Cal football player loses family home in Southern California wildfire
Jan 10, 2025
Cal football player Camden Jones’s family home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire in Southern California.
The Jones family is currently staying in a hotel with just a few of their belongings after the blaze swept through their Altadena neighborhood.
“A whole wave of emotions everyday,” Jones said. “I don’t even know how to feel.”
Jones is a freshman tight end for the Cal football team and lived in Altadena for nearly a decade.
“I lost all of my high school jerseys, everything that I’ve collected through all of my football career,” he said. “It’s everything to me.”
When winds picked up and they lost power, Jones and his parents got out and headed for his sister’s home.
“We just watched the coverage all day,” Jones’s sister, Chelsea Kerns, said. “We couldn’t eat watching what was going on.”
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Kerns’s husband and their dad returned to the fire zone hours later to check on their home.
“Around 10:30 Wednesday morning, decided to go up to their home to see if everything was OK and that’s when we found out that our family home was gone,” Kerns said.
A Cal football team mom has set up a GoFundMe to help the family in their recovery.
The Jones family understands that, unfortunately, their story is one of thousands right now.
“We feel for our community and for all those who have lost their homes and their businesses,” Kerns said. “Altadena is a beautiful town with people that know and love each other.”
“It’s just sad to see that there’s nothing left of it,” Jones added. “I can’t even go back to a place I called home.”
The family said they’re focused on being thankful for what they still have: each other.
“I’m really grateful for the entire Cal football team, my coaches and all of my teammates and my family, just everybody that’s close to me right now and just holding me in tight,” Jones said. “It’s really all I got right now. People around me, it’s all I have left.”