As of Saturday my parent's home was still there when my dad left. He stayed on the roof with a hose fighting it by himself. The firefighters helped him fight it for a while. They used a pump to pump water from the swimming pool to fight it but eventually the firefighters gave up. The neighbors house burned down. My dad was able to save our house, at least as of Sat. afternoon. It may be gone now. He was going to try and hike back in on Saturday night in order to bypass the roadblock by the Sherriff, but wasn't able to get back in there. - Thomas Hawk from Bookmarklet

:( - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Oh! I'm assuming they're ok if you had time to snap this pic. I'm sorry to hear that! :( - David Cook

So sorry to hear that, the place is gorgeous. :( - EricaJoy

not my pic. Associated Press pic from Yahoo news. My brother found it and sent it to me. - Thomas Hawk

:( - chaz2b

That's the neighbors house. My parents home is on the property burning in the background. - Thomas Hawk

Oh, well that still sucks! - David Cook

bummer - MikeAmundsen

I'm so sorry! :( - Michelle Martinez

:( So sorry to hear that, Thomas. - Jandy

I think the house may be ok. Well see. On Sat. night when I talked to my mom she said that he'd been able to save the house fighting the fire from the roof. But a storage/garage type structure on the property burned down and 3 cars were lost as of Sat afternoon. The whole thing could be gone now though. - Thomas Hawk

Oh, Thomas! Many prayers, warm thoughts (warm = the affectionate kind, not the fiery kind), and hugs to you and your family. I hope everyone is safe! - Ladybug Heather

Oh, man...I am sorry to hear that, TH. Thoughts & prayers to you and your family. - JA Castillo

My thoughts are with your parents. - vicster is old

they are all safe. my mom was in ventura giving a seminar and my dad stayed until the fire burned through the property on the canyon. There were still hot spots though that could have flared up. He left on Sat. afternoon after saving the home and the fire burned through the property. I think he wanted to get to town as there's no phone/electricity up there to let everyone know he was ok. He was going to hike back in in the dark Sat. night (the roads are roadblocked), but apparently wasn't able to make it. Hopefully it hasn't burned down since. - Thomas Hawk

Oh, sh*t!! That's awful. Glad to hear your folks are OK, Thomas. - Andrew Terry

Oh, jeez. :( - Chris Pirillo

oh no... this fire season is so terrible. my thoughts to your parents, Thomas :( - Melissa

Good luck to your parents, TH. - Stephen Mack

Yikes. - Akiva Moskovitz

Sending good thoughts your parents way, Thomas. *hugs* - Molly, FF's VJ

I'm so sorry, Thomas. You and family are in prayers, I'm so glad to hear that you are all safe. Your father is a very brave man. Please let them know I am praying for them. - Melanie Reed

Wow. Keep us posted. - Louis Gray

:((( - Zulema ◕ ◡ ◕

please keep us posted - Joshua Smith from twhirl

i hope everything is alright - sam b-r

You have a cool dad Thomas. Instead of praying, I turned a fan on in the opposite direction of your parents' house. - Edward Zwart

:((((((((((((((( - AJ Batac

So scary. Best wishes to your folks. The worry must be unbearable. - Kathy Fitch

I've lived in Altadena/Pasadena for the bulk of my time in Los Angeles, nearly ten years. It's really scary to know that some of the homes that are being lost are undoubtedly friends or relatives of friends and people that I know. - Derrick

Hope everything turns out good for your parents, looks terrifying - Kim Landwehr

Hope everything turns out alright, with no more property loss, for your parents! - Rene Wirtz

:( - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

How scary and terrible! I'm glad that your parents are ok, though!! - Susan Dennis

I'm so glad everyone is ok. I'll keep your family in my prayers. - ChiliMac

I'm glad everyone is safe. Is this the worst fire season in recent years? - Bryan R. Adams

yeah. this is the worst fire since the fire that burned through there maybe in 1977 or so? I remember that one too. It was pretty bad. This one seems worse though. The other thing that's terrible are the floods that follow the fires the next winter. - Thomas Hawk

Scary things fires like these. Glad to hear your family's safe though - at the end of the day that's more important than the house. - John

Really scary. I saw a wildfire up close for the first time this weekend in Yosemite. It's not something I hope to be near again. - Kevin Pedraja

Amazing pic, but terrifying. Glad you are safe! - Gemma Leanne Goode

So sorry to hear this. Good to know that your parents are safe. - Anne Yeh

ohhhhhhh shit! that totally sucks :-( - Ralph Reijs

Thomas I am so sorry. I hope their house is ok. Gosh, I feel bad for you guys. - Jim Williams

I talked with my dad on the phone for the first time today. He seemed fine about it all. He said it was exciting actually. He was the only one there fighting the fire for a long time. He said it was really quiet except for sounds of the fire. He'd hear a tree fall and yell "timber." He was in pretty good spirits all things considered. He's pretty sure the house is saved and hopes that they might escort residents back in in the next few days sometimes in this part of Big Tujunga Canyon. - Thomas Hawk

I'm sorry to hear about this, but I'm glad everyone is okay! - Michael Fidler

It is a story all to familiar for us Australians and thankfully my family and I have never been caught up in it ourselves, but have come very close. Glad to hear that your folks are ok and in the least have a story to tell. Everything is replaceable except your life and these types of events bring people to that realisation faster than they would like unfortunately. - travispuk from iPhone

Hope they're OK.......ds - David Sanger

WHOA! I hated the CA wildfires ..that was something I'll never miss again... augh - Susan Beebe

Man ,, TH.. Im so glad that the folks are ok ... tell Dad to leave the firefighting to the young guys ,, hope that the folks are safe and that the weather can drop some rain to assist in this disaster ,, - johnpiercy

TH .. all that matters is that the folks .. are safe ,, homes can be rebuilt .. best wishes sincerely jp - johnpiercy

he's a pretty crazy but resourceful old dude actually. the firefighters were there helping him for a while but they bailed on the property figuring they couldn't save it and he stayed and fought it off himself. - Thomas Hawk

Hope the house is okay. Glad to hear the folks are safe. Cheers! - Helen is on extended vaca

Can't think of anything more scary than having to run from your house as it's being surrounded by fire. Very glad everyone is safe though....that's what is important. - Bonnie Foster

So tough. Hope the house made it - but mostly glad everyone is safe. - MaryB, BrandingBroadOfFF

damnit man :( - Mattb4rd

wow :( - Joe

So glad to hear your folks are safe, TH. Wow. Praying for the firefighters and rest of the people caught in this horrible fire season. :-| - Lisa L. Seifert

OMG! that's really dreadful! glad to know your folks are safe. and stunned that the fire looks so beautiful in this image! - B.L. Ochman

OMG. It looks almost Photoshopped. - Zachary TG

Wow. - Nicholas James

so sory :((( - mamisinga

oh. I hope your folks are safe. - Anna Lynn M.

I'm sorry :( - BeeLing

Yeah WOW. So brave for your dad to fight the fire all by himself. I'm glad to hear he's ok.. I feel a little sorry about their house, it's beautiful :( - Francisco

So sorry they have to go through this. Thank you for sharing the story, Thomas. - Micah

I was listening to a story on the radio about how quickly you can be engulfed by a forest fire, specially when certain types of trees literally explode raining burning chunks around, honestly, it sounds very risky to stay behind and fight these yourself. - Ray Cromwell

Thomas, I hope your parents house makes it though the fire OK. I'm glad to hear that your parents are OK, regardless of what happens to the house. - Jeff P. Henderson

I feel for you Thomas because I've been there just over 6months ago. All I can say is (unfortunately) you're in for a shite of a year ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos... - Peter Renshaw

glad to hear your folks got out - terrible to see the devastation! - Kate

Truly saddened. Truly. - Jeff "RESPRES" Turner

glad to hear they're OK but gutted for you TH - Phill Price

Sorry to hear about your troubles Thomas, but I'm extremely glad your parents are safe and sound. Looks like you guys are having a really bad season - Mo Kargas

sorry you guys are having to go through this shit. And I'm seriously impressed by your dad! major balls. - vijay

that's an awful experience... - Rick Cogley

Hope everyone is ok. - Alternating Reality Books

Sheesh* Scary Poop Batman - hopefully Everybody is OK* I saw that on the Front Page o the Paper this morning + U never think it's somebody U know* - Billy Warhol

Wow! How is everyone? - Mitchell Tsai

I didn't want to click on the Like link because it's almost like saying I enjoy watching Thomas Hawk's parents house burn down. Hope everyone is safe ;-) - James Robertson

I am sorry to see the fire was such a danger to you and your family. I sincerely hope your Dad didn't manage to sneak back in - he just endangers himself and the fire fighters.. It is better to have your Dad around than a house. - Bill Rawlinson

I'm really sorry to see and hear that......... - Kevin Montgomery

That is so scary, but the biggest thing is that you know where your parents are, and they're safe. - mark zero (Jason)

My parents went back into their property yesterday afternoon. They were letting some residents back into Big Tujunga Canyon. The house survived but there's a lot of work still to do. The pipes from the water pump to the spring burned up and so my dad's trying to repair those to get water back to the property. Electricity is still out and probably will be for at least a few weeks. He's trying to get his generator working so that he can repair the water system and other things that need repair. My mom rented a place in Valencia for a few weeks until they can get power back restored to the property. In addition to the neighbors house burning down, apparently most of the homes about a half mile up the canyon near Vogel Flats burned down as well. - Thomas Hawk

It's going to be hard for the whole community now Thomas - it is the same in Greece where there were really devastating fires close to Athens these past few days. At least your parents are safe - all the best. - Sofia @ SoMaFusion