When Henry Giles, age six, returned to his home in Altadena with his parents, he knew exactly where to look.
The front gate and wall on the property is all that has survived untouched, with intact mail still in the letter box. Behind it, two burned out cars sit in the driveway, and in the back a swing set is destroyed. But tucked into some bushes was a bucket and a toy lawn mower.
“Mommy look, they survived! We hid them in the bushes because we knew there would be a fire!” Henry excitedly yelled
Henry and his brother Lucas inspected the remaining plants: “This one survived! This didn’t. Our tomato plant is dead.”
Few other treasures survived. Henry’s family had packed light, not wanting to overload their car in case they had to sleep in it. Just a few essentials and the family dogs.
“Henry was sad. He got a new 3D printer and it was destroyed. He asked me why I didn’t take it and I said because we could only grab stuff that was important. He said ‘well it was important to me,'” his mother Deisy told the BBC.
