TV Producer Teams Up with Neighbors to Use Garden Hoses to Save 7 Homes from Deadly Eaton Fire

Mar. 15, 2025

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty

A television producer and his neighbors saved seven homes in their Southern California neighborhood asthe Eaton Firebore down on them.

Antonio Antonetti, 66, and several of his neighbors sprang into action on Wednesday morning, Jan. 8, as the wildfire approached Altadena, according toNBC News.

Antonetti said he and other members of the group, which included a pair of brothers, used several garden hoses to soak the homes, including his own, and surrounding properties to keep the blaze at bay.

“I was raised to confront my problems, my fears,” he told NBC News. “I was not educated to fly away from fear, from pain, or from anything.”

“I’m going to stay and make sure you don’t lose your house, and I don’t lose my house,” Antonetti recalled saying.

Antonetti said he was called “out of my mind” for opting to stay behind and fight the fire but was eager to take action himself.

“I don’t want to depend on the insurance companies,” he said, citing his Buddhist beliefs.

Antonetti and the others were able to save seven of the homes on their street. But all of the houses to the north and east “are all gone,” he said.

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Though the group was able to save some homes, Antonetti still wished he could have done more.

“It hit me emotionally,” he told NBC News. “I wish I could’ve saved all their homes, you know?”

The Eaton Fire has burned 14,021 acres of land in Los Angeles County and is 84% contained as of Monday, Jan. 20, according toCal Fire.

TheLos Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Officesaid that there have been at least 27 deaths, including 17 from the Eaton Fire, as of Thursday, Jan. 16.

source: people.com