Sawyer, her husband Tom, and her 87-year-old uncle Richard Castañeda all shared the home with the Sawyers three youngest grandchildren they are taking care of.
"It's my first time seeing it. It's breaking my heart, everybody in the community, it breaks my heart," said Lydia Sawyer.
Casdañeda, who works as a gardener, bought the home on Olive Avenue nearly 40 years ago. He said he can't believe it's all gone.
"Oh, it's hard to put into words. I lost my wife maybe three, four years ago to dementia. Now I lost everything," he said.
Their home and the kids' school are all part of an estimated 7000 structures burned in Altadena.
"What am I going to do with my kids, my grandkids. I don't know how to explain to them, I still don't," said Tom Sawyer. "It's going to be the hardest thing to do ever, to tell them that everything they have, everything they own is lost."
As they try to make sense of their loss, the family faces another issue. Their insurance company told them they would not be covered because they were late on their last payment.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been set up to help the family rebuild after the fire.