The Stories Beyond the Wildfires
When wildfires devastate communities, the headlines focus on numbers: lives lost, homes destroyed, acres burned. But numbers alone cannot convey the human stories behind the devastation. Psychic numbing, the tendency to desensitize as tragedies scale up, makes it easier to turn away. Yet it’s the singular stories—a child finding a toy, a parent recovering a wedding gift—that break through the apathy and reconnect us to our shared humanity.
A small statue amidst the ruins. Sahab Zaribaf / AFP via Getty Images.
Let’s explore these personal stories—of loss, resilience, and hope. From a child’s toy lawn mower to a page from a book that survived the flames, these moments remind us why empathy for one can inspire action for many.
Gile’s Toy Lawnmower
Henry Giles hid his toys in the bushes, hoping they'd be safe.
Six-year-old Henry Giles returned to the ruins of his family’s home with a singular purpose: to find the toys he had hidden in the bushes before the fire. Among the wreckage of a swing set and charred vehicles, Henry unearthed a toy lawnmower, a small symbol of his foresight and resilience.
“Mommy, look, they survived!” he exclaimed, clutching the lawnmower with joy. For Henry, this small victory amid immense loss became a beacon of hope. But his mother, Deisy, carried a different burden. “He asked me why I didn’t take his 3D printer,” she said. “I told him we could only grab what was most important. He said, ‘But it was important to me.’”
The lawnmower—and Henry’s heartbreak over his printer—captures the tender, irreplaceable dimensions of loss that numbers cannot.
A Page from Deisy’s Book
A Father’s Art Lost to the Flames
Beatriz Cortez, Associated Professor of Art, mourns the loss of two paintings created by her father, a man she describes as an artist at heart, even if not by profession. One painting depicted vivid red bell peppers and the other was a playful self-portrait—a “grape man” with a face painted purple and exaggerated in form.
“Every once in a while, I remember something I lost—my favorite shirt or boots—but those can be replaced,” Beatriz says. “These paintings, though, were part of him. He’s 85 now, and I don’t know if he could make those again.”
Mika’s Memories in a Grocery Bag
For Myka Kielbon, choosing what to save felt impossible as she scanned her home. Ultimately, she grabbed a single bag filled with journals—30 to 40 of them, a decade’s worth of thoughts, moments, and memories.
“I’ve always been the memory keeper for my friends and community,” she says. “Once I was in the car, I realized why I struggled to choose. It wasn’t about what mattered then—it was about what would matter after, if I lost everything. Those journals would become my anchor to the life I’d had.”
Larry’s Wedding Gift
Larry Villecas holds a wedding gift from 25 years ago.
Larry Villescas, 52, found a dish and a bowl among the ashes of his home. These were no ordinary pieces of tableware—they were part of a set gifted to him and his wife on their wedding day, 24 years ago.
“It’s lasted 24 years,” Larry said, cradling the bowl. “We’ve been together 29 years, and this gift has been with us for nearly all of that time.”
In a landscape of destruction, these fragile remnants became anchors to the life he and his family had built, a testament to enduring love and shared history.
The firefighter and a found Dog
During the Eaton fire in Altadena, Max, a scared dog, was trapped as flames consumed his neighborhood. Hiding under bushes, he barked for help as explosions rocked the area. Amid the chaos, a firefighter took a brief pause from battling the blaze to comfort him.
Max was comforted by a firefighter at the Eaton Fire and then rescued by those on scene. PHOTO BY STEWART VOLLAND.
Max’s rescue was caught in a series of photos by journalist Nic Coury, capturing a rare moment of kindness in the disaster.
PHOTO BY NIC COURY/AP.
A firefighter pets a dog while battling the Eaton Fire Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. PHOTO BY NIC COURY/AP.
Coury watched Max wander the street as houses burned around him. Scared and confused, the dog approached a firefighter who was battling a wall of flames. With a hose in one hand, the firefighter managed to comfort the terrified dog with the other.
“I watched as the firefighter was petting the dog and it was just this nice, quiet moment among all this chaos…that this firefighter would take a moment to comfort this scared dog. It just speaks to the humanity of it all. It was a nice moment against a sea of orange and smoke.”
Max’s survival story is an example of compassion, connection, and the quiet acts of heroism that emerge in the most urgent moments.
Finding Empathy in the Ashes
It may seem surprising, even ironic, that ordinary objects can serve as reminders of our shared humanity. Yet, they help us bridge the gap between numbers on a screen and the lives behind them.
Every lawnmower, bowl, vase, and notebook carries a story—a thread that connects us to the individuals affected.
If we aspire to build a world that responds to disasters with empathy and action, we must start by valuing each person—and the irreplaceable treasures they hold dear.