What was supposed to be a relaxing break with family and friends in January turned devastating when Santa Ana winds fueled an unknown spark in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest. This spark turned into the Eaton Fire, one of the deadliest fires in Los Angeles history.

With 29 people dead and more than 18,000 homes and structures destroyed, Los Angeles County is still reeling from the impacts of the L.A. wildfires, including some from the USC community.

Joseph Poindexter — adjunct professor of music industry at the Thornton School of Music and chief communications officer and executive vice president at Pulse Music Group — had always been aware of the Santa Ana winds that would whip through Altadena. Poindexter, his wife and his two children had evacuated once before during the 2020 Bobcat Fire, but this time was different.

On the night of Jan. 7, a small fire broke out in Eaton Canyon. Then, at about 1:30 a.m., the evacuation order arrived. Poindexter gathered what he could and drove to his office in Silver Lake. At dawn that same day, he drove back to Altadena, and his worst fears were realized.

“Everything was on fire,” Poindexter said. “I started calling family and friends and saying ‘I think it’s gone’ … The whole city looked like a warzone.”

Some were lucky enough to avoid the worst of the fires’ damage. Kevin Lyman, associate professor of practice in music industry at Thornton, suffered extreme damage to his house in Altadena from the Eaton Fire. However, he was lucky enough that his house’s foundation remained intact.

“Of course, you have some of that survivor’s guilt when you have homes that burn down on your street,” Lyman said. “But then you have to realize it was just so random … So once you get past that, you start to realize that so much of this was run on emotion … and we stayed, helped where we could.”

In a community built amid forests, valleys and canyons, many people are accustomed to getting evacuation alerts a few times throughout their lives.

“We lived in the hills, and my wife got tired of evacuating because we evacuated often for fires,” Lyman said. “So when we moved to Altadena … [I thought they] were gonna have to burn through thousands of homes to get to us … and it did.”

Returning to what was left of his home was a harrowing experience for Poindexter.

“It was shock, followed by fear, and then followed by, ‘How do I tell my family?’” Poindexter said. “How do we start to understand that this is not a nightmare, that this is real?”

With the destruction of so many houses and the continual safety hazards, victims of the fires have had to relocate.

“We stayed up [by our house] until the 13th of January, behind the National Guard, and you couldn’t leave … Then, we lived in our van for a couple days … and now we live in an apartment,” Lyman said.

Beyond the loss of his home, Poindexter felt the impact of the loss of the Altadena community and neighborhood, a place of history and diversity.

“It came to the trauma of everything that we lost, as far as our community,” Poindexter said. “The neighbors that we had, the businesses that we supported, the stories of the elderly African American families that had been in Altadena for decades and had laid a foundation for the incredibly rich and diverse neighborhood.”

Each home in Altadena held a unique character and allure, with some being Tudor homes and Craftsman homes and others being Spanish-style homes and traditional homes.

“Altadena was funky, and in a good way,” Poindexter said. “It was an unincorporated part of Los Angeles for a reason.”

More than just a place to live, Altadena was a hub for family, friendship and community, and Poindexter is confident that the stories and memories will keep it alive.

“Stories have helped us,” Poindexter said. “Just talking to others who have been impacted by this [and hearing] fond memories.”

Despite the devastation of the physical community, people have come together in a show of solidarity for their fellow neighbors and friends who have lost their homes.

Lise Anderson, a Gould School of Law alum, witnessed firsthand the importance of community and coming together in the wake of a tragedy. Living in La Crescenta, Anderson had to evacuate when the Eaton Fire spread, but remained unaffected. She opened the doors of her childhood home to a friend and his family who had lost their home, offering them shelter and stability.

“I thought ‘This is the right thing to do,’” Anderson said. “They’re settling in, which is exactly what I’d hoped.”

Lyman has donated $100,000 from merchandising sales through MusiCares, his nonprofit organization that provides health and welfare services to the music community. He has plans to donate more after his charity golf event.

“We’re very fortunate that we have the resources to take care of what we have to, and we’re doing what we can. I wish I could do more,” Lyman said.

Poindexter also expressed gratitude for the overwhelming donations, words of encouragement and offers of assistance that poured in from friends, family and colleagues.

“I’ve worked in the music business for 25 years, so I’ve developed a lot of really great relationships with a lot of really wonderful people,” Poindexter said. “A lot of those people came out full force to help us.”

As those affected embark on the long journey of rebuilding, they begin reconstruction of their homes and their lives.

“It’s always going to be a part of who we are as a family and as a chapter in our lives,” Poindexter said. “We’re going to have to start something new.”