ER Nurse Practitioner Remembers Two-Story Flames as He Watched His Entire Neighborhood Burn in L.A.

Mar. 15, 2025

Frank Figueroa’s Los Angeles home before and after the fire.Photo:Courtesy of Frank Figueroa

Courtesy of Frank Figueroa

The power went out around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, so Frank Figueroa and Melissa Dowd decided to take their three kids out to dinner. The winds were raging 80 miles per hour near their Altadena home.

Around 3 a.m., Figueroa, an ER nurse practitioner, heard on the radio that the Eaton fire — one ofseveral blazes devastating the Los Angeles area— was moving toward their home. He returned and picked up the family’s dogs, their passports and took the pups back to the hotel. He drove back to their house to start gathering more belongings — but it was too late.

“When I got there, I saw my house in flames,” he tells PEOPLE. “The street I live on is called Mountain View, every single house was on fire. And the flames were two stories above the houses.”

Frank Figueroa (right) with his wife and kids.Courtesy of Frank Figueroa

He had to brace himself in the wind to keep from getting blown over. “It was just walls of flames and explosions,” he says.

He FaceTimed his wife, a 43-year-old NICU nurse, and showed her live footage of their home burning, so she could begin grieving.

“Losing home there’s a whole lot of grief. It’s not just the belongings, it’s just the memories,” Figueroa says. For example, their 4-year-old daughter was delivered in a home birth in June 2020.

He and his family are still at the hotel they checked into before the fire.

“We’re just trying to figure out what we’re doing next. Our kids' schools burned. Imagine a school where every kid that goes to that school’s house is gone. What do you do?” Figueroa asks.

The aftermath outside of Frank Figueroa’s home in Los Angeles.Courtesy of Frank Figueroa

He adds, “When do we go to school? What do you do now? They’re in little league now, the park burned. What do you do? What are your plans for your life? Every plan you had is gone.”

AGoFundMehas been established to help the family.

“Every small task feels monumental,” he says. “It was very sad — just watching my life go up in flames. It’s California. We live here because we want to and we love it."

He is grieving for his community.

“What is next? Where do we go from here?” Figueroa says. “We love the city so much we will rebuild — community is the people and not the structures.”

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source: people.com