Excerpt from Decluttering Your Photos, Securing Your Legacy (co-authored by Melody Whitehead and Don Simkovich)
Note from Melody:
January 7 is the one year anniversary of the Eaton Fire that tore through Altadena within minutes after the blaze started. More than 6,000 homes were destroyed in Altadena, a community of 44,000 people and a place with memories stretching back to the earliest memories of my childhood.
I evacuated in 1993 during another major blaze when Eaton Canyon caught fire.
On January 7, my co-author Don Simkovich and his family along with two dogs and two cats fled the flames that burned their back fence, severely damaged their next door neighbor’s house, and destroyed the home just two doors down. They moved hotels nine different times.
Fortunately, their house survived but neighbor’s homes burned.
This excerpt from our book is Don’s story in Chapter Two, Disasters Strike Twice.
Since Monday, hot, dry winds had been shaking the house and our metal-roof gazebo in the backyard. Windows and fences rattled and a few panels on our gazebo were shaken loose and banged like someone hitting pots and pans. Our power was completely off and just after 6 p.m. that Tuesday evening I decided to lie down because I couldn’t get anything done.
Several minutes later my wife Cindy interrupted my dozing off and said, “Oh, wow, someone on Crary Street took a picture of a fire.”
“Crary? That’s south of us.”
A fire one-mile down Allen Avenue?
She looked outside and yelled, “Come look.”
I joined her on our front porch and saw the entire sky glowing red and neighbors pouring into the streets.
It was around 6:20 p.m. I had never seen any blaze that looked immediately overwhelming. It was coming from just east of us in Eaton Canyon. We called my sister-in-law and her husband who lived closer to the canyon, and they said they were evacuating.
“What do we do?” we wondered.
Within another ten minutes, neighbors were hurrying in and out of their homes packing cars and on the next block families were already driving away.
I huddled with others on our street, and the glow grew more threatening. No one had any information and no Sheriff’s deputies were around. I went back inside and then decided to evacuate. This was a completely new experience because our house wasn’t in a wildfire zone.
Wildfires were supposed to be for other people who lived in homes lining the canyon and brush-covered mountain slopes. Not for us.
I thought through what was most important to take.
People.
Our daughter living with us panicked and jumped in the car while our 18-year-old granddaughter took off with her boyfriend. They were safe.
Pets.
I corralled our two small dogs and fought to capture our two cats in the glow of a flashlight and smartphone. Got them safely in the car.
Pictures.
We kept many of our photo albums on shelves in our family room and Cindy grabbed what she could along with important files that are kept in a specific drawer. She grabbed a few albums, but we didn’t have time to grab them all. I took comfort knowing that we had already had some of our favorite photos and videos digitized and permanently stored with a service that Melody uses and recommends called FOREVER®. We focus on it in Chapter Seven.
We tossed clothes in a suitcase, made sure all doors and windows were closed, and took off with the red glow now moving faster directly north and west of us while wind shook the cars.
Early the next morning on January 8, before the sun was up, we turned on the news and saw homes around the corner and up the street from our home burning out of control.
Our oldest daughter reached our house first by 7 a.m. and saw smoke pouring out from the walls and windows of our neighbor’s garage. The structure was standing but a free-standing office in their backyard burned. A thick hedge that separated our yard from theirs survived and may have helped repel embers from flying onto our property.
Their next-door neighbor’s house was destroyed with flames shooting several feet into the air. We called 911 as our daughter and a stranger who had been walking along the street hosed down our next-door neighbor’s home and ours.
I arrived an hour later and sighed relief that a fire truck was putting out our neighbor’s garage, but the back of their property was destroyed.
Our back fence made from vinyl was smoldering and melted. In our front yard, tree stumps that we had for decoration were catching fire. We were able to douse them and keep the blaze at bay. Later in the morning, I inspected our home for wind damage and saw several strips of shingles ripped off and a hole into our attic. I covered the vulnerable areas with the metal panels that had blown off our gazebo and was grateful that we made it through.
I was grateful that our home was standing, but sadly, we learned that many friends lost everything they owned.
Homeowners and shop owners in Altadena are rebuilding, yet many thousands of lives will never be the same.
You can tell from Don’s story that none of us want to experience disaster and yet they’re part of our lives and may impact whole communities or often the disasters may be in our home and only affect us.
My mission as a photo coach since 1995 has been helping families ensure that their memories are safe and enjoyable now and for generations into the future.
We’re writing Decluttering Your Memories, Securing Your Legacy as the first in a series of books as both inspiration with uplifting stories and an easy-to-use guide so you can as much meaning as possible from your photos, videos, and many other memories that highlight your family’s story.
W’ll be publishing in mid-April 2026.
Click here to stay up-to-date on the book‘s release.
Want more help?
Click on the Events page to learn how to safeguard your most meaningful memories.
May 2026 bring you and your family many wonderful new memories to cherish.