Man remembers best friend lost in Eaton fire: 'He was a kind soul'

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- The death toll from the wildfires in Los Angeles County has climbed to 25 people, according to the L.A. County Medical Examiner.

Dennis Chapman said he lost his best friend of 34 years in the Eaton Fire.

"My old boss keeps telling me, you know, you got to be the strong one," said Chapman.

But Chapman is learning it is not easy to be the strong one when the loss is so great.

Ed Cridland died in his Altadena home.

"He was a kind soul," Chapman said of his friend.

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The night of the fires when Chapman last spoke to Cridland, they thought he would be fine in his home, the same home he was raised in.

But Cridland's home burned to the ground and the vintage vehicles he collected were completely singed.

"Kind of makes things full circle. That everything, you know, started and ended right there. Everything about his life," Chapman said.

Chapman said he visited what is left of Cridland's home once since the fire. He said it gave him some comfort.

He believes on Tuesday night, Cridland took out his hearing aid and was sound asleep in his own bed.

Chapman hopes his friend died peacefully in his sleep from the carbon monoxide before the flames engulfed the home.

Chapman said he met Cridland when they were both truckers driving the same route.

"I think about running up and down I-5 and talking back and forth on the CB, you know, solving the world's problems while everybody slept and getting the freight overnight from city to city," he said.

Two best friends now separated by the fury of Mother Nature.

"I think that when my time comes if I can be half the man he was and go to the same place, then I will be ok with it," Chapman said.