AN INCOMPLETE ACCOUNTING: WHAT LOS ANGELES LOST IN THE FIRES

ROSS SIMONINI carried his 3-month-old baby, his dog, and some clothes. He had some hard drives and his computer, but the charger never made it out of his house, which had stood in Altadena, Calif., for almost 100 years.

- ALLIE GARFINKLE

A PAST, ERASED

A burned-out bank building in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Simonini fled the Eaton Fire with his family on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 7. Eight hours later, his home would be gone, consumed by flames. A writer, sculptor, musician, and painter, Simonini's art has been featured globally. He left a lifetime of work at home.

“All my archives, 20 years of work, it’s all gone,” said Simonini. “I lost everything I’ve ever made. It’s hard to understand how to go forward when your past has been erased.”

Simonini faces a fathomless question, one thousands across Los Angeles County are asking: What now? When filing an insurance claim, you commonly have to list all the items lost. But what does that list look like when the answer is “everything”?