Online map allows Altadena residents impacted by fire to see photos of properties in burn zone

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- When the Eaton Fire exploded, thousands of homes were destroyed, entire communities were evacuated and countless people wondered if they'd have anything left to return to. That unnerving void spurred Pete Mauro and about 20 other Altadena community members to put their tech skills and cameras to work, creating AltadenaRising.org.

The website features a map of about 15,000 homes in the Eaton Fire zone and allows users to click through to current photos of those properties.

"Folks weren't allowed into these zones and they weren't sure, was their house burned down, was it in some kind of danger?" said Mauro. "We have a great team of engineers, folks from Google and other startups that we brought into the mix to help us build out this tech."

The team includes volunteers who drove through Altadena to photograph the homes in the days after the fire, so that residents can punch in their address and see their property. The team recently updated the site, adding a satellite imagery feature with a slider that allows you to see what your property or community looked like before and after the fire.

Now that residents have been allowed back into their neighborhoods, Altadena Rising has shifted its goal to community healing. It is now gathering stories from those affected by the fires and connecting them to the map.

In a meeting with local, state and congressional leaders, Trump assured them "the federal government is standing behind you 100%."

"You can browse the map, find your home or a friend's home," Mauro explained. "And you can see what people are saying and see what that place meant to them and hear from the owners and how are they going to rebuild. The goal is to really help people process the grief but also inspire them in the rebuilding effort that's next."

The group's goal is make this a permanent site with those stories becoming part of Altadena's historic record. And they're offering other communities affected by disasters their playbook to do the same -- free of charge.

"We put a lot of work into developing process and workflow and how to bring all these community members together and really unique technology," said Mauro. "We're going to open-source all of that so any community can pick up all our learnings and immediately deploy this if a crisis emerges."