Xochitl Trejo called her Altadena home – which she bought in 2003 after immigrating from Mexico – her “American Dream.”

It held everything from Trejo’s son’s prized U.S. Marines service awards, to cherished memories of her late husband, who died in 2007 after a battle with cancer, years after buying the housefor $500,000 together. Trejo said the couple always dreamed of living in Altadena – a charming community where they could smell the San Gabriel Mountains, and strangers would wave and smile at them on the street.

But that dream swiftly turned to ashes on Jan. 8, 2025, when the Eaton fire, which ignited a day earlier, destroyed her home in one of the worst fire disasters in California history . Like the thousands affected, the fire forced Trejo and her son to evacuate their home,

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