Raymond Francis can hold in his hands all the items he saved from his Altadena, California, home that was destroyed by fire.
One is a blue metal box containing his most treasured memorabilia — such as NASA and military medals and souvenir rocks from geological digs in Canada, clues to Francis' life and work.
He is originally from Sudbury, Ontario, and moved to Los Angeles a few years ago to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an AI robotics laboratory.
The second souvenir is a Canadian maple leaf patchwork quilt made by his mother and grandmother, with all their names embroidered in the corner.
Francis moved into his newly purchased home on December 15. He was scheduled to hold his first party there on the night of Jan. 7, but instead fled like thousands of others when a strong fire was pushed deep into suburban Los Angeles by strong Santa Ana winds from the east.
“It's very difficult to lose everything. I had a vision of the future when I moved into this house, and now it looks completely different,” he told CBC News.
His house and most of the others around him were gone. The streets in Altadena affected by the Eaton fire look like a confused war zone – with houses burned to the ground next to a few left completely intact, with oranges and lemons still hanging intact from fruit trees.
The Consul General of Canada estimates that one million Canadians live in California, Arizona and Nevada. Los Angeles in particular has long attracted Canadians working in the entertainment, music and aviation industries. The fires have upended many of their lives, and for some, connections to Canada are evident in what they choose to save and their upcoming plans.
Sifting the ashes
Karyn Weber and her husband Rob are considering spending a few months in her hometown of Vancouver as they plan to rebuild their home in the LA Palisades neighborhood. She says a lower Canadian dollar could help stretch insurance money over the two years she expects the entire process to take.
“We've always talked about spending some time there and maybe this is our chance.” she said.
The family secured a month's rent in Santa Monica after a trial that Weber described as “gross.” The day after the fire, she began filling out rental applications in the area, but was repeatedly outbid. Even though California has anti-counterfeit laws, he says some people have offered much more than the asking price for the home or told owners they would pay upfront for a year to rent the property.
“Prices are going higher and higher,” she said. “It's also crazy because who has that kind of money? It's terrifying.”
Musician Brian Hughes managed to save one guitar from his home and music studio in Alta Dena, California, and lost another 40 in the fires that swept through the Los Angeles area last week.
The Webers were able to see the remains of their home Saturday as police escorted the affected area. In the ashes they found a cup of tea from her grandmother's hen party, her son's clay volcano from a school project ten years ago, and metal bookends from a trip to China.
He says the salvaged memorabilia will finally have a special place in the rebuilt house. In her rush to get outside on Tuesday, her daughter also managed to get that most Canadian essential of all: ice skates.
“My son was a hockey player and my daughter was a great figure skater. We have their skates,” Weber said. “We are so Canadian.”
“It was paradise”
Guitarist Brian Hughes relies on a network of Canadian friends after his Altadena home and music studio were destroyed in the Eaton fire. He and his wife, Pamela, are currently staying in a guesthouse in Venice Beach with a friend from Ontario, and plan to spend a few weeks in the Pasadena apartment of a former guitar student raised in Edmonton who is currently on tour.
“We are lucky to have landed here with our good friends,” he said.
Hughes leads Canadian singer-songwriter Lorena McKennitt's touring band, playing guitar and other stringed instruments such as the oud and balalaika. He saved one guitar, but 40 others, many antique instruments with sentimental value, burned in the fire. Hughes says 75 percent of the instruments he lost are “irreplaceable” and the loss of the home studio where he wrote and recorded albums is huge.
“It was paradise.” he said.
Hughes isn't sure if he'll be able to rebuild the building on the same site. He does not think that he will recover all the lost instruments, claiming that it may be a chance to accumulate fewer goods.
“It's like we're starting over, starting our lives over again,” he said.