From Our Community: A PLUS ME Board Member's Story of the LA Wildfires
Annjanette Isorda is a PLUS ME Project board member who lost her Altadena home in the January 2025 wildfires. This is her story about loss, community, and why telling our stories is one of the most important things we can do.
“In some ways, it feels like a million years ago. And in some ways, it feels like yesterday.”
ALL THE NORMAL THINGS
PLUS ME Board Member Annjanette Isorda with her husband Ronnie and best friend Levi.
Tuesday. January 7, 2025.
It started with the wind.
Annjanette Isorda lived in a home in Altadena with her husband Ronnie and their best friend Levi (a tall, gentle Great Pyrenees/German Shepherd/Cattle Dog mix). Annjanette was working from home the afternoon of January 7 when she saw her fence blow over in the front yard. "I was on a call watching it all happen and thought, Um… our fence is collapsing.
"Our power went out around 4 o'clock that afternoon. We had dinner by candlelight, took Levi for a walk… all the normal things."
At around 6:00 P.M., Annjanette started getting phone calls.
"I heard from one of my best friends who lives on the east side of Lake Avenue, closer to where the fire started in Eaton Canyon. She said, 'We just got evacuated.'
"Then my sister called and said, 'You know… I think you should put some stuff together.'"
WHAT DO WE BRING?
Since they moved into their home in 2016, Annjanette and Ronnie filled it with keepsakes and family heirlooms: mementos that carried their culture, history, and memories. But as they walked through their home with flashlights, they now had to decide which belongings mattered most. What do we bring? What are we willing to lose? "We had to draw that line at some point, or else we'd plan to take everything with us."
They had just been out of town for the holidays, so some luggage was already packed. They gathered their things: Clothes for a few nights. Levi's food and trusty blanket. A shoe box of photos. The ashes of their beloved dog that had passed away a few years prior.
But it was hard to accept. "What would they really evacuate us for? We're so far away from the mountain… you just couldn't even fathom that would be a possibility."
As they got ready for bed, Annjanette looked out her front window and saw a small light on the side of the mountain in the distance.
THE GLOW
Annjanette woke at around 3:00 A.M. She looked out the front window again. "I could see that light was glowing now, and felt much, much closer."
At 3:30, they received a text to evacuate.
They ran outside and put Levi in the car. They ran across the street to help their neighbor get her mom out of the house. The entire neighborhood was in a flurry. Everywhere Annjanette turned, she saw her community scrambling to evacuate safely.
They arrived at Annjanette's parents' home close to 5:00 A.M. Annjanette went straight to sleep while Ronnie stayed up with her parents to watch the news.
The news crews were broadcasting from streets near their neighborhood. Then, around noon, a neighbor sent a video that changed everything.
She was filming from her own home. In the distance, a chimney stood alone. The rest of the house was gone.
Annjanette said, "That must be her chimney."
Ronnie said, "No. She didn't have a chimney."
Then, they realized the truth: It was theirs.
"It was surreal. I think we just went into shock. It takes a while for that to set in. It still is setting in."
THE AFTERMATH
"Those first few weeks were a blur of logistics. Community meetings every day via Zoom. Safety meetings every day because the air quality was so terrible in LA. Calling our insurance, getting those claims started. Going to emergency recovery centers. Talking to FEMA. All the things you see happen in other natural disasters, things you don't visualize yourself having to go through, and then you realize, Oh. Here I am. I can't believe that I'm right here."
Thankfully, they were safe. In the days that followed, Annjanette and Ronnie searched for solid ground. They found it in the simplest places. They spent time with family and friends. They took long walks. They reached out to neighbors and tried to establish connection. Where is everybody? Is everybody okay? Then they traded stories, piecing the experience together.
“A home,” Annjanette said, “is your safe place and your sanctuary. It's such a large part of your identity. And when you lose that… you're just floating a bit."
She and Ronnie tried to remind themselves they had what was most important. That what makes a home is the people in it, wherever they are.
"But there's history in what we owned. You're losing your personal history. We lost 100 years of it. Navigating all those feelings was our day to day we'd try to get through. We still are to some degree."
Through it all, their community showed up.
"They sent us gift cards for food. My sister went out immediately and bought me new pajamas. Ronnie got a new belt. We both needed shoes." Then, the larger community came together. The clothing drives. People sending water. Sending food.
"It was a real eye-opening experience I'll never forget. It really taught us a lot about who we are and who we want to be to the community and what we want to continue to give back."
ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER
Annjanette, Ronnie, and Levi on a hike together.
Today, Annjanette and Ronnie are establishing themselves in a new home. They are intentional about what they bring in.
"We are constantly looking at life now and what we do with life, recognizing the delicacy and impermanence of it all. And because of that impermanence, it is so much more important to surround yourself with things that bring you joy, with people that bring you joy, because everything changes. That's the only constant.
"You don't know how you'll get through it, but you do. We just put one foot in front of the other every day."
THE POWER OF STORYTELLING
Throughout her experience, Annjanette never shied away from sharing her story. Just to bring light to it, to say it out loud, because she knew she didn't want to keep it inside. "Every time I talked about it, something new would come up, or I might learn something, or I could help somebody else going through something similar."
The act of telling your story, naming your feelings and making sense of it all, is a skill Annjanette built over many years. As she reflected on her role with PLUS ME, she explained that what motivates her is the understanding that many young people have not yet had the opportunity to develop those skills.
"I relied on the emotional intelligence I’ve spent years building. Many young people are still learning those skills—often for the first time—and may not even realize they already have them within. Then they’re confronted with a moment like this, which can be deeply impactful.”
What matters, Annjanette said, is that young people have a safe space to simply recognize all the complicated feelings that are there, and to start giving voice to them.
"The biggest question for all of us is, Why? Why me? Why this? And we may never have the answers. But we can make sense of what happened to some degree. And if young people can reflect on what they've experienced, they can also recognize they can probably go through anything, and take that strength into the rest of their lives.
"I think that’s the most powerful lesson there is."
Annjanette's story reflects what so many families across Los Angeles experienced in January 2025, and what so many young people are still processing today. At PLUS ME, we believe that making meaning of our experiences—giving voice to them, sharing them, and finding strength in them—is at the heart of how communities heal.
In response to the wildfires, PLUS ME is offering free storytelling and writing workshops for high school students, parents, and educators across Los Angeles.
Guided by our expert facilitators, individuals affected by the fires reflect on their experiences and write their personal narratives in community. Those who choose to share their stories will have the opportunity to be published in a physical book preserving their voices as part of the historical record of this moment in our city.
If you are interested in participating, please visit our Wildfire Relief program page or email us at info@theplusmeproject.org.
