Altadena senior community demands action after they say they were stranded during Eaton Fire

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- Members of a senior living community in Altadena are demanding action. They say they were given almost no help as the Eaton Fire raged, leaving most of them to fend for themselves.

"Residents who are disabled, who have mobility issues, who are medically vulnerable -- not evacuated, nobody came for them. They saved each other. They saved themselves," said Katie Clark with the Altadena Tenants' Union.

A group gathered Tuesday night in Altadena in support of residents of the Mirador Apartments -- home to 70 units of low-income and formerly-unhoused seniors -- which was nearly lost to the Eaton Fire. Properties just across the street burned down.

Residents say they had no help during the fire, and feel like they've had very little since.

One 88-year-old woman told Eyewitness News that with the power out in the middle of the night and the fire approaching, someone wheeled her from her fourth-floor apartment, but there were no emergency lights on in the stairwell, so she went right over the edge.

"I saw my wheelchair passing by my head," Niobe Recasens said. "I thought the pain was so severe it was something so horrible. I thought my spine was broken in two parts."

Jule Esnard evacuated early, but her concern was returning home.

"They told us it was safe to come back after 15 days, so we assumed it's safe to come back. No," Esnard said. "Everything was smoky. The lobby was clean, but our apartments were a mess... soot, ash, smoke... everything smelled like fire. It was disgusting."

The building's then-maintenance worker replaced air filters, but as far as he or anyone else there knows, the HVAC system was never cleaned. He said the building's manager -- who has an apartment on site -- was absent throughout the night of the fire. He said the manager told him to go back into the evacuation zone to get everyone out.

"After I'm going through, knocking on all the doors, I'm banging and yelling, 'Get out! Get out.' And I got the bottom and was finished, and then she says to me, she says, 'Well, you better come' and said, you know, to get the keys and go check every unit with the keys and go inside," said Gregory White, the former maintenance worker.

"People were injured. It's a miracle nobody was killed," Clark said.

Eyewitness News reached out to building management, who said they are not commenting at this time, but provided a statement that read, in part:

"Mirador is an independent living community and should not be confused with assisted living or skilled nursing facilities... Our management followed all city and county protocols -- both around the mandatory evacuations the morning of January 8 and in ensuring the remediation necessary to confirm Mirador units and common areas were safe and habitable."

Individual residents with concerns are being encouraged to reach out to building management.