High School Football Coach Loses Sister in L.A. Fires, Wonders Why She Didn't Evacuate

Mar. 15, 2025

Zaire Calvin.Photo:KTLA 5

KTLA 5

“That part, it just replays in my head like a bad nightmare over and over again,” Zaire Calvin told CW affiliateKTLAabout his late sister, Evelyn McClendon. “I try to understand what she was thinking and why she wouldn’t, or why she didn’t.”

Calvin toldCNNthat he last spoke with McClendon as the fire was approaching their Altadena neighborhood, adding that she had been packing up her things in preparation to leave her home. “I felt that she was on her way out,” Calvin said.

At that time, he was busy preparing to evacuate his family, including his wife, his 1-year-old child and his mother, who is in her 80s and disabled. Evelyn’s house was adjacent to Calvin’s, CNN reported.

Calvin later told the outlet that before the family was ready to escape the neighborhood he noticed that Evelyn’s car was outside of her house. Before attending to his mother, he went to her home and yelled, “We gotta get out."

“Everybody’s yelling, “Get out.” Calvin also told60 Minutes. “I’m thinking that she’s getting out. And the next day after the storm — I come back, and her car’s still there. So at that point, in my brain, my soul is shaking.”

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When Calvin returned to the neighborhood the following day, he found that his family’s homes were destroyed and his sister’s car was still parked outside her residence. A cousin later found McClendon’s remains in what used to be her bedroom, CNN reported.

“It’s been hard, processing all this, I’ve been crying every day,” Calvin said, per KTLA. “I just want to go home.”

Jamire Calvin, Zaire’s son and a resident of Pasadena who also escaped the fire, told theSpokesman-Reviewthat his late aunt would watch movies with him when he was a kid. He added that she was a fan of classical music and interested in politics.

Amid the tragedy, Zaire called on the community to unite and help rebuild the neighborhood, telling KTLA, “Just as long as we stick together and do not sell — please, keep your homes — my Altadena community, fight for everything. God will make a way.”

Zaire told KTLA that donations can be made to hisnonprofit; Jamire also has set up aGoFundMe, which has raised over $49,000 as of Tuesday, Jan. 14.

As of Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles County Fire Departmentreportedthat the Eaton fire was still over 14,000 acres in size and was 35% contained.

PEOPLE reached out to the Calvin family for comment on Tuesday.

Click hereto learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fire.

source: people.com