the houses on my street we’re gone. By 11:30 am, the entire neighborhood was gone.

The winds had been howling since the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I did not sleep well. The winds were so fierce that many businesses closed or asked people to work from home.

At ~7:30pm the electricity went out. I went to check on my neighbors. That’s when I noticed the fire east of us in the mountains. The power company said the power would be out for 24 hours. So, between the power outage, the howling winds, and the distant fire, several neighbors left.

The overall winds were blowing the smoke to the east. The air on our block was clear, which was a positive sign that we were not in immediate danger. I checked on several neighbors over the next hour to be sure they were aware of the fire and had a plan. I helped two of them open their garages doors so they could pack their cars. Opening the doors by hand in the winds, was no small feat.

Another neighbor and her elderly (90+ yo) parents were heading to bed when I pounded on their door. They didn’t even know about the fire. I suggested they pack their important paperwork (like citizenship papers) and be ready to go.

I watched the fire’s progression, initially checking every hour, then every half hour, then every 15 minutes. The fire slowly crept west, getting closer and closer. By 10:00 pm I was certain the fire was spreading west along the mountains. I had already gathered my important paperwork and an overnight bag, but at that point, I started packing more clothes in case I was out of the area for a week. Every time I took a load of stuff to the car, I covered my head with my arm to protect it from flying debris.

At 10:00 pm, I texted a request to all the neighbors to let the group know which houses had evacuated. Thankfully, everyone complied.

Just after 10:00 pm I received alerts on my phone from the County. They were mixed messages. One said evacuate now. The other said be ready to evacuate. I asked others if they had received the messages. Most said they hadn’t.

At ~midnight a neighbor arrived home with her elderly parents in multiple cars because of the medical equipment needed for them. They were evacuating to her house from their home closer to the fire. I told her we had received evacuation warnings. She hadn’t received any alerts from the County. She was glad I told her, and put her parents back in the cars and drove to the safety of her son’s house across town.

By midnight, only 5 of the 20 houses were occupied. At 2:00 am, I made a list of the neighbors who evacuated and those who were still on the block and confirmed it with the others who remained. I didn’t want anyone to be left behind if the fire got close. I communicated to the group which houses were still occupied.

At 2:30 am, I smelled smoke in my house. I looked outside and could not see the fire anymore. For the first time that night, there was smoke, and it was thick. I decided it was time for me to go. I packed some final items, like snacks and water since I didn’t know where I was going. (All the friends I’d normally call were evacuated too.)

I had forgotten that the interior panel and the exterior door handle had been removed from the driver’s door, because I had been working on the door over the weekend. I had planned to reinstall them the following weekend. Since I was packing the car through other doors, I hadn’t even noticed the missing handle for the driver’s door! So, in the smoke and the wind, I managed to get the handle back on. I retrieved the car panel from the garage and threw it in the back seat.

As I was pulling out, I saw one neighbor walking up and down the street, checking on houses. I asked him when he was leaving, and he said “we are staying”. I hadn’t realized that some of the very young adults in his house had returned; I thought he was there alone. I suggested that he get them out asap. It seems he heeded my advice, and they left soon after.

The last household left at 5:35 am when embers started falling into yards, setting the foliage on fire. As they turned the corner, they saw a fire truck, and told them about the fires on our block. They were told there were no more resources to fight the fires. But at least everyone on our block got out before the fire hit.

At 9:00 am, I drove to the eastern edge of the neighborhood. It was still standing. There was one house across the street burning unattended. I did not attempt to drive to the western edge of the neighborhood to my street. I didn’t want to get trapped or in any way contribute to the problem, so I turned around.

At 9:30 am, one neighbor managed to drive through the active burn areas to the western edge of the neighborhood and saw that our entire block had burned down.

At 11:30 am another neighbor drove in and saw that the entire neighborhood was gone. All the houses I saw standing at 9:00 am were now burned to the ground.

Not many people got the emergency alerts from the County. There were no emergency vehicles driving through the streets alerting people of the danger. The sheriff deputies did not knock on our doors. It was neighbors saving neighbors. Altadena is that kind of community, but… How many people went to bed without realizing the danger they were in? How many people didn’t have a neighbor pounding on their door, or didn’t hear the pounding over the howling wind? It’s a chilling thought.

When I left my house at 3:00 am, I drove to the Pasadena Civic Center, thinking I might stay there. Friends inside told me it was smoky, bright, noisy, and everyone had their pets with them. I decided to get out of the smoke and saw that there was a shelter in Burbank, so I drove to the equestrian center. When I arrived around 4:30 am, I was told it was a shelter for large animals, not people. Oops! A couple said they would be sleeping in their car, and I should park next to them. At 5:00 am, other friends called and said they wanted to get out of the smoke. I told them where I was, and they parked on the other side of me. We all rested for a few hours as the winds howled and rocked the cars. I didn’t really sleep.

When we started moving in the morning, my friend’s eye was hurting. It sounded like the wind had blown something in it and scratched his cornea. His wife drove him to urgent care. (He was feeling better 5 days later.)

While they went to urgent care, I drove back to Altadena to check on the house. There were still fires everywhere. There was a burned out car in the middle of a major street; it was nearly disintegrated. When I reached the eastern edge of my neighborhood. There was a house burning unattended, but otherwise the neighborhood at the eastern edge was intact. I decided not to drive any further, so I didn’t see my street. The air was thick with smoke and toxins.

I drove back to the clean air of Burbank and re-installed the interior door panel, so I could finally roll my car windows up and down. I received word that the houses on my street were gone. I sat in my car for a few minutes trying to decide where to go next. A co-worker texted and said he had a spare bed 2 hours north away from the smoke. I decided I had to take him up on the offer. By then my friend was out of urgent care. I asked if he and his family could come along, and away we went. Half way through the drive their cat started panting, so they stopped at a hotel in Palmdale to help him recover.

I ended up in Tehachapi at 6600 ft, in a large room with a great view of the mountains. My friends were gentle, gave me hugs, let the adrenaline wear off, and allowed me to process slowly. It was the serenity I needed to start understanding what had just happened. I was without a home. Nearly all of my possessions gained over 30+ years were gone including family heirlooms, my friend’s artwork, most of my tools, my home office, my books, my motorcycle, etc. My neighbors were also displaced. Over the next few days I called to cancel utilities, file an insurance claim, email and text family, friends and colleagues all over the world to let them know my status: I’m safe and well cared for.

Onto the next step of finding long-term housing…

This GoFundMe page was started and maintained by Cate's coworker at JPL, Grace Ok.