This article explores the policy and practice of inmate labor being used in firefighting. This article discusses how 800 inmates helped with the Pacific Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, and other wildfires this month.
This article is highlighting the mutual aid efforts and outpouring of support that Black community leaders have offered in light of the LA County Wildfires.
Altadena, California was a bustling little bedroom community nestled against the San Gabriel Mountains where generations of African American families settled years ago to enjoy the lush green trees, the larger than average home lot sizes and a piece of the American Dream.
Rachel Aladdin and her family are impacted by the loss of not one, but three of the family’s Altadena homes.
“Our whole street was Black and Brown families who’ve been here for 50, 60 years. We’re definitely rebuilding. People keep trying to buy it, but we’re holding on.”
Planners, engineers, architects—we are ready to make this a Mecca. This will be a premier destination for the county of Los Angeles.
“I don’t come from a rich family, and I work so hard for everything that I own,” she mourned.
“He drove through our neighborhood, and every home was burned down. When he got to our street, everything was flat. I asked if there was anything salvageable. He said no.”
Decades ago, the writer Octavia Butler had imagined a Los Angeles ravaged by fires. The Altadena cemetery where the science fiction and Afrofuturism author is buried did catch fire last week but suffered “minimal damage,” according to a statement on the cemetery’s web site.
The sight of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks reduced to ashes can make it seem like the wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area affected a constellation of movie stars. But a drive through the charred neighborhoods around Altadena shows that the fires also burned through a remarkable haven for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere.
The death toll from the Eaton Fire in the Altadena and Pasadena areas rose to 16 Monday, as firefighters braced for more gusty Santa Ana winds expected this week.
Even as winds diminished slightly, the Eaton Fire that has already caused five deaths and destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 structures advanced on Mount Wilson on Thursday, Jan. 9, threatening the observatory and broadcast infrastructure.
The greater Los Angeles community recently mourned the passing of Evan Michael (Horsely) Cablayan. Evan was born June 6, 1980, and died on April 29, 2024.
“Stability, service and safety,” will be the hallmarks of Patrice Marshall McKenzie’s service as a Pasadena School Board member if she wins the district 5 seat being vacated by Elizabeth Pomeroy.
Gerald Freeny will once again be riding down Colorado Boulevard in the 133rd Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. However, this year unlike in 2019 when Freeny rode in the parade as the Tournament President, this year he will be riding as an organ donor recipient on the Cedar Sinai DonateLife Float.