Header image: a photo taken in Altadena by Hunt Turner

Cal Poly alumnus, Hunt Turner (Business Administration, '95), is one of the many Altadena residents impacted by the Los Angeles fires. Turner and his family evacuated their home at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, not knowing what they would return to the next day. He talked about his experience in an interview on Dr. Phil Primetime with Dr. Phil McGraw. 

"They give you a warning system to let you know that there were pending issues, then there was about a 30-minute pre-warning. Then you get the call to immediately evacuate so, not quite enough time to get everything but enough to prepare a little bit," said Turner. "We had a sleepless night listening to the LA Fire scanner trying to hear where the resources were being deployed to find out how our community was going to be the next morning. It was a tough night for all of us."

He and his family returned at 7 a.m. the next day to see their neighborhood barely standing. What once was their local community was mostly burned by the Eaton fire.  

"We were shocked to see the devastation as we were driving up to our community. To see the houses damaged and houses on fire, and then immediately shocked when we pulled into our driveway to see the four houses directly in front of us engulfed in flames. It was just shocking and made us kick into another level of action.” 

Turner and his family were lucky to see their house still standing, but that didn't stop them from helping to save what they could around them. He and his neighbors quickly started filling buckets by hand from his backyard pool and were dousing nearby houses as best they could. 

"We started what we call the ‘Bucket Brigade’ where all the neighbors and friends who were there at the time started grabbing buckets and carrying water across the street and dousing the flames as much as we can just to try to keep things under control. It was pretty intense for a long time.” 

Their efforts helped to save the house across the street, which was a miracle in itself. Turner said he was “incredibly grateful for all the local support given to his neighborhood.” 

“It started with just the immediate neighbors who knew what was going on, then I had a couple of friends show up. Then I looked around and there were people I’d never seen before in my life pushing these trash bins full of water and grabbing buckets. At one point a truck full of six or seven teenagers jumped out of the back and started helping. I wish I could know who they were to say thank you.” 

Turner and his family are safe but are still on evacuation notice. They hope to return to their home soon. 

You can watch the full interview with Dr. Phil and Turner below.