Anthony Mitchell called his daughter Wednesday morning from his home in Altadena, Calif., to tell her he was okay.
He said he was waiting to call for help and evacuate his home because he was uncomfortably close to a fast-spreading fire in the Angeles National Forest.
That's when Mr. Mitchell noticed something outside the window.
“Baby, I have to go,” he said. “There was just a fire in the garden.''
Mr. Mitchell lived on Terrace Street in Altadena with his two sons, both in their 30s. It was a simple white house with a green front gate and green decorations. Trees towered over the carefully maintained garden of the house. The edge of the forest that climbs into the San Gabriel Mountains was only 10 blocks away.
Mitchell had her leg amputated last year due to complications from diabetes and uses a wheelchair. Mitchell's daughter, Hajime White, said one of her sons, Justin, was born with cerebral palsy and was “bedridden.”
Typically, Mr Mitchell's other son, Mr Jordan, looked after them, along with a rotating team of specialists. But Jordan wasn't there that day. He had visited the hospital earlier this week with sepsis. There were several cars in the driveway, but Mitchell was unable to drive them. Even as the fire approached, fanned by strong winds blowing down the mountain, no ambulances appeared.
Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Justin were both found dead that night.
White said the family was trying to find out what happened to them.
“Where was the ambulance?” she said. “Where were the caregivers? Where was everyone?”
Multiple government agencies involved in the response said they had no records of the call and referred questions to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office did not respond to several requests for comment on whether it received or responded to the Mitchells' 911 call.
Carlos Herrera, a spokesman for one of the other agencies, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said that by the time the Eaton Fire broke out on Tuesday, all resources had already been directed to the Palisades Fire, which was raging throughout the city. said.
He added that when officials arrived to respond to the new blaze, the immediate priority was to evacuate residents. Herrera said firefighters worked with law enforcement to respond to calls for help and went door to door looking for people. A total of 24 deaths have been reported as of Monday, according to the county coroner's office.
The Mitchell family was sure of one thing in the hours before their deaths. That meant Mr. Mitchell would be by his son's side.
Mr. Mitchell had four children: a daughter, Hajime, and three sons, Justin, Jordan, and Anthony Jr. He also had nine grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
“He wasn't going to leave his brother,” said Anthony Mitchell Jr., 46. “He was never going to leave his children. We were his legacy. We were his diamonds.”
White said his children called him “Fafa” instead of “Daddy” because they lived far away in Arkansas. However, despite the distance, they remained in close contact. In November, everyone gathered for Mr. Mitchell's 68th birthday.
There are some bright spots in a difficult year. His wife passed away in October, and his first wife passed away just last month. According to his son, he fought both deaths.
“My dad was going through a lot, but he always persevered,” Anthony Jr. said.
White, 50, said her father was 17 when she was born, the child of two high school sweethearts. White's mother moved to Arkansas soon after finding out she was pregnant, but Mitchell stayed in touch with her daughter as she grew older.
“He kept calling me and asking, 'Baby, what do you want for Christmas?'” White recalled. “He sometimes started in June and July.”
Her father asked around about the latest trends. A large gift box appeared on White's doorstep filled with the latest fashionable clothing and popular items such as Air Jordan shoes, Reeboks, and, once, a keyboard.
White first visited Altadena in 1986, when he was 10 years old, and met his father and extended family for the first time in person. It felt like home, she said.
“When I saw my father for the first time, it was the happiest moment of my life,” White said.
Although Altadena was minutes from the big city, it had a small-town feel, Anthony Jr. said. The neighborhood was filled with families whose homes had been passed down through generations. It was especially appealing to black families. The houses were in a scenic location, surrounded on three sides by hills and forests, yet were still reasonably priced.
Mr. Mitchell's house had been taken over by his wife. Her grandfather built five or six houses on neighboring lots, which were passed on to younger generations.
Mitchell himself was well-integrated into the community, always checking in on neighborhood children to see how they were doing at school and offering advice, his family said.
“My dad was one of those people,” Anthony Jr. said. “As soon as we met, we became friends.” “He was an old-fashioned guy.”
He worked as a salesman at Radio Shack and then studied to become a respiratory therapist. But the work was sad. Many of his patients, including children and the elderly, died. He quit and returned to sales.
Mr. Mitchell was known in the neighborhood for his barbecue skills and was frequently recruited to cook for crowds. The charred wreckage in the backyard Friday included Mitchell's craft tools, including a gas grill, charcoal grill and smoker, next to several blackened cars.
His son Justin loved reading, especially the books he ordered on Amazon. When someone asked him, “Do you want a gift?” he always answered, “Amazon.” But he also liked reading the newspaper with Mr. Mitchell.
“They were both sitting there reading the newspaper,” White said. “My brother was phenomenal, just like my father.”
Fires continued to rage across the city this week, reducing many of Altadena's pretty 1950s homes and towering trees to charcoal. On Terrace Street, where the Mitchell family lived for decades, debris was piled waist-high among the remains of the green-decorated White House. Two green and yellow metal chairs were overturned in the front yard.
White said her father was confident until the end that help would come.
“They're going to get me and your brother,” Mitchell reassured her as flames spread through the garden. “I hope they come soon.”
mimi dwyer Contributed to the report.
