As the devastation continues in Southern California, with wildfires killing at least five people and forcing nearly 200,000 people from their homes, we’re hearing from Connecticut natives who are now living in the impacted region.
As the devastation continues in Southern California, with wildfires killing at least five people and forcing nearly 200,000 people from their homes, we're hearing from Connecticut natives who are now living in the impacted region.
“When I finally just stopped to take a look out of my apartment window, I saw the Palisades Fire from my apartment window,” Denise Sanchez said. “All the way in East Hollywood, you could see it.”
Sanchez, a Windsor native and former NBC Connecticut employee, moved to Los Angeles over a decade ago where she’s now an actress.
“We were put on notice yesterday, but we were actually a lot closer to the Runyon Canyon fire, which is about 13 minutes from where I am,” she said. “I've had a couple friends lose their homes in Altadena. Two of my friends and colleagues lost their houses completely.”
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She hasn’t had to evacuate yet, but fears the fire could inch closer to the city.
“I literally can't even believe this is happening,” she said. “It was two fires going and I could see them and they're closing in, you know?”
In Arcadia, Rabbi Noam Raucher, a Hamden native, hasn’t yet had to evacuate, but lost his beloved temple to the flames.
“[It was] historic and full of wonderful culture and people. The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was no exception to that. It was part of the cultural was part of the history of Pasadena and the whole community there being there for over 100 years,” he said.
California Wildfires
Raucher, now the executive director of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, served at the temple for three years.
“It's a gorgeous building. It really is filled with lovely porticos and beautiful Spanish tiling. Beautiful doorways and gates, and of course, places for people to pray and to connect with one another and to grieve and to hold each other and to celebrate life's joys with one another,” Raucher said.
“When we talk about a loss, it's not just the physical structure that we're talking about, which was beautiful in and of itself. We're talking about the memories that were made there," he continued.
He said more than 500 families worshiped there. But he said he knows the community will rebuild even stronger.
“It's much more than just a building that this community is gonna be grieving,” he said. “I think there is hope, right? There has to be hope. That even though that there are memories that are lost, and physical structures that have been lost and personal items that can't be replaced…All those losses, they are so tremendous. And yet what outweighs them all? Are the people that survived this.”
“People will say a lot about Hollywood and LA, but when it comes to banding together, we got each other's back and you can see that now more than ever,” Sanchez said.
