The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
The winds show us how close to the edge we are.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Gregory's plan was to evacuate, and he wasn't necessarily going to wait for an order.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
The meadows, his neighborhood, can only be reached by one road.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
He knew that road could become clogged if people panicked, and he knew he could be trapped if anything were to happen to it.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Once Gregory felt how strong the winds were blowing on January 6th, he decided to leave.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
On the afternoon of January 6th, Gregory, Emily, and their two kittens left Altadena with enough clothes for one overnight.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
He took a laptop and some cat food.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Gregory and Emily wouldn't move back into their home until the weekend of July 4th, almost six months later.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Mike didn't have to evacuate his home in Altadena because he wasn't there.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
He and his wife were on vacation in Tricones, Mexico, with some family friends.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
They saw the news about the winds and kept a close eye on a WhatsApp thread with their neighbors.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
That afternoon, people were talking about the weather, but no one seemed panicked yet.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Like, someone sent a picture of all the avocados that had fallen off of their tree because of the winds, and they were like, my backyard is made of guacamole.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
And then someone else, you know, sent a picture like, oh, my fence came down.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Well, it was definitely time for a new fence.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
The Palisades fire started first.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
And there was, in a very guilty, weird way, a relief almost.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
Like, oh, a fire did happen, but it didn't happen to us.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
And then the fire started in Altadena.
The Daily
'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1
And someone shared with us this app, WatchDuty, and we all downloaded it and we were all glued to it because it had the most up-to-date information about how big the fire was and where it had reached.