I’ve covered deadly wildfires for seven years. It doesn’t have to be this way | Dani Anguiano

While the LA fires have been described as unprecedented, here in California we have experience with this kind of fire

Over the last seven years, I have covered three of the four deadliest wildfires in modern US history. From the smoldering, forested lots of Paradise to the leveled Lahaina homes overlooking the Pacific, I’ve documented the stories of people who ran for their lives, held the hands of badly burned fire victims and trudged alongside families searching for their missing loved ones.

But nothing prepared me for the overwhelming sense of loss that permeates Altadena in the aftermath of the Eaton fire. It’s not just the figures, though they are shocking – nearly 7,000 homes burned and at least 16 dead. Instead, it is the thought that kept returning to me as I surveyed the blackened remnants of homes and so many lives laid bare: it did not have to be this way.

Dani Anguiano is a reporter for Guardian US and the coauthor of Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy

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