Everyone knows someone who has been greatly affected by the Eaton Fire. The fire that ravaged through Altadena and Pasadena destroyed over 9,000 structures and burned over 14,000 acres, leaving thousands of people displaced. Daniel Jeffries, 10, is among the students who tragically lost their homes during the Eaton Fire, which came as a sudden shock to both him and his family. They evacuated Tuesday night, at around 6:45 PM, just about thirty minutes after the fire began, praying their longtime home would be safe. Hoping their distance from the San Gabriel Mountains and Eaton Canyon would be enough to the fire away, Jeffries said he never could have imagined their home burning down.
Wednesday morning, the Jeffries family realized their worst fears came true. Neighbors sent them pictures of their home burnt to the ground, along with the nearby Altadena Town and Country Club, where the family were members. “Most of our neighborhood is gone,” Jeffries said. “A couple houses down the street made it, so if we lived a block down, our house might have been okay.”
Much of Altadena was gone, and unfortunately, the Jeffries family was not one of the lucky ones. Their family, luckily, was able to find a place to rent while they rebuild their Altadena home. “We’ve just been really happy to be safe,” Jeffries mentioned.
A member of both the football and baseball teams, Jeffries has seen immense support from the communities of both sports. The baseball team gathered $1500 from families inside of the program for a gift card to Dicks Sporting Goods, where new clothes and sports equipment can be bought, and many players on the team donated clothes to both Daniel and his younger sister, Stella, an eighth grader at Huntington Middle School. “The support from the community has been amazing,” Jeffries stated.
Jeffries and his family, in the face of immeasurable adversity, have continued to push through, trying to maintain a sense of normality in their lives. Moving into their new rental, alongside school and baseball resuming have kept a sense of normality in Jeffries life, something he said he needed greatly. “In the beginning, it was really hard to come to grips with what had happened, but I’ve kind of accepted it now,” Jeffries stated. “Playing baseball with my friends has been able to take everything off my mind nicely.”
Despite everything that happened to him over the past few weeks, Jeffries is remaining strong. We have seen a community rally behind him and his family, giving them a hand when they needed it most. If you want to help support his family, here is their GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-jeffries-family-after-the-eaton-canyon-fire