Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Filmmaker Tom Stern says that the site of his Altadena, California, home now “looks like Hiroshima” after being destroyed by the ongoing Eaton fire.The ContextA series of major fires rapidly spread through Southern California this week with the help of high winds, killing at least 10 people and destroying thousands of homes and other structures.Hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes. The Eaton fire alone had burned over 14,100 acres as of Friday evening, with only 3 percent of the fire having been contained.Who Is Tom Stern?Stern, 59, is a writer, director and producer who has worked on a host of television projects including SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us and Kevin Hart’s Guide to Black History.In 1993, Stern co-wrote, co-directed and acted in the cult classic Freaked alongside creative partner Alex Winter, whom he met while attending film school at New York University. He also co-directed a number of music videos and co-created MTV comedy show The Idiot Box with Winter in the early 1990s.
Filmmaker Tom Stern is pictured alongside his son at the remains of his house in Altadena, California, on January 8. The filmmaker lost his home and home studio this week in the ongoing Eaton fire….
Filmmaker Tom Stern is pictured alongside his son at the remains of his house in Altadena, California, on January 8. The filmmaker lost his home and home studio this week in the ongoing Eaton fire.
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Peter Orth/Tom Stern
What To KnowStern told Newsweek over the phone on Friday night that he did not believe he would lose his house when he gathered his cats and some 8mm film footage from an upcoming documentary on The Butthole Surfers—the trailblazing art-punk band formed in Texas in 1981—and headed to a friend’s house in Atwater Village before the fire reached his Altadena neighborhood on Tuesday.On Wednesday, he returned to his neighborhood alongside his son and was greeted by a desolate wasteland that he compared to images of Hiroshima, Japan, after being struck by a nuclear bomb during World War II.”I went there with my son two days ago,” said Stern. “We snuck past the police lines and found our house—the chimney, anyway, and the Corian countertop, which was the only thing that survived the heat.””It looks like Hiroshima,” he continued. “Obviously, there’s less death. But the whole neighborhood is just gone.”Stern lost both his house and a separate home studio, where he had been busy working on putting finishing touches to his Butthole Surfers documentary. The film is set to premiere within months at a major festival.The filmmaker said that while his house was covered by “bare minimum” insurance, the amount that he might be reimbursed would only cover a fraction of rebuilding costs.Home prices in Altadena recently averaged around $1.3 million, according to Redfin. Stern moved to the area three years ago following a “really painful divorce” and hopes to stay in the area, telling Newsweek that he loves the “little oasis” filled with “artists and wonderful people.”Stern’s friends Peter Orth and Jonathan Wolff have set up a GoFundMe page for his recovery and rebuilding efforts. The fundraiser had reached around $11,400 of a $30,000 goal at the time of publication on Friday night.What People Are SayingOrth and Wolff, on the GoFundMe page: “Our old friend Tom Stern lost his house and everything in it in the Eaton fire recently – Tom is one of the most creative people that we know, and right now he is in the home-stretch of finishing his epic documentary on legendary art-punk band the Butthole Surfers.”He has been putting all of his energy, time and attention into this documentary project for years now, working with all of the band members, and many of their contemporaries.”He not only lost his house and a lifetime’s worth of his stuff, he also lost the elaborate backyard studio that he built himself, full of the puppets, sets and the miniatures that he had been assembling for the final filming sessions of the documentary.”He ran out the door with just a few important things, never expecting that he would return to a smoking ruin.”Please help him to set his life back on track – your donations will help him not only replace some of his personal property but will also help him finish his project and maybe even help him begin to rebuild his house?”What Happens NextStern is racing to finish work on his Butthole Surfers documentary while still residing in Atwater Village as the Eaton fire continues to burn. His home, like many others, will need to be entirely rebuilt when the ashes settle.
