After a report from The Times, officials have called for an external review into delayed evacuation alerts in western Altadena, during the Eaton fire.
As the Eaton fire retreated into the foothills, people who had fled their homes came back for a look. For many, the news was as bad as it could be.
When fires swept through Altadena, in Los Angeles County, generational wealth and a place of opportunity for people of color, went up in smoke.
Families of color, making up over half of Altadena, have bought homes and kept them for generations. The Black homeownership rate exceeds 80%, almost double the national rate.
We continue our coverage of the devastating wildfires in Southern California, which have killed at least 24 people as of Monday. Some 150,000 more have been forced to evacuate their homes and over 40,
Gov. Gavin Newsom said firefighters from Mexico were en route to help fight the Eaton Fire. The Eaton Fire is one of several still burning and devastating the Los Angeles area. The fire was first reported Tuesday, Jan. 7, near Altadena and Midwick drives.
There was no official alert about the wildfire barreling toward the mountainous community of Altadena, California ... Paradise has averaged about 500 new properties a year since the blaze.
The fire — which erupted near Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County, north of Santa Clarita, late Wednesday morning — has grown to over 10,000 acres.
After authorities reopened parts of Altadena for the first time since the Eaton fire, residents returned to a grim checkerboard of destroyed homes next to others that were largely spared.
Rodney Nickerson had lived in Altadena since 1968, when he bought his three-bedroom house on Alta Pine Drive with $5 down. The 82-year-old military veteran and church deacon received no warnings to evacuate before the Eaton fire swept through his neighborhood,
The demands of a restaurant were never-ending, and Rena would arrive at dawn to start rolling out the biscuits. The original clientele was racially diverse and stuck around for the roast beef, Salisbury steak, sweet potato pie and banana splits.
The operative word was “equitable” given that FEMA disaster funding is anything but that when it comes to poor, underserved mostly Black and Hispanic disaster victims. The Biden order though was not enough.