Our beautiful little Pasadena home has been affected by the Eaton Canyon fire with interior smoke and chemical damage. While the house is still standing, it was downwind of the fire— entirely burning houses and businesses within walking distance from us. The house is currently unlivable, and we’re trying to do everything we can to replace our belongings and return home safely.

A day or two into our evacuation, we made the decision to return home for a brief time to check on the house and grab more essentials, as we left pretty much with just the clothes on our backs. We were relieved to see that our house was still standing, but devastated to walk into the smell of smoke and heavy metals. As much as we wanted to stay there and assess more, we knew it wasn’t possible— and we needed to leave ASAP and get back to our current evacuation situation. When we got to our stay, we realized all the items and clothes we brought from our house also smelled like metal, soot and smoke; all things authorities and officials have deemed toxic for health as it contains asbestos, lead and other carcinogens burnt off of the pre 1970 homes.

After our 9th day of evacuation, moving from place to place with our dog, we were able to finally check in on our home with a lot of excitement and hope that the initial smell would somehow go away.. obviously it didn't. Everything was still standing, but most things were affected. We checked all the windows and AC units, something we didn’t think to do the first time: and realized the soot had crept in through there and made its way into the floors, furniture, fabrics, rugs and more.

All this being said..we have a steadfast resolve not to give up on our home if at all possible. We have fallen in love with our home and can’t imagine leaving it behind if we can help it. If that proves to be too great of a burden, we at least have a steadfast resolve to relocate and find our next safe space so we can begin healing and rebuilding.

To get our life back in order we're going to need funds that we do not currently have. These funds will assist with needs that might not be fully covered by other sources of aid. We’re currently working on sorting through all of our porous materials like bedding, beds, and clothing, etc. by ourselves. We hope to be able to wash the chemicals out of some of them, but a lot is unsalvageable. Unfortunately, the most soot and ash that got into our house was through the AC window units, which directly blew hazardous air and chemicals towards our closet and bed.

We just moved back to Los Angeles after being in NYC for 7 years. We did a cross-country trip that cost a lot of money and time to save for, but we love Los Angeles. After years of moving from place to place, we felt so lucky to have found our little home in Pasadena this past June– it’s practically our dream house. It was worth packing up our entire lives into a Uhaul and driving across the country for. We’re trying to get back to it safely. If you are able to donate a small amount or even just share our story, it would go a long way in getting us steps closer to healing and rebuilding.

Right now we are doing everything we can to get back to our normal lives, but the cost alone of the displacement so far has been overwhelming as we have not slept at home since the night of the fires. Your help will allow us to address the many aspects of recovery needed through this time.

The outpour of love and support that we’ve gotten from our friends, family, and others in the Altadena & Pasadena community has been so heartwarming, and has us feeling hopeful. A lot of people have been asking us how they can help– and have encouraged us to start a Gofundme. We can’t thank you enough for being here and your willingness to help.

Thank you for reading this. It's a lot to replace and we know it will take a long time, but we need to replace some things immediately to return to a state of normalcy and safety within our home and our jobs. Anything you can offer would be greatly beneficial as we begin to push towards recovering our lives.

Sending thanks and love already,

Matthew + Ezra