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‘There’s literally nothing left’: Oklahoma natives lose home to California wildfire

By Alyse Jones

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    Oklahoma (KOCO) — Thousands of people have been displaced since wildfires sparked in Southern California, and some of them have roots in Oklahoma.

Josiah Conrad and his family lost their home in Altadena, California, during the fires. But even thousands of miles away, they said the Oklahoma Standard has been on display.

“There’s literally nothing left,” Conrad said. “Every house is gone.”

Conrad grew up near Pink, and his wife is an Oklahoma City native. The couple spent more than a decade living in Tulsa before moving to California.

Before making the move, they said they knew wildfires were common in California.

“Oklahoma has tornadoes. Florida has hurricanes, and California has wildfires and earthquakes,” Conrad said.

This wasn’t the first time they had seen a fire, but last Tuesday was unlike anything the family has ever experienced.

Conrad said it started with high winds.

“We’re pretty used to wind being from Oklahoma. Not surprising,” Conrad said.

Then, the family lost power and cell service. Hours later, a friend came banging on their door.

“‘Everything’s on fire to the east of you. You’ve got to get out of here now,'” Conrad’s neighbor told him.

The family left to stay with friends. They went to return home the next morning.

“You couldn’t even get within two miles of the house. The smoke was so thick. It was like nighttime,” Conrad said.

Everything was gone.

“Think about the Moore tornado, how everything was wiped off and most of Moore was destroyed. It’s like that, but there’s chimneys left,” Conrad said. “The loss is not just the houses. The loss is the community.”

He said the future of that community isn’t clear yet.

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