• Altadena's 104-year-old Christmas lighting tradition known as Christmas Tree Lane was undamaged by the fire despite a torrent of embers that fell on its historic deodar cedar trees.
• The fierce Santa Ana winds broke branches from some of the trees, but most of those on Santa Rosa Avenue (the street's real name) appear unscathed.
• The lights usually go out every February, but the director of the voluntary association hopes that they can be turned on again “to show that we are still here.”
The people who care for Altadena's venerable deodar cedar trees have suffered incomprehensible community losses this week, but Santa Rosa Avenue, also known as Christmas Tree Lane, is a small bright spot among the rubble left by the Eaton Fire.
Despite what residents described as a hail of embers driven by hurricane-force winds, the street's 135 cedar trees seemed unfazed by the fire. The furious Santa Ana winds have broken some branches, but overall, the huge trees with their graceful hanging branches appear to be in good shape, meaning the community's 104-year-old Christmas lights 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 to dinner at Hastings Ranch on Jan. 7 after the power went out to their home.
Thousands of people come each year to drive under a nearly mile-long canopy of bright lights strung from 135 deodar cedar trees on Santa Rosa Avenue in Altadena, a 104-year-old, volunteer-run tradition known as Christmas Tree Lane.
(Los Angeles Times)
The wind was intense when they left “but there was no discussion in the media about a fire,” Ward said.
Dinner was short. Before they were served their food, Ward said, “the waiter came over and apologized. He said, 'We have to give them the food to get them to leave because we have an evacuation order.' “
The Ward home of nearly 50 years is located at the south end of Santa Rosa Avenue near Woodbury Road, about six miles west of Hastings Ranch. When the couple returned home and looked north, “we could see that Eaton Canyon was completely engulfed in fire, from top to bottom, and we were stunned. It happened very quickly,” Ward said.
Once they got home, they started packing “every single thing we could think of, photographs and business records, into our car and truck,” in case they had to evacuate, Ward said. “The wind was intense and the smoke was thick, thick, thick.”
Gusty Santa Ana winds blew embers throughout Altadena, including on Woodlyn Road, on Jan. 8 during the Eaton Fire.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Wards have lived in their home for 50 years and have never experienced this type of fire. Between the constant roar of the wind and the advancing flames, sleep was impossible that night.
They joined their neighbor who was keeping watch outside “to see if anything blew up so we could run over and crush it,” Ward said.
At 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday, “we noticed embers flying from above in the [Angeles National] forest. They would hit the trees [the deodar cedars] and burst into small flares. And most of the embers went out, but this was something we had never experienced before,” he said.
“And in addition to the roar of the wind, there were very loud noises in the background that we assumed were barbecue fuel canisters and outdoor heaters exploding,” he added. “It was quite scary because the wind was so intense and the dust and ash, it was all right in your eyes. And who thinks of wearing safety glasses? “We had no idea something like this could happen so far 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 house still standing. It turns out that most of the houses on Santa Rosa Avenue south of Mariposa Street escaped damage from the fire, although houses on adjacent streets were burned.
And the cedars, most of which were planted in the late 1880s, appeared to be in good shape.
A large broken branch of a deodar cedar tree hangs precariously from a string of lights on Santa Rosa Avenue the day after high winds and the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena.
(Jeanette Marantos/Los Angeles Times)
However, there is wind damage. A few large branches broken by the strong winds dragged strings of lights onto the street. But the trees did not burn and it is not clear why.
“They're delightfully green,” said Cristhian Mace, a natural areas biologist with 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 or brittle, and when you look at cedar bark, it's thick and somewhat fire resistant. … I don't know how else to explain his resilience.”
The trees are well cared for by the Christmas Tree Lane Association, but are largely cared for by the property owners on whose property the trees reside, Assn. President Scott Wardlaw. During drought years, the association has taken steps to give the trees additional water, but typically, Wardlaw said, it has to warn homeowners not to overwater deodar cedars. Too much water can cause Armillaria root disease, a deadly form of root rot.
Preserving the trees is essential, because without the cedars there is no Christmas Tree Lane.
In November 2024, volunteers use ropes and pulleys to hang long strings of Christmas lights on the deodar cedars of Christmas Tree Lane. Temple City High School student Casty Fortich, far left, and Patience Cam pull as Scott Wardlaw, president of the Altadena Christmas Tree Association, and Feli Hernandez, right, watch.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
It takes 10 weekends and more than 100 volunteers to put up those lights each 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 turning off the year's lights in February to avoid winter rains.
The festival is traditionally held in the Altadena Public Library parking area at the corner of Mariposa Street and Santa Rosa Avenue. Last week, several buildings burned at the intersection, including the Altadena Senior Center next door, but the library was saved.
The area lighting event that began in 1920 still has an old-fashioned, small-town feel, with booths and hot chocolate, local leaders giving speeches and attendees walking the route once the lights come on. The Christmas Tree Lane display itself is fairly low-tech, with no music or special effects. But it still attracts thousands of people each year for the simple pleasure of driving slowly for nearly a mile under a canopy of bright lights.
Wardlaw said at least 13 of the Christmas Tree Lane volunteers lost their homes in the fire. Additionally, the fire destroyed the local school which had let the association park its truck and store its container of materials for free.
Now the association is deciding where it will store its truck and equipment, which did not burn in the fire.
The trick will be finding a new storage location that the cash-strapped nonprofit can afford. “The cheapest storage units charge about $5 a day for a truck, almost $1,900 a year, which we can't afford just for parking,” Wardlaw said.
The association relies on sponsors and $35 annual memberships 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 heavily on Wardlaw, who, like most of Altadena's displaced residents, is eager to enter the burned areas, currently closed to the public, to see what has been lost and what, if anything, can be saved. can save something. Broken tree branches on the street will have to be removed, he said, and 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 worried about their own losses, Wardlaw acknowledged, but he sees the work ahead as a small act of defiance against the fire's terrible destruction.
“One thing I want to do, if it's feasible, is turn the lights back on as soon as possible,” he said, “so we can say, 'We're still here.' “
