ALTADENA, California—As embers began raining down on Altadena last week, Jason Salit sent his wife and two college-age children away.
The 60-year-old technology consultant vowed to evacuate too if the Eaton Fire escalated. “I don’t want to die here either,” he assured his wife and their children. “I’m going to stay here and see what I can do.”
His next-door neighbor and friend of 20 years, Billy Malone, wasn’t sticking around. But the 63-year-old restaurant supervisor and his wife, Nina, didn’t get far as they drove down the hillside before dawn Wednesday on Jan. 8.
Within minutes, a burning car rolled by with an elderly man trapped inside. The couple and another bystander dragged him out seconds before the car exploded. Malone drove the man to a nearby shelter, and he and his wife went to stay with friends….