Pasadena police, firefighters, and other first responders saved hundreds of lives during the Eaton Fire. Looking back, some of them can’t believe they made it out alive.
Almost two-thirds of the Pasadena Police Department’s forces were involved in clearing homes and other buildings as flames raced through the area on the night of Jan. 7. Officer Ralph Palacios was sent to the Two Palms Senior Center, where more than 250 people had to be evacuated.
“You don't think about yourself, you just think about the lives of others and those that can't take care of themselves,” he told KNX News’ Pete Demetriou. “It really hit me when I got home about what had happened that night, but at that moment, I wasn’t thinking about myself.”
Pasadena Fire Captain Trey Sorenson was also at Two Palms watching the flames approach and coordinating the rescue effort. When he sent a four-man team to rescue a woman on the third floor, flames were already racing below them on the building’s second floor.
“The thoughts I had in the parking lot, watching this fire on the second floor, I can't explain, and I'll never be able to explain,” he said. “Did I send them to their fate?”
The building’s residents made it to safety thanks to the Pasadena Transit team, who drove through flames to transport hundreds of people out of the evacuation zone. Many bus drivers had already gone home for the night, but returned to work within minutes for the rescue effort.
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While 22 people perished in the Eaton Fire, there would be another 200 dead if it weren’t for the “heroic efforts” of first responders at Two Palms, Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris said.
“Had those people not been moved, they would most certainly be dead today, and it is because of the folks in this room that they are alive to be with their families,” he said.
Harris noted that all three buildings at Two Palms were among the thousands of structures completely destroyed in the fire.
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