Survivor of the destruction Eaton Fire which devastated the Altadena region of Los Angeles County he recently spoke about his experience fighting a wildfire.
Altadena resident Justin Christie spoke to Fox News Digital on Saturday afternoon about his experience. As of Saturday evening, the Eaton Fire, which started on Tuesday, is only 15% contained.
Christie explained that his family has lived in the area since 1967, and has never seen anything as destructive as the Eaton Fire before.
“(I've seen) tons of fires on this hill,” Christie recalled. “When I saw this, when I came out of the street and saw the flames on the hill, something told me this was different.”
Justin Christie is pictured in front of a view of buildings and homes destroyed by the Eaton Wildfires in the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Getty Images/Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“I got really scared, and I started thinking (about) what I should do to prepare for it.”
Christie said he was terrified after seeing one of his palm trees catch fire, something that had never happened before. He quickly put all the members of his family in his car and drove them away from the place.
He said: “I have never been in, in all the fires, our tree has never been burned by fire.” “And that's what really says, okay … we're in big trouble.”
Christie later drove to check on his house – when he realized that no one would put out the fire in his palm tree, Christie decided to take matters into his own hands and fight the fire with himself.
“I thought my house was going to go away,” he recalled. “From eight o'clock in the evening until twelve o'clock. This house here, which burned in front of me, was the last one that put me in danger.”
“When that finally calmed down … I felt a sense of relief.”
Members of Congress visit the scene of the Altadena wildfire disaster on Saturday. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
But Christie said that feeling of relief was short-lived before one of his neighbors was caught in a fire in their garage. Although Christie's house was not damaged in the fire, the resident described the whole situation as “just scary.”
“It's heartbreaking. It's enough to make you want to cry,” Christie said. “A lot of people have lost everything.”
“And I never thought…. we've been here this long… I always thought we were far enough away for the fire to reach.”
Reflecting on the experience, Christie described the sounds and sights wildfires as “strange.”
The auditorium at Elliott Junior High is unaccounted for after it was destroyed by a wildfire in Altadena, Calif., on Friday. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“Shattering glass, exploding gas lines, tanks of people, cars on fire,” he described vividly. “It sounded like several freight trains coming at you.”
Overall, Christie said her home's survival in the Eaton Fire was a miracle.
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“It was a miracle that I caught the fire… the wind calmed down at the same opportune moment,” he said. “And if it hadn't….it would have caught this trellis that I have next to me, it would have burned my house down and I would have been done. And there were many times when I wanted to leave, but I didn't.
If I had gone, the house would have been gone.