After her Altadena home burned down, Darlene Hamilton wondered whether her cats Merlyn and Kiki had escaped. A year later, she hasn’t given up hope
Most nights for the last year, Darlene Hamilton slept four hours and woke at about 4.30am. She wanted to sleep, but she could not.
Instead the 66-year-old started the day at her Altadena rental home in morning darkness with a familiar routine, scouring through websites of local humane societies and lost animal groups in search of two familiar little faces. For a year, her days often began and ended with this ritual.
When fire came for Hamilton’s community one windy evening in January 2025, it sent countless lives into chaos. Survivors’ loss is felt in large and small ways, from the treasured 80-year-old hardware store, now gone, to the family photos, or a grandmother’s wedding dress, burned up.
Hamilton lost the green Altadena home she shared with her husband, the dragon fruit plants and the cherished Christmas ornaments she had spent a lifetime collecting. And most painfully, she lost her two beloved cats – Merlyn and Kiki.
