After defending homes from the Eaton Fire, this firefighter and artist painted a love letter to L.A.

As the winds picked up on the night of Jan. 7, Jocelyn Herrera felt a knot in her stomach. The powerful, dry Santa Ana winds were already battering the Chilao Fire Station in the Angeles National Forest where she was stationed.

“I already knew something was gonna happen… Everybody was talking about it at work,” said Herrera, who has served three years as a seasonal firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service. 

Having just finished her 24-hour shift monitoring potential forest fires, she got home in El Sereno Tuesday night unprepared for the scale of destruction that would soon unfold across Los Angeles.

Herrera’s supervisors urged her to rest on her only days off, but the 30-year-old felt hopeless, watching as the Palisades and Eaton fires ravaged homes and communities, eventually destroying more than 15,000 structures combined. 

“I’m not really used to seeing houses burn… It was like a scary movie,” Herrera said. “I’m used to just seeing trees getting torched but seeing the houses was different for me.”

When Herrera was allowed to return to work on Thursday, Jan. 9, the fires had already torn through neighborhoods, disrupted school routines and impacted businesses across the entire L.A. region. Because her local engine had already committed to a blaze, they couldn’t return to the Eastside to pick her up.

“I was kind of bouncing from station to station, like wherever they needed a body. It was kind of hard, because I wanted to be with my engine. I didn’t get to be in front of the flames because of that,” Herrera said. She helped evacuate people and clear fire-prone brush around structures in the Eaton Fire perimeter and also held down her station to monitor medical calls.

But fighting fires isn’t Herrera’s only passion.

She’s also a working artist, bringing color to the Eastside through murals and window paintings for local businesses. With experience in the Trader Joe’s sign-making team and at Public Matters, a local creative studio for civic engagement, Herrera pushed herself to be more creative when she wasn’t busy extinguishing fires and being a full-time mom. 

In 2023, Herrera had an opportunity to beautify the window of Earthy Corazon, an East L.A. gift shop specializing in wellness items and art from local creators. Since then, she’s formed a close relationship with the shop’s owner, Ely Valdivia, and has continued to create fresh designs for the shop.

“She gave me the opportunity to start [painting the shop]. And after that, it felt really good. I told myself maybe [making art] wasn’t as hard as I thought it was,” Herrera said. After that first gig, Earthy Corazon’s windows have regularly featured Herrera’s artwork. Valdivia calls Herrera’s contributions to her Eastside business “symbiotic,” with both their work inspiring each other. 

“I love her art, because to me, it feels so East L.A., and that’s kind of what I want to promote with my shop. We’re a shop that is a reflection of our community,” Valdivia said. 

When Valdivia and her staff hadn’t heard back from Herrera in mid-January after agreeing to do a Valentine’s Day design, they discovered their sign painter was fighting one of the most destructive fires in L.A. history.

Valdivia quickly arranged a care package with candles, creams and other wellness items, as a gesture of community care.

When Herrera was finally able to add some color to Earthy Corazon’s windows, Valdivia asked her to include one special element: a love letter to L.A.

“Everybody was going through stuff, and she wanted to give back to L.A.,” Herrera said of Valdivia’s vision.

With a teddy bear as its centerpiece, Herrera painted hearts, a red rose, and “We love L.A.” on the windows, a tribute to the resilience and unity the Los Angeles region showed in the wake of the recent fires.  

“It was so devastating to see all the fires, but it was even more incredible and inspiring to see the power of people really doing whatever they could to help each other out,” Valdivia said.  

Looking forward, Herrera said she wants to continue making art while also advancing her firefighting career. She’s in the process of applying for fire suppression aid for the L.A. County Fire Department and Cal Fire.

Valdivia, who calls Herrera a hero, believes she’s deserving of the title—a recognition Herrera once struggled to accept. For months, she wasn’t sure she was cut out for firefighting.

“With my art, I didn’t feel like I was good. But now I can say I’m an artist because I feel more confident in my work,” Herrera said.  “With firefighting, at first I was just like,’ I’m just doing my job.’ But the more I learn, and hear how much people appreciate us and the work we do…”

She paused for a moment.

“Maybe I am a hero now.”