Eaton Fire takes home of Downey music teacher

Mike Brunner in his office at the California Guitar Academy in Downey, which he opened in 2009. He was in the middle of a lesson when he learned the Eaton Fire threatened his home in Altadena. (Photo by Vince Medina)

When Mike Brunner, 53, glanced down at his phone and saw a video from his wife showing the flames of the Eaton Fire from their front lawn, he stopped his guitar lesson and told his student he had to evacuate his home.

Brunner and his wife, Maria, had lived in their Altadena home since 2014, after immediately falling in love with “the community of diverse, open-minded and creative people.” He had set up a recording studio in the house, and Maria had started a farm in the backyard to use the plants for her Reiki practice in energy healing.

It was a 22-mile drive every day from his home to the California Guitar Academy in Downey, which he opened in 2009.

“With teaching, it’s very honest to me, because it’s such a pure gift to share with someone, how they can become creative in their own way,” said Brunner. “Teaching brings someone that loves teaching, a lot of joy and satisfaction.”

He was in the middle of a lesson when Maria sent him the video at 7:30 pm when the first evacuation order was sent to residents and by the time he saw the message, nearly an hour had passed.

The Santa Ana winds howled at nearly 80 miles per hour on Jan. 7, pushing the flames relentlessly westward.

He arrived home just after 9:20 pm. to find much of Altadena already cloaked in darkness—power had been cut and the fire raged closer. His wife had already packed the car with essentials, including their dog Luna and cat Spooky.

“I started running through the house and grabbing anything I could think of that was irreplaceable or extremely valuable,” said Brunner. “Getting them into the truck was difficult, because you’re fighting with every door, it’s blowing open vehicle doors.”

He spent the next 30 minutes rushing through the house, grabbing what he could including his computer, filled with decades of master recordings, a box of tapes dating back another 15 years and a few precious autographs—including one from John Lennon.

“I did lose one valuable guitar that I’ve had since I was a kid, and it was only left there because I simply forgot that I had hid it under the couch in the living room,” said Brunner. “If I remembered it was there, it would’ve been in the car in 30 seconds. But it simply escaped my mind with everything else that was going on, until the next day I was giving a lesson, and I told one of my students the house burned down and the first thing he said to me was, ‘Did you get your Jackson Randy Rhoads?’”

Brunner said he had that guitar for about 40 years and paid for it for about $1200 as a kid.

“If I had known it would be my last time in that house, I would have tried to grab so much more,” he said. “We didn’t think the fire would reach that far.”

By the time they were allowed to return, everything was gone. He and Maria walked the mile and a half up the mountainside from the police barrier, past dozens of homes that had met the same fate.

All that was left of his Jackson Randy Rhoads guitar was the charred neck and fragments of the guitar strings.

“I don’t think you can ever prepare for something like that,” he said. “But at least we weren’t alone in it. Everyone lost something.”

Now, the couple of 17 years is staying in a small apartment in Whittier, their temporary home for the next few years as they decide what’s next. The rebuilding process—whether in Altadena or somewhere new—remains uncertain.

A GoFundMe campaign has helped provide some relief, and former students from decades past have reached out, offering encouragement and donations.