In the face of the Eaton Canyon fire, immigrant dad stayed behind to protect family home

ALTADENA, CA — On the first day of the wildfire evacuation in Altadena, Edgar Ibarra’s family scrambled to pack their belongings and flee. The 22-year-old watched in disbelief as Franklin Elementary, the school he had attended as a child, was consumed by flames just behind their home. It was clear: they had to leave.

The day began with fierce, 80-mile-per-hour winds that knocked out power across Altadena. As residents waited for the lights to come back on, Ibarra began to receive urgent messages from friends and relatives warning them to evacuate because the Eaton Fire was spreading rapidly.

But Ibarra’s father, a 52-year-old immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico, refused to leave their home. Exequiel Ibarra, known as “Cheke” to his friends, had spent the last eight years turning the house into his dream home, pouring in countless hours of labor to renovate it from the ground up.

“This is basically his dream house,” Ibarra explained in an interview with CALÓ News. “He’s been looking at it since he came here 22 years ago. He fixed it all himself—new driveway, everything is remodeled by him.”

As flames inched closer, Ibarra’s father stayed behind, armed with hoses and fire extinguishers, determined to protect the family’s legacy. “He was hosing down the house, fire extinguishers ready to go whenever needed,” Ibarra said.

Fearing looters might target the vacant property during the chaos, "Cheke" chose to stay behind. In addition to guarding the house, he battled the approaching flames, even managing to extinguish a fire that threatened the neighbor’s garage.

According to Ibarra, the neighbor’s house across the street came dangerously close to burning down on multiple occasions. Each time the neighbor’s garage caught fire, he and his father waved down passing fire trucks to help douse the flames.

By the end of the ordeal, the neighbor’s house had been spared. In a small community like Altadena, Ibarra said, everyone has each other’s backs. “We’re not that big of a community,” he added. “We’re just all trying to look out for one another.”

Ibarra’s father’s unyielding determination to protect the home he had built, and the quick thinking that saved a neighbor’s property, embodied the spirit of resilience that runs deep in Altadena—a neighborhood with a rich history of working-class Latino, Black, and immigrant residents. 

With a population of approximately 42,000 residents, Latinos make up 27%  of the current population in Altadena. For immigrant households, the impact is particularly acute. Homeowners often lack the financial cushion or resources to quickly rebuild or relocate, leaving them to navigate the devastating aftermath on their own. 

For Ibarra’s father, it was more than a fight to save a house—it was a fight to preserve a family’s history and future.

“It meant a lot to him,” Ibarra said of his father’s actions. “It meant a lot to all of us.”