Mona Patterson walks across the dirt lot that once was her family’s home in west Altadena.

“It's just nice seeing some of the plants that we planted are growing back,” she says, leaning down to touch the leaves of a small lemon tree. “This is our lemon tree that we had —  it was here when we moved here, and it was one of our favorite things.”

The tree — once a source for homemade lemon meringue pies and lemon bars — burned in the Eaton Fire. But to Patterson’s surprise, it’s sprouting again.

“And it's like brand new in a baby size, so that's really cute,” she says. “So hopefully we can keep this when we rebuild.”

The 22-year-old grew up here and has deep roots in the community. She, her twin sister and parents lived right around the corner from her grandparents, who bought their home i

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