For Dalyce Kelley and her 95-year-old grandmother, the day started like any other but ended in tragedy.

Kelley serves as a caregiver for her grandmother, Dalyce Curry, a longtime Altadena resident who came to Los Angeles as a young woman with dreams of becoming A Hollywood actor who has appeared in several films.

On the morning of January 7, Kelly took her grandmother to several medical appointments. They ended up staying in the hospital for five to seven hours for further tests. Eventually, Curry was told she could go home.

As Kelly drove them back that night on Highway 5, they could see wildfire smoke, but it looked far enough away that they thought it was safe.

When Kelly dropped her grandmother off at her home on Krentz Avenue, Curry asked her if she wanted to stay the night. But since Kelly had another sick family member to care for, she told Curry, known to her family as "Mama Dee," that she would call her in the morning to check in.

"We smelled a little bit of smoke," Kelly said, "but I'm telling you, it looked normal, like a normal day in Altadena."

Kelly participated in a group chat with other residents of her grandmother's neighborhood, texting them to tell them she had dropped Curry off and asking if anyone could check to see if she had an evacuation order. Kelly recalled someone giving the message a "thumbs up."

As Kelly turned the corner, she saw police and firefighters setting up a command center outside the Rite Aid. Kelly said she regretted not stopping in that parking lot to ask them about the fire and whether they planned to evacuate her grandmother's neighborhood.

Kelly woke up around 6 a.m. to a text message from Curry's landlord asking if anyone was coming to pick up her grandmother because an evacuation order was issued around 3:30 a.m. Kelly immediately called 911, thinking she could get the police to pick up her grandmother. She was redirected several times before she decided to go to her grandmother's house herself.

As Kelly drove, she saw dark wildfire smoke looming overhead.

“The whole city was black,” she said. "I was leaving Lincoln when it got dark."

Eventually, Kelly was stopped at a police roadblock and gave an officer her grandmother's address so he could check on her. She then headed to the Pasadena Civic Center, an evacuation shelter, where she thought she might find her grandmother.

About 15 minutes after Kelly got there, police called her. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said. "Your grandmother's home burned down. It's gone."

Kelly couldn't find Curry at the Pasadena Center or the Arcadia Community Center, which also housed evacuees. She later filed a missing persons report. Kelly returned to Altadena on Friday but was stopped by the National Guard. A member of the Guard agreed to take her to her grandmother's house, which had been reduced to rubble.

All that remains of her grandmother's possessions is her blue Cadillac, refrigerator, stationary bicycle and metal bed frame.

"Everything else disappeared," Kelly said.

On Sunday, Kelly received a call from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner telling her that human remains had been found on her grandmother's property.

Curry was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1929 and dreamed of becoming a successful Hollywood actor.

She moved to Los Angeles and starred in films such as "The Ten Commandments," "Lady Blues" and "The Blues Brothers." Curry was also a tap dancer and singer and was mentored by Mrs. Sultvan, the first black actress to sign a film contract with a major studio.

“She’s always been fascinated by art, so she instilled that in me,” Kelly said. “I continued working in radio and behind the scenes on music videos.”

Curry later continued working in nursing, caring for the elderly, until his retirement. Her family remembers her as "very charming", a woman who always wore wigs, makeup and nails.

"She always told me, 'Well, honey, nothing is as bad as it seems,'" Kelly said. "Even at my worst, it gave me the strength to keep going and be able to talk to the media. I knew my grandmother was special."

Kelly said she hopes more can be done in the future during emergencies for seniors who may not be tech-savvy or have access to cell phones or online alerts. She said that although Curry had a phone, she didn't know how to use it.

"They said no one knocked on the door," Kelly said. "There was a text message about an evacuation warning, but I heard that by the time they got the evacuation text message, embers were already falling from the sky."

Kelly emphasized her grandmother's love for Altadena, where she lived for more than 20 years.

“Altadena is a unique place,” Kelly said. "It's multicultural. It's about 47 percent African-American. We have a community, there's heritage and history, there's families that have been here for generations.

"My grandmother was there for over 20 years," she added. "She loved Altadena. I could never get her to move."

Curry's family has launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral and memorial service costs, among other expenses.

Kelly said even if Curry survived the fire, she doesn't know if her grandmother would have survived much longer after watching the fires devastate her community.

"I don't think she could have witnessed the devastation that I witnessed," she said, "because her heart and soul was in Altadena."