SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Eaton Canyon fire on the east side of Los Angeles remains active five days after it started. It has burned more than 14,000 acres and destroyed thousands of buildings. One of the families who evacuated, Peter and Victoria Wilson and their two teenage children, Harper, Charlotte, and Hugo, their dog, and their two cats.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
SIMON: I think we just heard one of the cats (laughter).
VICTORIA WILSON: Yes, you did.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
SIMON: Victoria and Charlotte Wilson join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
SIMON: Well, it's very good to talk to both of you, and it must be good for you to hear the voice of your cat. How are you?
V WILSON: I'm not sure. It changes moment to moment.
SIMON: Yeah. What happened?
V WILSON: Well, we knew this windstorm was coming. We live in Altadena. And we knew when the fire started, 'cause everybody in the neighborhood was on watch. And we decided to evacuate before we got the order because we didn't have power, and we figured it was better to go sooner and not in the middle of the night. So we left our home at 7 o'clock Tuesday night and drove down the hill to my parents. And it was, like, driving through hurricane-like conditions. We had an emergency plan, so we'd packed some things. Of course, now, Wednesday morning, we learned that our house was burning, and we finally got photo confirmation Thursday that the house is gone. One of the crazy things that's hard to understand about the fire is the randomness of it. You know, whole lines of houses gone and then one standing, or a garage gone and the house standing and things like that. So...
SIMON: I'm sorry to ask, but I wonder what's running through your mind of things that might be gone now.
V WILSON: You know, the hardest things for us is, like, the things you can't replace, like my kids' yearbooks, my high school yearbook, things we collected on travels, my son's karate belts. He's been studying karate for eight years and had all of his belts that he earned. Like, you can't do that again. We grabbed some things, but it's the personal memory things that are - that's the hard stuff.
SIMON: May we speak with your 16-year-old daughter, Charlotte, for a moment?
V WILSON: Yes. Let me pass the phone to her.
SIMON: Hi, there, Charlotte. How are you doing?
CHARLOTTE WILSON: I'm doing - I think I'm doing OK.
SIMON: Have you been able to talk to any friends?
C WILSON: Yeah. I've been talking to a lot of friends recently. A lot of people have been reaching out. It's good to be able to talk to them, and I was able to go over to one of my friend's houses who lives nearby. And that was way more helpful than I expected.
SIMON: How so?
C WILSON: Well, it was just, like - it reminded me that, like, not everything is gone. And, like, I can still be with my friends when I want to (crying). And like, her whole family was still there. I was able to just, like, watch a movie with her and just to talk about normal stuff. But we were also able to talk about the fire. And it was really helpful for me.
SIMON: Charlotte, that's wonderful. That's a real blessing.
C WILSON: Yeah.
SIMON: What do you hope the next week brings? Do you let yourself hope for anything now?
C WILSON: I mean, I just hope that people are helping each other, 'cause I think that's really important right now - and just supporting our firefighters and just recognizing all the hard work they've done. And the first responders and the Pasadena Humane Society helping all those animals.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
SIMON: What's the name of the cat who keeps saying hello to us, Charlotte?
C WILSON: My cat, the one that you can hear, her name is Sniffs. And then the other one that's kind of quiet but also in here is Mister.
SIMON: Sniffs and Mister. Well, our regards to them both. Thank you for speaking with us. Can we talk to your mother?
C WILSON: Yes, I'll pass the phone back to her.
SIMON: Hi, Victoria.
V WILSON: Hi.
SIMON: You have a fine young daughter.
V WILSON: Thank you.
SIMON: Have you - I mean, do you want to stay? Do you want to rebuild? Do you let yourself think about any of that?
V WILSON: I don't know. I mean, the scope of the devastation is so extreme. It's hard to know what the community will look like in the future. It won't be the same place that it was. It was, like, a funky, rural place that had built up over the last hundred years. And, you know, one of my friends said, she's like, I just want all my neighbors and everything back the way it was. But - so I don't know if we'll rebuild. It's the short answer to your question. I just don't know. There's too much to be understood. I also don't - I don't know where else I would want to live. So even if we wanted to rebuild, it's going to be, you know, years.
SIMON: Well, Victoria Wilson, I want to thank you and your daughter, Charlotte, for speaking with us and wish you all the best.
V WILSON: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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