When fires swept through Altadena, in Los Angeles County, generational wealth and a place of opportunity for people of color, went up in smoke.

At least two dozen people have been reported dead in fires raging across Los Angeles. Five lived near one another in a ravaged Altadena neighborhood.

One victim was remembered as “a man with a quick wit, a brilliant mind and a love for his family.” Another victim was known to mentor young men, passing on “old-timey family values” he had learned as a boy. An Altadena resident who perished was a grandmother and former actor affectionately known as “Momma D.”

A father-daughter team in the Los Angeles area are staying in their home behind the fire barricades and taking inventory of destroyed properties.

Damage caused by Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire in Altadena were captured by photojournalists as L.A. officials map the extent of the blazes.

Even as four wildfires continued to burn in Los Angeles County Wednesday, the blazes were already rewriting the record books.

Two wildfires still burning in Los Angeles have torched more urban area than any other fire in the state since at least the mid-1980s.

Jay Christensen, a Fort Dodge native and 1978 graduate of Fort Dodge Senior High, spent 20 years at the Los Angeles Times, with previous stops in Colorado Springs and Sacramento. Follow him on Instagram: @jaychristensenphoto.

Altadena, California, was among Los Angeles County's first Black middle-class enclaves. Some fear recent wildfires may have erased that legacy.

Workers at the Mountain View cemetery had unique concerns the night the Eaton fire broke out. The 55-acre expanse may also have spared some homes from the flames.

I started receiving texts from other friends who were fleeing Altadena. Families like Jeff and Kevin, two Marines who fell in love in the service, got married at the Altadena Town & Country Club, and had a beautiful baby boy together.

Trinkkeller had long prepared to defend his property from any blazes, so he got out his fire suit and hoses. Three times his home caught fire, but he saved it, relying on buckets of pool water once the water to the hose ran out. The wind ripped the roof off his patio.