His house survived the Eaton Fire — for now, he's figured out a way to stay

The last time Rob Caves and I spoke was on a scratchy phone line a week after the start of the Eaton Fire. It was still burning in Altadena, but electricity had been restored just hours before at his house on Christmas Tree Lane.

" I remember just like the euphoria of the electricity coming back on,” Caves said. “It was big for us.”

Since then, the fire has reached full containment, claiming 17 lives and destroying more than 9,000 structures — some two-thirds of them homes.

Caves’ house, along with a majority of those on the famed Christmas Tree Lane, survived the firestorm.

• Read the previous story in the series: He built a massive train set in his Altadena backyard — and returned to protect it from the Eaton Fire

Rob Caves in his Christmas Tree Lane backyard.

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Fruit trees in Caves' backyard. He said he heard that Altadena residents are cautioned against consuming fruits grown from their trees for at least two to three years.

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Living with the Eaton Fire aftermath

But life hasn't been the same — and likely won't be for months and years for the many who call Altadena home. Caves and his partner have been living a strange kind of existence since the couple returned to defend their home from wildfire despite evacuation orders.

“We had no power, no gas. We had nothing,” Caves said. “ It's not a normal town. The town's gone.”

It was a realization that was both profound and singular, something that few people outside of Altadena could understand.

Not long after the fire, Caves went to a burger joint near his parents' home in the South Bay. He recalls waiting for his food surrounded by people who were just going about their business. "And I just remember crying because I couldn't cope with being a part of a normal life," he said.

But slowly, despite the ruins and heartsickness, things started to get manageable, like when the trash trucks came back.

"They were coming every day, and they were picking up anything, in any color bin," Caves said.

That meant the trash, debris, broken off tree branches, even embers the size of hamburgers that the couple picked up from their yard were getting hauled away.

 "We've been kind of in shell shock for part of it, and now we're just trying to get back to our normal lives and our routine,” Caves said. “But it's far from normal."

There are just too many reminders of the extraordinary devastation the town sustained: the air that he noticed burned his lungs most around sunrise and sundown; the nightmares and cold sweats that shook him awake; the simple fact that many areas in Altadena still do not have drinking water.

Caves and his partner transported drinking water using 5 gallon buckets before tap water was available. His house has water now, but it's still not drinkable.

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'The town is gone'

" Everybody's talking about remediation," Caves said, who himself is in the process of working with insurance to remove smoke and other damage from his home. "Even my mom is just like, ‘I think you guys should move out.’"

Most of his neighbors, as far as Caves knows, are looking to return only after remediation, like a friend living up the block who has come back without his family — he is planning to leave again until the environment is safe.

But Caves and his partner aren't planning to go anywhere.

 "My business, my club, my friends, my social network, it's all here," Caves said. " This is our home, so it's really hard to think about what life would be like not here."

Last weekend, Caves and his model train club members started what they called "layout repopulation" — returning the trains that they had saved from the fire to the massive layout in Caves’ backyard.

"We were going through these boxes of trains, and stuff was broken, because it had just been stuffed in there,” he said. “The club members just went through everything and tried to put everything back, make it like it was before the fire."

Caves and his train club members have returned the trains that they had saved from the fire to the massive layout in his backyard.

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LAist

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Model train tracks in Caves backyard.

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Model train club reuniting

The club is planning a get-together with members and their families on Sunday at Caves' house. The fire had destroyed and badly damaged the homes of two of their elementary school-aged members. At the gathering, the club will present the youngsters with care packages that include new model train sets.

The last time so many people had packed Caves home was about two months ago, during the club’s annual Christmastime open house. Thousands of people had shown up then. It feels like a lifetime ago.

"I just sort of realized that, wow, those people that came, they're not going to be here. Because there's nobody up there, past Altadena Drive, there's no one. There's going to be no one for years up there,” Caves said. “So this kind of community, it's been shattered, and I really don't want to see it go away."

Caves said many people -- some he has never met -- donated model train parts to his club. These gifts will be given to two young club members whose homes were destroyed and damaged by the fire.

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Fiona Ng

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LAist

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