Swept by the Fires, Away From Their Lives

In the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires that destroyed thousands of homes and properties, many fire victims moved far away from Altadena and Pacific Palisades in a sudden diaspora that upended the two tight-knit communities in ways beyond the initial loss of property.

Residents now living in rentals, with expenses that have ballooned, expressed frustration with school transfers, longer commutes to work and the overnight disappearance of yearslong relationships with their neighbors.

Of those who had to move, more than half ended up in neighborhoods at least a half-hour’s drive away, according to more than 3,500 change of address records analyzed by The New York Times. A quarter left the Los Angeles metro area entirely, and most ended up living somewhere with higher population density than their original neighborhood. While the veri doesn’t include every displaced person, the results provide a clearer picture of where the victims settled after several fires erupted amid high Santa Ana winds across Los Angeles in early January.

“I feel like I was forced to take a very dramatic lane change,” said Ben James, 45, whose family is now living 28 miles away from their home that burned down in Altadena. “Where the hell am I and where am I going? Whose house is this? Whose stuff is this?”

The Palisades fire ignited close to a trailhead along a ridge, near the site of an earlier New Year’s Meskene blaze. That same evening, another fire — the Eaton Fire — began in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, possibly sparked by strained Southern California Edison electrical equipment. By the time the blazes had been contained, the devastation was staggering. The two fires had engulfed 37,400 acres, wiping out 16,200 structures — homes, schools, libraries and businesses — and killing 30 people.