Eaton Fire: Man Proposes to Girlfriend After Finding Engagement Ring in Ashes of Altadena Home

A man in Altadena proposed to his girlfriend on the spot after finding his engagement ring in the ashes of his charred home following the Eaton Fire.

Brian McShea and his girlfriend, Stephanie Raynor, moved into their new home in Altadena roughly a year ago before they were evacuated during the Eaton Fire, which devastated most of Altadena and parts of northern Pasadena.

“I’m taking Altadena Drive and heading out, and I see Eaton Canyon at 6:20 or 6:30, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. There’s a fire,’” McShea told reporters. “The next day I woke up from an email from our landlord saying the house is completely gone.”

Stephanie Raynor said they lost everything in the fire other than their pets. According to McShea, he had purchased an engagement ring and had been planning to propose to Raynor before he left it in his desk drawer on the night of the fire.

“I was thinking, ‘Well, maybe the stone can survive and maybe we’ll find the little stone.’ I thought the ring was going to completely disintegrate,” McShea told reporters.

As he sifted through the ashes and the rubble, McShea said that he kept searching the area where he kept his desk without telling his girlfriend why or what they were looking for.

“I was like, ‘We’re going to look over here where my desk is,’” said McShea. “I did not tell her why. I don’t know what [she] thought we were looking for because it was pretty obvious that a lot of my stuff was gone. So we’re digging around where my desk is … again, just looking for a stone.”

“I really didn’t have a lot of hope, but you just brush away some rubble and there’s a little ring, and you pick that up and it’s actually a washer to something, and that happened like four times, and then you pick it up, and there’s a little diamond. I was on my knees and I was like, ‘Hey, will you marry me,’” he added.

Much to McShea’s delight, his girlfriend said, “Yes,” and cried tears of joy. The two have not set a wedding date but they plan to stay in Altadena.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.