William Karl Valentine: The Eaton Fire

William Karl Valentine: The Eaton Fire by Aline SmithsonJanuary 7, 2026

William Karl Valentine Lenscratch Website image Use Rights granted to Aline Smithson and Lenscratch

©William Karl Valentine, Crary Street and Valencia Avenue, around the corner from my sister’s house

On the evening of January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, a powerful Santa Ana wind event drove a fire into foothill communities, particularly Altadena. Altadena was a community of color, of creativity, and long time residents that loved their city. Today we feature a year-long effort by photographer William Karl Valentine to document not only the fire, but the aftermath.

According to Wikipedia, The Eaton Fire was a highly destructive wildfire in Los Angeles County, in Southern California. The fire killed at least 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 buildings, becoming the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history. The cause of the fire is under investigation; news reports and lawsuits have focused on the possible involvement of high tension power lines operated by electrical utility Southern California Edison. The fire was fully contained on January 31 after burning for 24 days.

The Eaton Fire was one of eight major wildfires in Southern California in January 2025, and burned simultaneously with the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains.

©William Karl Valentine, La Paz east of Sinaloa Avenue, Altadena

William Karl Valentine is a documentary photographer based in Newport Beach, California. He was a third-generation resident of Pasadena having been born and raised there. He took his first Photography class at Pasadena City College.

Valentine went on to earn a BFA in Photography from Arizona State University in 1986, graduating Magna cum Laude. While at ASU, he studied under an incredible photography faculty which included Tamara Kaida, William Jenkins, and Bill Jay. While at ASU he began documenting the Pasadena Police Department for a class project during spring break. That project eventually led to a twenty-year career as a Police Officer and Detective with the Chino Police Department (California). His dual background allowed him to develop a vast documentary portfolio documenting law enforcement which is still on going.

Valentine has numerous different portfolios which document things like Cactus League Baseball, Cemeteries, and major cities. He documented the Covid lockdown in 2020 while driving from Boston to California and he has focused on documenting Southern California more since then. He was in Pasadena the night the Eaton Canyon Fire erupted and he has been documenting the devastation ever since.

Valentine published his first book, Santa Anita, in 1991, and has had his photographs exhibited in over 60 solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. His work is held in several permanent collections, including the Center for Creative Photography, the Fogg Museum at Harvard, and the University of New Mexico Museum of Art.

Instagram: @williamkarlvalentine

©William Karl Valentine, 2121 Sinaloa Avenue, Altadena

Documenting the January 7^th, 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire

William Karl Valentine

I was in Pasadena before the Eaton Fire started on January 7^th 2025. My 99-year-old mother still lives in my childhood home, and I had gone up there to do her shopping and to clean up the debris in her yard from all the high winds that day.

At about 6:30 pm, when I was walking into the market, I smelled the Eaton Fire, but I couldn’t see it. While shopping I heard people talking about a fire and someone texted me that there was a fire in Eaton Canyon, which is just over a mile away from where I was. When I left the parking lot around 7:00pm I saw the fire, and it was raging.

©William Karl Valentine, Family in front of their house. Janes Village area, Altadena

I received a “Mandatory Evacuation” notice on my phone at 7:28pm. I went to my sister’s home which is closer to the origin point to help her evacuate. There was ember cast and spot fires in vegetation already on her block and the glow of burning homes east of her home. I helped her get to my mom’s house where we stayed for the duration of the fire. Luckily both homes survived.

©William Karl Valentine, Man looking at his friend’s used car lot on Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena

I stayed awake all night monitoring the progress of the fire. I watched TV news, I drove around our immediate neighborhood, and I stood outside looking and listening a lot while thinking about what to bring if we had to evacuate. It was surreal to think about what might happen. Around 2am I saw a home two blocks down on my mom’s street burn, it was one of two homes lost on her street. One of the most intense things of the night was standing outside and listening to homes collapsing in Altadena. When roofs and walls collapsed they made a large boom, and the sounds carry well up there because the land is sloped. It sounded like a naval bombardment there were so many going down. I photographed some of the night of the fire but my focus was really just watching over my mom. Before dawn the winds stopped so when it got light I headed out and started to check out the damage and photograph some. There were hardly any fire trucks, and the fire was spreading slowly but still taking more homes.

©William Karl Valentine, Memorial on home in Jane’s Village Altadena

The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,000 homes, killed 19 people, and countless pets. It burned so many places I had known my whole life. It is still hard for me to comprehend the amount of devastation and that it was so close to home. The morning of January 8^th I was photographing a daycare center that was still burning when I realized the hospital where I was born was in the background of my frame, it was such a surreal feeling.

©William Karl Valentine, Window frame, Jane’s Village Altadena

I have returned to photograph the burn areas at least seventy times since that first night. I have talked to dozens of people, and I have tried to go to as many different areas of the burn as I can. I want to document as much as I can so people will never forget what happened here. Some of my approach has been with a forensic eye, I am a retired police officer, but most is just trying to capture the loss. Press photographs documented intense shots when the fire was burning, I have a few of those too. But my goal is to document the grief, the incredible loss, as well as the resilience to rebuild. I have met a lot of people who are grieving, and the process has been heavy on me as well since I know the area and people so well. This submission to Lenscratch marks the one-year anniversary of this portfolio.