Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane survives. Volunteers hope to turn the lights on again
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• Fierce Santa Ana winds did break branches from some of the trees, but most on Santa Rosa Avenue — the real name of the street — appear unscathed.
• The lights are usually taken down every February, but the head of the volunteer association hopes they can be turned on again “to show we’re still here.”
The people who tend Altadena’s venerable deodar cedars have suffered incomprehensible community losses this week, but Santa Rosa Avenue, a.k.a. Christmas Tree Lane, is a tiny bright spot among the wreckage wrought by the Eaton fire.
Despite what residents described as a fiery rain of embers propelled by hurricane force winds, the street’s 135 cedars seemed unfazed by the fire. The raging Santa Ana winds have broken a few branches, but overall, the massive trees with their graceful drapey limbs seem fine, which means the community’s 104-year holiday light tradition can continue.
Tony Ward and his wife, Maureen, longtime residents of Santa Rosa Avenue and past presidents of the Christmas Tree Lane Assn., went out for dinner in Hastings Ranch on Jan. 7, after the power went out at their home.
The wind was intense when they left “but there wasn’t any discussion on the media about a fire,” Ward said.
Their dinner outing was short. Before their meal was served, Ward said, “the waiter came up and apologized. He said, ‘We have to give you the meal to go because we have an evacuation order.’ ”
Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane is a beloved, low-tech holiday event featuring lights strung over 135 massive deodar cedars — all thanks to volunteers.
The Wards’ home of nearly 50 years is at the southern end of Santa Rosa Avenue, near Woodbury Road, about six miles west of Hastings Ranch. As the couple returned home and looked to the north, “we could see Eaton Canyon was totally involved in fire, from top to bottom, and we were flabbergasted. It happened so fast,” Ward said.
Once they got home, they began packing “all the things we could think of, photos and business records, into our car and van,” in case they had to evacuate, Ward said. “The wind was intense, and the smoke was just heavy, heavy, heavy.”
The Wards have lived in their home for 50 years and never experienced this kind of fire event. Between the constant roar of the wind and the advancing flames, sleep was impossible that night.
They joined their neighbor standing watch outside “to see if anything flared up so we could run and stamp it out,” Ward said.
Somehow the Eaton fire spared thousands of camellias and azaleas at 90-year-old Nuccio’s Nurseries. Now they desperately need water to stay alive.
By 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday, “we noticed embers flying all the way down from way up in the [Angeles National] forest. They would strike the trees [the deodar cedars] and burst into little sparklers. And most of the embers went out, but this was something we’d never experienced before,” he said.
“And in addition to the wind roaring, there were very loud reports we could hear in the background, which we surmised to be exploding canisters of fuel for barbecues and outdoor space heater,” he added. “It was pretty scary because the wind was so intense, and the dust and ashes, everything was right in your eyes. And who thinks of wearing safety goggles? We had no idea that anything like this could happen so far away from the canyons and the national forest.”
When the evacuation order came at 5 a.m., the Wards finally left. They were able to return briefly last Thursday and found their home still standing. It turns out that most of the houses on Santa Rosa Avenue south of Mariposa Street escaped fire damage, although houses on adjoining streets were burned.
And the cedars, most of which were planted in the late 1880s, seemed fine.
However, there is wind damage. A few large branches broken in the heavy winds dragged strings of lights with them to the street. But the trees didn’t burn, and it’s not clear why.
“They are pretty lusciously green,” said Cristhian Mace, a natural areas biologist for Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, “which makes me think they were well irrigated, and that’s probably one of the factors that saved them. They weren’t dry and brittle, and when you look at cedar bark, it’s thick and somewhat fire resistant. ... I don’t know how else to account for their resiliency.”
The Eaton fire devastated this diverse community at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Here is what we’ve lost.
The trees are well tended by the Christmas Tree Lane Assn., but they are largely cared for by the homeowners on whose property the trees reside, said Assn. President Scott Wardlaw. During drought years, the association has taken steps to give the trees extra water, but usually, Wardlaw said, it has to warn homeowners against overwatering the deodar cedars. Too much water can lead to Armillaria root disease, a deadly form of root rot.
Preserving the trees is critical, because without the cedars, there is no Christmas Tree Lane.
It takes 10 weekends and more than a 100 volunteers to string those lights every year; volunteers begin their work in September to be ready for Altadena’s free winter festival and tree lighting event in early December. The same volunteers usually start taking the lights down for the year in February to avoid winter rains.
The festival is traditionally held in the parking area of the Altadena Public Library at the corner of Mariposa Street and Santa Rosa Avenue. Last week, several buildings at the intersection burned, including the Altadena Senior Center next door, but the library was saved.
The Eaton fire cut a brutal swath through Altadena and a cherished way of life in this eclectic foothill community it upended.
The area lighting event that began in 1920 still has a small-town, old-fashioned feel, with booths and hot chocolate, local leaders making speeches and attendees walking the route once the lights are turned on. The Christmas Tree Lane display itself is pretty low-tech, with no music or special effects. But it still draws thousands of people every year for the simple pleasure of driving slowly for a near mile under a canopy of sparkly lights.
Wardlaw said at least 13 of the Christmas Tree Lane volunteers lost homes in the fire. Also, the local school that had let the association park its truck and store its container of equipment for free was destroyed in the fire.
Now the association is grappling with where it will store its truck and equipment, which didn’t burn in the fire.
The trick will be finding a new storage place the cash-strapped nonprofit can afford. “The cheapest storage units charge around $5 a day for a truck, nearly $1,900 a year, which we can’t afford for just parking,” Wardlaw said.
The association relies on annual $35 memberships and sponsors to cover its expenses, and several of its sponsors, including Altadena Hardware, St. Mark’s School, Pasadena Waldorf School and Western Fence Co., lost buildings in the fire.
Those losses have weighed heavy on Wardlaw, who, like most displaced Altadena residents, is chafing to get into the burned areas, presently closed to the public, to see what has been lost, and what, if anything, can be saved. The broken tree branches on the street will have to be cleared away, he said, and the strings of lights, many of which are likely broken, will have to be repaired or replaced.
The work will require volunteers, many of whom will be preoccupied by their own losses, Wardlaw acknowledged, but he sees the work ahead as a tiny act of defiance against all the fire’s terrible destruction.
“Something I want to do, if it’s feasible, is turn the lights on again as soon as possible,” he said, “Just so we can say, ‘We’re still here.’ ”
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