Yahoo News High School Football Coach Loses Sister in L.A. Fires, Wonders Why She Didn't Evacuate
"I come back, and her car's still there," Zaire Calvin said of his late sister, Evelyn McClendon, who died in the fires
KTLA 5
Zaire CalvinZaire Calvin's 59-year-old sister, Evelyn McClendon, is one of casualties of the Los Angeles fires
Calvin's family got separated from McClendon during the evacuation from their Altadena neighborhood
McClendon's remains were later found in what used to be her bedroom
An Altadena, Calif., high school football coach is remembering his 59-year-old sister who died in the Eaton fire — one of many blazes that have devastated Los Angeles — and said that he was trying to get out of her home as his family, who lived nearby, was evacuating on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 7.
“That part, it just replays in my head like a bad nightmare over and over again,” Zaire Calvin told CW affiliate KTLA about his late sister, Evelyn McClendon. “I try to understand what she was thinking and why she wouldn’t, or why she didn’t.”
Calvin told CNN that he last spoke with McClendon as the fire was approaching their Altadena neighborhood, adding that she had been packing up her things in preparation to leave her home. “I felt that she was on her way out,” Calvin said.
At that time, he was busy preparing to evacuate his family, including his wife, his 1-year-old child and his mother, who is in her 80s and disabled. Evelyn’s house was adjacent to Calvin’s, CNN reported.
Calvin later told the outlet that before the family was ready to escape the neighborhood he noticed that Evelyn’s car was outside of her house. Before attending to his mother, he went to her home and yelled, “We gotta get out."
“Everybody's yelling, "Get out." Calvin also told 60 Minutes. “I'm thinking that she's getting out. And the next day after the storm — I come back, and her car's still there. So at that point, in my brain, my soul is shaking.”
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When Calvin returned to the neighborhood the following day, he found that his family’s homes were destroyed and his sister's car was still parked outside her residence. A cousin later found McClendon’s remains in what used to be her bedroom, CNN reported.
“It’s been hard, processing all this, I’ve been crying every day,” Calvin said, per KTLA. “I just want to go home.”
Jamire Calvin, Zaire’s son and a resident of Pasadena who also escaped the fire, told the Spokesman-Review that his late aunt would watch movies with him when he was a kid. He added that she was a fan of classical music and interested in politics.
“Just overwhelmed again. Overwhelmed with the emotion again,” Jamire told the newspaper about hearing the news of McClendon’s death. “Already hurt, distraught, kinda defeated by what happened, emotional about that, and then that was like the cherry on top that just made it even worse. Made it worse than it had to be.”
Related: See the Most Dramatic, Terrifying Photos of the California Wildfire Devastation
Amid the tragedy, Zaire called on the community to unite and help rebuild the neighborhood, telling KTLA, “Just as long as we stick together and do not sell — please, keep your homes — my Altadena community, fight for everything. God will make a way.”
Zaire told KTLA that donations can be made to his nonprofit; Jamire also has set up a GoFundMe, which has raised over $49,000 as of Tuesday, Jan. 14.
As of Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported that the Eaton fire was still over 14,000 acres in size and was 35% contained.
PEOPLE reached out to the Calvin family for comment on Tuesday.
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