A Los Angeles Fire Department captain who lost his home to the devastating Eaton Fire last year was surprised with extra support in the form of a $200,000 grant to help him rebuild.<\/p>\n
Al Hugo and his wife, Carmen, called Altadena their home for 20 years. They reminisced about the times they would gather near their fire pit and enjoy the scenery from their yard. Now, that home is no longer standing since January\u2019s brush fire destroyed it.<\/p>\n
Al said he never thought the flames on the foothills of Altadena last year would reach his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was northeast of here,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m well over two miles away. I didn\u2019t expect it, the fire to do what it did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flames inched closer to the Hugos\u2019 community, eventually reaching their property. The couple was forced to escape from the area with their four dogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was surreal,\u201d Al said. \u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u2019s almost been a year. It literally flew by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as the year passed, the couple has been experiencing difficulties with insurance issues. Their struggles have even put a damper on the holiday season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just felt emptiness and just not the same,\u201d Carmen Hugo said. \u201cThis was the heart of the family, where everybody gathered and it\u2019s just not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs flames ripped through homes in Pacific Palisades a year ago, firefighters acted on a moment of kindness amid the chaos. Karma Dickerson reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Amid their struggles, however, came a helping hand from the Widows, Orphans and Disabled Firefighters Fund. The nonprofit organization, which helps families of firefighters facing crisis, gave the couple a check for $200,000 to help them rebuild.<\/p>\n
Upon receiving the grant, the couple was stunned. The kind gesture brought Carmen to tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was speechless,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. It just makes us feel more closer that we\u2019re going to be home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hugos were one of five firefighting families who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire. The other families who were affected by the blaze also received the same donation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a big, big help and boost, and hopefully down the road, that’s going to push us over to be able to rebuild,\u201d Al Hugo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Los Angeles Fire Department captain who lost his home to the devastating Eaton Fire last year was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":495780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[21053,1582,276,2809,2961,224,5337,5609],"class_list":{"0":"post-495779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-altadena","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-california-wildfires","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-wildfires"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115846518081146301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}