KTLA reporter meets Eaton Fire victims whose home he helped save on live TV

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – The rule in journalism is that reporters should never be a part of a story they’re telling. They are there to document that moment in history.  

But life, like wildfires, is unpredictable, which is how KTLA Reporter and Anchorman John Fenoglio ended up meeting a family whose home survived the Eaton Fire, at least in part because of his willingness to take action.  

On the evening of Jan. 7 as two of the worst wildfires in the history of Los Angeles County erupted in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, KTLA Photojournalist Greg Theroux and Fenoglio were reporting from North Altadena Drive.  

Fire had already chewed through dozens of homes as hurricane force Santa Ana winds fueled the firestorm.  

Homeowners Donna and Jim Diener had already evacuated their home when Theroux and Fenoglio went on live television just outside of their property.  

“The ember cast from this blaze is just astonishing, you can see just how ferocious the wind is,” Fenoglio said in his live report. “It looks like the back of this house is catching – oh my God.”  

That’s when Fenoglio grabbed the homeowner’s hose, turned the water on and doused flames climbing up the rear of the Diener’s home while still on live television.  

“You see these structures light up very quickly, and if there’s a garden hose right here, you try and do something if you can,” he told KTLA’s audience,  

After that, as the flames and the wind continued to bear down on the neighborhood, Fenoglio and Theroux were forced to relocate.  

They left not knowing what became of the home until just a few days ago when Donna called KTLA to deliver some remarkable news.  

“I felt it was my duty,” Donna said. “You did something beyond your job description, which possibly saved our home and the houses around us.”  

Despite extensive smoke damage, only their back workshop sustained serious fire damage, though out of the 26 homes on their block, less than half survived, including their next door neighbor’s house and most of the homes behind them near the Eaton Canyon reservoir.  

“I’m just so deeply touched that we did not lose our house and that there were people there for us, for our house,” Donna told Fenoglio when they finally met. “It was just amazing.”  

More than 9,400 homes were destroyed in the Eaton Fire.