L.A. Fires Volunteer Was Helping Rescue Others 'as Fast as Possible' When She Saw Flames Creep Close to Her Home

Mar. 15, 2025

Altadena Mountain Rescue Team volunteer Heather McAlpine.Photo:Courtesy of Heather McAlpine

Courtesy of Heather McAlpine

Heather McAlpine was helping people evacuate when she saw the Eaton fire — one ofseveral blazes devastating the Los Angeles area— heading toward her own property. She was able to save her cat, but her home burned down.

She immediately dove back into search-and-rescue mode to help others as a volunteer member of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

“I am very devastated,” says McAlpine, a 33-year-old photographer who has lived in Altadena for four years. “I’m very sad. I’m happy to be keeping myself busy and still trying to give back and doing everything I can ‘cause I really just don’t know what else to do. I still want to do whatever I can to support my community.”

For the past four and a half years, she has volunteered as a member of theAltadena Mountain Rescue Team, a non-profit dedicated to saving lives. They rescue people in distress in the San Gabriel mountains, but sometimes assist around town. When the fire broke out, they rushed to help.

“We saw that the fire was spreading so quickly, it just turned into a ‘get everyone out as fast as possible’ situation,” she says. “Our mission was just to evacuate everyone. So that’s what we did all night, door to door.”

She helped people who couldn’t walk or needed extra help evacuate. She did wellness checks for people who called asking for help, banged on doors, woke people up, making sure they heard that there were evacuation orders.

“It all happened so fast, it was very chaotic and we were just doing the best just to get the word out and get everyone out safely,” McAlpine says. “It was pretty overwhelming with the wind speeds that we were dealing with. It was kind of like there was no way to control the fire in any way because of the wind. So we were just doing our best to get people out.”

Around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, she was doing a wellness check at a home that was not far from the cottage she rents in Altadena.

“I saw that the fire was getting close to my house,” she says.

“I could see the flames from my house. They were on the hillside,” she says. “It was unsure if it was going to reach the house, but it was so close that we needed to get out.”

Altadena Mountain Rescue Team volunteer Heather McAlpine.Courtesy of Heather McAlpine

The next day, she learned her house burned down.

Despite losing everything, she’s continuing to volunteer and help others.

AGoFundMehas been established to help McAlpine, who is actively helping other people.

She helped corral a large group of horses on Sunday and has been helping with people and animal evacuations and search and rescue missions.

“There’s still a lot to do,” McAlpine says. “It’s still very dangerous. I know people are anxious to get back and see their homes, but there’s a lot of open gas lines, there’s a lot of smoldering debris, and there’s also just a lot of toxic stuff in the air and it’s just really unsafe out there right now.”

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source: people.com