Firefighting, local community, mutual assistance: Personal account from the forefront of LA -Non -promoted news

“Beauty is born from ash.”

This is a Rev. Cahwine Manning at a rally of Altadena and Pasadena, organized by a religious organization based on religion to demand fair and fair reconstruction from a wildfire that hit Southern California in January 2025. It’s a word.

From afar, it is often thought that the main impact of the wildfire that hit the area was in movie stars who live the best on the seaside. However, even in the super wealthy Pacific Palisis, which has attracted a lot of attention nationwide, that does not apply. Think about the long -term residents who have settled there for a long time, and those who have been running this place, nanny, gardener, and house cleaning.

However, the idea that only the wealthy was burned by these flames is particularly incorrect in places where another major fire rampage. Altadena is a place where the black pioneers have been able to move to the Latin Americans after the black pioneers have broken the racial barriers. Eventually, artists and others have become attracted to the community of the working middle -class, where the community has a true meaning.

From afar, it is easy to think that the wildfire that hit our area mainly influenced movie stars, but that is not the case.

We were able to get a glimpse of the community on the first day of the fire.

My wife and I live in Pasadena, but it’s south of the evacuation area. However, we own a rental property in North Pasadena adjacent to Altadena. It’s a ducrex where my daughter lives in Casita on the back (that’s why we purchased it as an obedient parent).

On the night of January 7, she and all residents in the table were evacuated. The next morning, when the remaining fire jumped into the neighborhood, Lewis in the table returned. His wife, Jamie, has a sense of responsibility as usual and asks him to get out of garbage for coming to pick you up. And he noticed that a fire was on the street.

Neighboring hoses and buckets brigade walked around multiple premises, turned off the fire, and saved each other.

The fire burned up from a few farms to the garden of my home, first baked the storeroom hut, then baked three cars, and then burned the carport and back fence. The melted vehicle and the burnt fence create an end -end atmosphere.

Lewis and his father -in -law, Alturo, jumped in to stop the fire with a hose and a water bucket. The neighbors were together, and one of them broke through the fence and connected us to us. A special note about Alturo: He just knew he had lost his house when he jumped in to protect our house.

They were heroes. Eventually, my wife, Betzy, came by car, and I followed it. (I was preparing for the student’s dissertation in downtown in LA, but this speech was more imminent.) The fire truck was nearby, but I worked on a bigger flame right north. I couldn’t help us.

It was a surprising event that indicated that individuals could not deal with the task. Hoses and bucket brigades consisting of neighbors walked around multiple premises (many fences were burned down or washed away by wind, so they could easily enter and exit), extinguished each other, helping each other. We joined immediately that morning and decided to pour as much water to be collected on some mild fires on the adjacent site.

Only four houses were completely destroyed. At least 12 out of 20 to 30 in our neighborhood are gone. However, our Duplex survived the site, but survived.

We returned on the afternoon of Wednesday, joined the neighbors again, moved from home to home with a hose, and did what we could do. On the morning of January 9th, the mountain was still smoldering, but the worst thing came out.

Nevertheless, the wind may start to blow again, and this phenomenon is instigated, making it harder for water drops from the air to fall. This was especially worrisome. This is because our fire, Eaton Canyon Fire, had almost no fire, despite the fact that the burning fuel was much less, given the destruction. The next day, a new riot occurred in the neighborhood, but was suppressed.

Our experience has revealed that it is necessary to balance importantly between the appeal of mutual aid and the need for national behavior.

Our rental properties remain more or less intact. My daughter lives temporarily together, the residents at the front desk are safe, everyone is upset, but we are healthy.

There are many things to do. As I mentioned earlier, the back side is quite an end, and everyone is worried about poisonous debris. Nevertheless, we have a friend who lost home and work, and we are hurt by them.

That’s why it was a lot of comfort that Rev. Manning was able to hear the sermon with many people in Pasadena church, saying that “crisis brings clarity and crisis confirms personality.”

Certainly, our own experience has supported the importance of our community and the importance of interaction. It is also clear that it should also balance between us, who are investing in the solidar economy, and us who are interested in rule power between us, and the need for mutual assistance and the need for national behavior. did. Certainly, our neighbors supported each other, but we are not. The firefighter arrived safely in the north without maintaining a line.

Everyone in LA was impressed by this. I pray for our area. And ignoring our true pain, he argues that California has invited it with the wrong housing policy and excess DEI, despite the fact that the true cause is the denial of the long -term climate change. Curse the weather.

We are reaching more and more disasters. I am worried that this time may be lacking in sympathy. I have a lot of time to fill this article on January 20th. This day is the day we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. and fear the resurrection of Donald Trump. While staring at the abyss, the only thing I can do is the care of the local community in the flames and in the aftermath. We stand up from this ash.