Christmas Trees Signify Hope for 2 Laguna Fire Victims

The double dose of natural disaster that devastated the Canyon Acres neighborhood hasn’t dampened its residents’ Christmas spirit.

The Oct. 27 firestorm wiped out almost half this funky conglomeration of cottages, chicken coops and art studios. Two weeks later, rainstorms triggered mudslides, forced several evacuations and swept away at least a dozen cars.

Now, two residents of this rustic community off Laguna Canyon Road have found a way to bring holiday cheer to themselves and former neighbors by erecting decorated Christmas trees on the sites of their former homes.

“I was feeling lonesome for my neighbors and they were feeling lonesome for me,” said Judy DuRocher, who erected a tree on the site of her former Lewellyn Drive home. “I put it there to cheer them up, and it has cheered me up too.”

Neighbors say the trees, which remain lighted all night, are monuments of hope for this ravaged community.

“For us, these trees represent hope, having a sense of humor and making the best of what you have,” said Paula Sorenson, a schoolteacher in Santa Ana and a Canyon Acres resident.

Polly Ferrell, who erected the other tree, and her three children lost their Canyon Acres Drive home in the inferno. DuRocher, who is staying with a friend in downtown Laguna where there is no Christmas tree, was the first to place a decorated tree at her burned-out home.

DuRocher, a jewelry maker and waitress, paid $20 Friday for a seven-foot pine, which she covered with bulbs and placed under the charred frame of what was once her pink, cinder block, one-bedroom house. Her next-door neighbor readily agreed to “loan me some electricity to light up the tree,” she said.

DuRocher decided to make a similar gesture for her friend, Ferrell, who has lived in a rented two-bedroom house on Canyon Acres for the last 21 years.

“Her three children were born in that house, and she’s been in a funk ever since the fire,” DuRocher said.

Last weekend, the two women bought a second tree, borrowed more electricity, and erected another beacon on a stump not far from where Ferrell’s wood-frame house once stood, DuRocher said.

The women’s gesture has helped rekindle the Christmas spirit for the community.

Claudia Derum, who lives next door to Ferrell, said she was touched when carolers stopped and sang in front of the tree this week.

“It’s so uplifting for everyone in the neighborhood,” Derum said. “We still miss our neighbors very much, and this is a reminder that they’re still around.”

DuRocher said she and Ferrell plan to return to the neighborhood soon.

“I want this tree to mean that something new and good will come out of the fire,” she said. “Nothing is lost forever.”