Vanessa Pratt
Appearances
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Vanessa Pratt is a nursing student, 25 years old, lives with her parents in the home she grew up in. In those first few days after the fires, she realized people who'd evacuated didn't have a way to figure out if their homes were still standing or not.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
So she went onto a community Facebook page for Altadena and posted this message.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
54 people messaged her their addresses. She wrote them down into a notebook, and then she and her dad got into their old Toyota minivan and started driving. Vanessa in the passenger seat and her father driving.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
They got to 10 houses on their first day, but it took them almost four hours. Altagena's a small place. The whole thing's only about nine square miles. But the streets were blocked with downed power lines and fallen trees. When they did get to an address, Vanessa would snap a photo and text it right away.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
We've done about 41, and I think we have another seven or eight today. And then of those 41 that you've been able to check on, how many are still standing?
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
A few days after the fire started, when it was still only 3% contained, she and her father were trying to get to an address at the end of a cul-de-sac. That one house took them a couple days to get to. They kept trying different roads in.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Around her were charred trees and electrical poles dangling from power lines. The bottoms burned completely off.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
The rubble was still smoldering, and all she could see were remnants of stone walls and chimney columns, a burned-out station wagon.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
One of the last messages I got from Vanessa was a rare bright moment in this terrible time.