Commentary: First the fire, then the loss of their mom. The Moores are still fighting to get home to Altadena

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Set us as preferred Christine Moore’s three children could not have seen any of it coming.Not the fire, not the sudden death, not the exhausting fight to get back home.First, it was the Eaton fire that upended their lives in January of 2025.

Maddie and Avery were living in New York after college, in their 20s and embarking on careers in art and fashion.Little brother Colin, a high school student and baseball player, was at home in Altadena with his mother, a celebrated chef and owner of Little Flower, a Pasadena cafe and neighborhood gem that happens to have, among other delicacies, the world’s best almond croissants.As the fire raged, mother and son used garden hoses to defend their property as nearby dwellings were torched.

Colin covered the front of the house; Christine worked the back.They doused nearby homes as well, helping save a few.The Moore house survived, but smoke damage left it uninhabitable.

Maddie and Avery moved back from New York to help out as their mother tried to keep Little Flower going while dealing with dislocation and a nightmarish battle with her insurance company.One year after the fire, Christine Moore died unexpectedly with a heart ailment.She was 62.

In their grief, Maddie, Avery and Colin inherited a business they had never run, a house they could not live in, and the insurance company stalemate that continues to this day.One day last week, Maddie, Avery and Colin walked through their two-story Spanish-style house, which their mother had taken great pride in.The house turned 100 this year.

“She was a baller,” Avery said of her mom’s work ethic.“This was her dream,” Maddie added, “and she was not letting it burn down.”“Also, as a single parent, she was very aware of ‘anything can happen,’ and she wanted us to have a safety net if, God forbid, something happened,” Avery...