'It will still be our home': Los Angeles Latter-day Saints find hope following recent wildfire horrors

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — On Jan. 7, Utah native resident Wendy Garff was on the job as an educator at the Pacific Palisades' Calvary Christian School when she smelled smoke.

The kids in her classroom were enjoying a party, so she slipped away to the school office to see if others were aware.

Garff learned that news of a nearby, growing wildfire was already spreading and everyone was being told to stay in their classrooms. Ten minutes later, orders came to evacuate the children and hustle to the beach on foot to connect with waiting parents.

"We got all the kids in their backpacks and started evacuating," Garff told the Deseret News. "There were cars everywhere and you could see flames coming down the mountain. The kids started crying."

After reaching the beach and ensuring the children were safe and accounted for, Garff made the long walk to her home in the Palisades flatlands. Soon she and the family labradoodle, George, were in their vehicle and heading to a hotel for the night.

Initially, Garff was not overly concerned about the fate of the two-level house where she and her husband, fellow Utahn Matthew Garff, had raised their three children and built their lives.

Their home, after all, was miles from the hills where local wildfires typically ignite and are contained.

Matthew Garff, meanwhile, was on a business trip in Minnesota when his phone started dinging with news of a wildfire in the Palisades area.

"Then Wendy called and said it seemed serious," he recalled. "I thought, 'Well, maybe for some people — but not for us.'"

A day later, the Garff family home was little more than a smoking lot of rubble, ash, blackened appliances and broken brick.

Wildfires disrupt legions

The Garffs' wildfire story of uncertainty and loss is one that could be told by legions of their neighbors across Los Angeles County.

More than 11,000 homes were destroyed in last month's wildfires. Thousands more local residents were displaced, leaving entire communities in limbo.

The emotional and financial tolls being exacted by one of the nation's costliest disasters in history may never be fully realized.

Counted among the many being affected by the Los Angeles County wildfires are many Latter-day Saint families — including the Garffs.

Scores of members of the Church of Jesus Christ living in the Pacific Palisades and the Altadena communities lost their homes. And like their neighbors and friends, they are saddened, disoriented and overwhelmed by the myriad ways their lives have been upheaved.

But even while eyeing the difficult months and years ahead — many wildfire victims add they are hopeful and at peace.

They know others are looking out for them. They are looking out for others.

'It was like standing over a grave'

Mike and Susan Christensen live in the Altadena community, some 40 miles away from the Garffs.

On the same day that Wendy Garff watched wildfire slicing across her Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the Christensens witnessed an eerily similar scene.

The couple was sitting in their dining room when they spotted an orange glow rising from Eaton Canyon to the east. The canyon is relatively far from their Altadena home — and the possibility of wildfire reaching their placid, tree-lined streets seemed unlikely.

But the growing flames from distant Eaton Canyon still unnerved Mike Christensen a bit.

"The wind was intense — and it was going right across these properties to the ocean to the southwest of us," he said. "So we went out and watched the fire for the next hour-and-a-half as it raced around the mountain."

Calls to evacuate soon followed. But like the Garffs, the Christensens were not initially worried.

"We got a couple things out of the house and figured we were going to be back in our house the next day — which was a huge, wrong assumption," said Mike Christensen.

Finding refuge in a parking lot near the Rose Bowl, the Christensens spent a fitful night sleeping in their car.

'Our whole street's red'

"When we woke up, Susan immediately got online and started looking for reports. … You could see property markers in red showing all the houses that had burned."

Initially, the Christensen home appeared to have survived the fiery night.

"And then, 10 or 15 minutes later, Susan looked again and said, 'Our whole street's red.'"

Amid the chaos, the couple made their way back to their neighborhood to confirm that their home was indeed lost.

"When we got here, it was like standing over a grave — everything was already gone," said Susan Christensen.

Weeks later, the couple say they are still sometimes visited by sadness or sentimentality.

"But mostly, we've just asked: 'What can we do — and how can we help other people?'" said Susan Christensen.

Their questions were immediately answered by allowing firefighters to draw water from their swimming pool to try and douse nearby flames.

"We're happy that somebody else's house was safe because of our pool."

Flames claimed the American flag that had waved on a pole in Christensen's front yard. So Susan immediately ordered a new flag, raising it above the ash and blackened remnants of her home.

"Our neighbors have said it's great to have that American flag back," she said. "It's a symbol of fortitude and (a signal) that we're all coming back.

Read the entire story at Deseret.com.

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