Home » Altadena was his paradise. Could an evacuation order have saved him? – Jobsmaa.com

Altadena was his paradise. Could an evacuation order have saved him? – Jobsmaa.com

0 comments

Rodney Nickerson felt the Santa Ana winds blowing through Altadena earlier.

He bought his three-bedroom house on Alta Pine Drive from 1968 with $5 and proof that he worked as a project manager at Lockheed Martin, said his daughter, Kimiko Nickerson.

He raised two children in that house. In retirement, it became his oasis. The 82-year-old would sit by the pool every morning and read the Los Angeles Times back and forth, listening to jazz on the radio and the birds singing in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, his daughter said.

Rodney didn't want to leave when the wind blew down from those mountains on the night of Jan. 7, carrying embers that burned about 7,000 structures, his daughter said.

“Altadena has seen this wind before,” he told his grandson, who begged him to leave. “I'll be here when you get back.”

Rodney lived in a section of west Altadena that didn't receive any evacuation orders until 3:25 a.m. the day after the Eaton fire, a Times review of radio broadcasts found.

Rodney Nickerson, 82, died in Eaton fire.

Rodney Nickerson, 82, died in Eaton fire.

(Kimiko Nickerson)

He was one of 17 people confirmed by the Los Angeles County medical examiner to have died in the Eden fire, and 11 more in the Palisades fire that broke out the same day.

Rodney was born in 1942, the son of a Pasadena tax attorney, his daughter said. His grandfather, William Nickerson, was the namesake of the Nickerson Gardens public housing project in Watts.

Rodney grew up in Fairfax County and graduated from Los Angeles High School. According to his daughter, he worked as a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service before joining the Navy. After a four-year tour of duty, including a posting in Japan, he got a job at Lockheed Martin, where he worked for the next 45 years, he said.

He and his late wife, Suzette, raised two children, Kimiko and Eric, in their home on Alta Pine Drive. With a swimming pool, hot tub and fireplace, it's “a place you want to go home to every day,” her daughter said.

In his spare time, the grandfather of four found joy in sunrise walks around the Rose Bowl, watching his beloved San Francisco 49ers and serving as the lead deacon of his congregation at Weller Street Baptist Church, his daughter said. He often clipped articles from his morning paper and sent them “to enlighten the people on current affairs”.

The night of the Eaton fire, Kimiko was working at LAX. His son Chase Newton called from Rodney's home. Power outage. Rodney was using a light bulb to load it into his car.

From what Kimiko could see on FaceTime, the fire was far away — “bright orange, far away.” She wasn't sure if her father's house was close enough to threaten her.

“It was confusing,” she said. “There are a lot of thoughts and emotions going on.”

As the night went on, Newton pleaded with her grandfather, she said. He refused. At 11:30 p.m., Newton left. According to his daughter, Rodney said: “If they come and kick me out, I'm out.”

Kimiko said her father did not receive an evacuation order before the fire broke out in his neighborhood. No police or firemen came to ask him to leave, he said.

“It was at your own discretion,” he said.

Early on Jan. 8, Kimiko's boyfriend went home to see Rodney, she said. There is no house.

“Destroyed? what word is that Gone,” she said. “Burned to the ground.”

Kimiko took a cell phone picture of herself driving through her neighborhood that morning. The sky darkened with smoke as she made her way through streets blocked by fallen logs and downed power lines.

A statue of Rodney Nickerson survived when the Eaton Fire destroyed his Altadena home.

A statue of Rodney Nickerson survived when the Eaton Fire destroyed his Altadena home.

(Kimiko Nickerson)

She made it to Alta Pine Drive. Her favorite fireplace was the chimney. There was a pond, its water black with ash. There is nothing else. In the corner of the backyard was a small statue.

“My dad's priest is still standing,” Kimiko said in the video. Behind it, Altadena was smoldering.

You may also like

About Us

We’re a media company. We promise to tell you what’s new in the parts of modern life that matter. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit.

@2024 – All Right Reserved.