LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shaw Zhao arrived in Los Angeles last week with a heavy heart, knowing that his father’s neighborhood lay within an evacuation zone due to the devastating wildfires wreaking havoc in the metropolitan area. Concern deepened as he realized he hadn’t heard from his 84-year-old father the previous night.
Navigating through roadblocks set up by law enforcement on his way from the airport to Zhi-feng Zhao’s home in the Altadena neighborhood on January 8, Shaw found himself at a shelter for evacuees. Despite searching every bed in hopes of finding his father, he was left disappointed.
The following day, Shaw, accompanied by a Lyft driver and the driver’s wife, trekked into the neighborhood on foot. As they approached his father’s residence, the grim reality became all too apparent. The entire block, where his father’s home once stood, had been reduced to rubble. Amongst the debris, Shaw made a heartbreaking discovery – the remains of his father, Zhi-feng Zhao.
“It was very difficult,” Shaw expressed tearfully.
Zhi-feng Zhao, one of the casualties in the catastrophic wildfires that have ravaged Southern California, had emigrated from China in 1989, as shared by his son in Mandarin. Orphaned in childhood and raised in poverty in China, he overcame significant odds to attain a college education in math and mechanical engineering. However, upon relocating to the U.S., language barriers impeded his pursuit of academic endeavors, leading him to find work in the restaurant industry, Shaw revealed.
The Altadena residence that Shaw had purchased for his parents in 2003 held sentimental value. Tragically, Shaw’s mother, a local Chinese schoolteacher, succumbed to cancer in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, choosing to forego medical treatment out of fear of being isolated from her loved ones. Both parents cherished their neighborhood neighboring Pasadena, particularly the ranch-style home with an avocado tree that bore fruit for them and their community annually.
Describing his father as a nature enthusiast who relished the tranquility and fresh air of Altadena, Shaw reminisced about Zhi-feng’s love for hiking and his enduring vitality until his wife’s passing. Following her demise, Zhi-feng had relied on a caregiver, absent during the fire outbreak.
The conflagration not only claimed Zhi-feng’s life but also obliterated cherished mementos, including old family photographs, his wife’s stamp collection, and hand-knitted sweaters. Recalling his father’s poignant words, “Shaw, Mom will leave you. But you will always have something to warm your body,” Shaw disclosed his intentions to inter his parents’ ashes in Shanghai, where they had secured adjacent burial plots, and to reconstruct their home in Altadena, despite residing in Portland, Oregon.
Expressing deep filial affection, Shaw lauded his father as a wise and gifted individual who
