Feb. 9, 2025 6p
(WGTD)---8-year-old Maggie McGrath seemed to face the reality of having to leave her home last month in advance of an approaching wildfire sooner than her parents, Frank and Bridget McGrath.
First there were the terrifying hurricane-force winds. And then the next morning word that a fast-moving fire had broken out a few miles from their Altadeena, California home.
Frank McGrath, a Milwaukee native and a nephew of WGTD News Director Dave McGrath, said his daughter had surprised him by having packed three bags even before the decision was made to evacuate. Maggie had picked up on discussions between her parents throughout the day that had become more desperate by the hour. “Those little ears that hear everything…I don’t know why I didn’t start packing then,” McGrath said.
The family fled to Bridget’s mother’s home about an hour away with their dog, two cats and as many possessions as they could fit in their two vehicles. They left before the official evacuation order was given.
As they were driving off, the prospect of not having a home to return to sunk in as the smoke billowed in the distance and the sky turned orange. “I don’t think anyone felt that we were running for our lives,” Frank said on WGTD’s Morning Show. “However, I think in my head it was like these winds are blowing everywhere. (I’m thinking) it’s very likely that our house is going to be gone tomorrow.”
McGrath spoke by phone at the end of January with Morning Show host Greg Berg. The program is archived at wgtd.org. A longer version is available on the Morning Show podcast.
Most of the idyllic community of Altadeena was destroyed by the Eaton fire. Of the family’s seven closest neighbors, only one house remains intact.
As of January, the McGrath’s were temporarily living in what he described as a comfortable, backyard cottage-styled home of a friend while they—and many others—weighed the pros and cons of rebuilding. “In the first week, everyone you talk to is ‘yeah we’re rebuilding. We’re coming back,’” he said.
Since then, reality has set in. “It’s not that that sentiment isn’t there but we’re realizing that oh yeah that’s what that means.”
What it means is that mortgages are still due on the destroyed homes while insurance claims are processed, on top of whatever rent must be paid in the interim.
Both Bridget and Frank still have jobs. Bridget teaches at the school where the couple’s daughter attends. The school was not damaged in the fire. Frank works from home on video projects.
Asked what Midwesterners could do to best help, Frank suggested contributing to underfunded crowd-sourcing campaigns or donating to established non-profits that are assisting fire victims.
The McGrath's gofundme account is here.
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