When six-year-old Henry Giles returned to his home in Altadena with his parents, he knew exactly where to look.
The front door and wall of the property are all that survive intact, with the intact mail still in the mailbox. Behind him, two burned-out cars are standing in the driveway, and in the back is a destroyed swing. But in some bushes there was a bucket and a lawnmower.
“Mom look, they survived! We hid them in the bushes because we knew there would be a fire!” Henry shouted excitedly
Henry and his brother Lucas inspected the remaining plants, “This one survived! This one didn’t. Our tomato plant is dead.”
Few other treasures survived. Henry’s family packed lightly, 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 ruined. He asked me why I didn’t take it and I said because we could only grab things that were important. He said ‘well, it was important to me,’ ” she said is his mother Deisy for the BBC.
