When Jimmy Wang and his family evacuated their home in Altadena on Tuesday evening, he “100% believed” he’d come back the next day to “minor damages.”
However, upon returning to their home the following day, they found their neighborhood – including their home – burnt to the ground.
“I often think about whether or not I could have made a difference if I would have stayed back and used my hose,” Wang told CNN.
“I mean, our neighborhood was perfect, your conscious just can’t imagine such calamities actually happening, but the reality is, it can all go just like that and you’ve got to assess, what is important, why?” Wang said, adding his frustration at what he called “bad policies which could have prevented this.”
His wife, Sara, documented the return to their home in a series of videos that went viral on TikTok. In one video, Sara gave an “MTV Cribs” style tour of the now burnt down home.
“Hey guys, welcome to my crib,” she says walking through the remains of the family home. “We could light a fire, but I think we already have one back here,” she jokes as she walks past a fire pit, one of the few things left standing – while pointing out a small fire still burning in the background.
“We all cope differently I suppose,” Wang said.
The family purchased the home in 2022 and spent a year doing major renovations before moving in. “We made our home a place to experience love, camaraderie, peace, curiosity, laughter,” Wang said.
He is now struggling to explain to his two-and-a-half-year-old son that their home is gone, he said. In one video Sara shared to TikTok, his son can be heard saying, “I don’t want my house to be burned” while crying after seeing a video of the charred remains of the family home.
“It makes us all cry. My parents who live with us. Sara, me, both the children. But it also gives us hope that we can rebuild,” Wang said.
