Despite devastating wildfire loss, an Altadena family of 4 remains resilient: "The things I cherish are no more."

Although their home was destroyed in the ongoing Los Angeles County wildfires, Deisy-Suarez Giles and her family returned to assess the damage and were delighted to discover a few of their children's toys amidst the wreckage.

Suarez-Giles, a three-time business owner, ironically moved into their Altadena, California, home because during the COVID pandemic they lived above a pharmacy, where someone attempted to burn the building to the ground in the middle of the night.

After the COVID pandemic, we left downtown LA when protests and riots were taking place. We left because the building we were staying in had a Rite Aid downstairs, and the people tried to burn it. We ran downstairs and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher because they were trying to burn the building. I had my youngest, Lucas, who was only six months old, and I was terrified that they would burn us alive, so we had to leave.

My husband and I were desperate to find a way to earn money and move to a new home because we couldn't bear staying in our current place, which was becoming increasingly dangerous for our children. We fled to safety, only to find ourselves burnt out of our new home.

Suarez-Giles stated that their home was a result of diligence, resolve, and the need to safeguard their family.

On Tuesday, the family discovered the intense fires in the middle of the day, but despite their concerns, they were unsure if they should evacuate initially, even though they observed neighbors departing and relocating their horses and animals away from the Eaton Fire's affected region.

They decided to wake Henry and Lucas and sleep in the car for the night just in case, as Suarez-Giles said at around 1:30 Wednesday morning.

"We woke them up at 1:30, so we technically didn't leave until 2:00, as it took us some time to gather our things and depart. Within three hours, the house had vanished," she stated.

The realization of what was happening upset the boys when Suarez-Giles woke her family to leave.

"Henry was upset and cried about it. Lucas was scared as the fire approached. There was panic among the crowd, especially with the two little kids. Lucas also cried," she said. "I woke him up and said, 'We gotta go, baby, the fire's getting close.'"

In the aftermath of the fire on Thursday, Henry, standing next to his mother, recounted the terrifying moments leading up to the loss of his home while clinging to the only two things he has left in this world.

And then the power went out, and we were going to get our dad, but he was coming. Then we had power, flashlights, and I went. But we didn't realize our house was going to burn like this, and we left a lot of stuff in it, including a special 3D printer. It's going to make me a little sad, but I don't know why. This is what happened to our house.

"Now, everything is broken and has lost its color. All that I love is gone, leaving me with only these things."

As the night progressed, the power outage caused some panic to set in. Suarez-Giles' youngest son, Lucas, began to cry.

"My husband and I were in the middle of packing when my husband went to get flashlights. Henry was very brave and helped us get things packed. I said let's get everything ready so we can go, and then around 11, we were still in the house. They were tired and wanted to go to sleep, so I said, 'OK, you guys can go to sleep. I'm just gonna stay awake.'"

Suarez-Giles stated that her family was not the only occupants in their home during the fire, as a teacher from her son's school was renting a room and did not evacuate until it was almost too late.

"My husband was awakened by the fire. Although my husband tried to inform him to leave, he was fully aware of the situation because the school had contacted all the teachers and staff." She added, "He didn't seem too concerned and mentioned that he almost got burned because the flames were coming through the windows."

Henry bravely desired to revisit the location of his previous residence to verify the damage and assess the remaining items.

"My dad took a video to show that the chimney where Santa comes was broken, and now it's gone. As a result, we can't get presents here anymore."

The Eaton, Palisades, Kenneth, Hurst, and Lidia fires have burned over 35,000 acres, with the Eaton and Palisades fires claiming at least 11 lives, according to LA County officials.