3 firefighting family members look back on Eaton Fire after saving several homes a year ago
By Marc Brown
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ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) — When the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena in the early morning hours of Jan. 8 2025, three men from the Lievense family jumped into action. What began as an effort to save two family homes turned into a mission to protect an entire neighborhood.
One year later, ABC7’s Marc Brown sat down with the hometown heroes that did everything they could to save their neighborhood.
“This is your street mom, we’re going to save it though,” Dan Lievense is heard on a video as he walked around the neighborhood on fire.
Lewis Avenue in Altadena was engulfed in flames that morning, but the Lievense family was ready to fight.
“I picked up the phone, called my brother who was off duty and he lives in San Dimas and said, ‘Hey, you gotta get up to our neighborhood. It’s on fire,'” said Dan Lievense, a captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department who has lived on Lewis Avenue most of his life.
Dan’s brother Matt is an engineer with the LAFD, and Dan’s son James is training to be a firefighter. Together, the three fought the flames on their own.
“We saved four houses on Lewis, and then on Morada we saved another ten houses and then we saved two commercial buildings out on Lake Avenue and we also saved two apartment complexes out on Lake Avenue,” Dan said. “Three people.”
The firefight began with 20-year-old James, who was alone as his father battled the Hurst Fire in Sylmar and his uncle raced from San Dimas. James started pulling out ladders and spraying with a garden hose.
“For him to stay up all night, you know, brings tears to my eyes,” Dan said. “Without me actually telling him to do it. He made those decisions by himself. And he wasn’t scared. He stayed. Even though he had mom, he had grandma screaming, ‘You gotta go, you gotta go.'”
James’ mother, Stephenie Lievense, recalled calling Dan. “I said, ‘This is on you, this is on you now, whether James is OK or not, I’m putting that in your hands.'”
James said he felt safe once his uncle arrived.
“As soon as I saw my uncle, I knew my dad was on his way. I was never scared that something bad was gonna happen to me. I knew they would watch out for me.”
Matt and James then raced to the nearest fire station, grabbing hoses and equipment as flames surrounded them.
“As soon as I made the left, I look and I thought, ‘oh it’s gone.’ That whole street is gone,” Matt said.
The men worked through the night and into the next day, creating water curtains and running through backyards to extinguish flames. A key moment came when they stopped the fire at a garage on Morada Place.
“We were just protecting the houses that weren’t on fire at this point,” said Matt. “We would take turns and we would just one guy on the nozzle and we would just run in everybody’s backyard and start putting out fires.”
The many homeowners on those streets who still have their homes presented the Lievense brothers with the axe from that moment and James with a medal.
Neighbors say they’ll never forget what the Lievense family did.
“I thought our house was gone and then we got a call, a video actually from Dan, and said yours was the last house I was able to save. It was just incredible,” said Diana Pullins.
Peter Halpin said the experience brought the community closer.
“Normally you just kinda know the people closest to you but everybody knows each other’s names now and this little Lewis Avenue is going to come back strong.”
Dan and Matt’s mother, Linda Lievense, summed up the family’s pride.
“I’m incredibly proud and grateful for these three.”
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