As our community reels from the devastating impact of the LA wildfires, especially the Palisades and Eaton fires, we make space for testimony from community members who are impacted. Here are some of their stories.
Rose Fadem Johnstone, Sierra Club Member
Our house remains standing, miles from any evacuation line, but covered in who knows what. We are lucky.
The night before we heard from our friends that their home was near a fire. They were camping hours away with their young kids and we offered to go by and pickup their necessary documents. They declined, confident in their firebox. The next morning their house was gone. Their firebox later found to have melted. We found out much later that at the time we were offering to go over, there were some in the that same neighborhood that didn’t make it out.
I'm sitting on a floor trying desperately to find mattresses and coordinate bringing them to an empty house for my homeless friend's two children. They have been given an empty unoccupied house to use. For now. But the owner might be backing out. They don't own a frying pan. A baby bottle. An air filter.
Significant air-born lead was found a mile south of us. We'll need to test for lead and asbestos particles before moving the kids back in. No financial aid is available for fleeing carcinogenic air in an urban environment. We were privileged to have somewhere to flee to at all. I cry in the bathroom, out of sight of the children. It’s not valid to cry. We haven’t lost anything. Just our community, stability, and likely the long term health of tens if not hundreds of neighbors.
Many friends are still there. Showing up heroically for the displaced families. How many will have cancer and long term health problems in the coming years? I keep looking for experts in media to me it's all fine. Tell me it's my anxiety. That we can go back now. That my two year old can play in that park. That the poisons will simply blow away if we give it a couple of days. But the scientists and pediatricians are not willing to lie to me. So eventually we will bring the kids back due to financial strain. Due to fatigue. Likely soon, but not yet.
Homer Tom, WTC SGV Chair
My house is fine but I have extended, elderly family members who lost their home in Pacific Palisades. They had mere minutes to evacuate and lost everything.
The San Gabriel Valley Wilderness Travel Course lost access to the school it uses. I learned that the school survived but when it will re-open is unknown. With the possible cancelation of the course looming, we were frantically searching for a new venue.
I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support when I put the word out that we needed to find another venue by January 21st. This support came at every step along the way. First, I heard from not only WTC staff instructors and students, but also from people throughout the Angeles Chapter, with multiple suggestions of places and people to contact. Then I was blessed with numerous people helping narrow down the candidates. Finally, the number of potential venues offering to help far exceeded my expectations. Ultimately--and at the last minute, I should add--we found Pacific Oaks College, a private, non-profit, non-sectarian school whose values are in perfect harmony with the Sierra Club. I think they are a perfect partner for us and the Sierra Club, hopefully for a long time!
I am uplifted by the school's generosity to open their doors freely on such short notice, and we have definitely found a silver lining in the midst of this horrific tragedy. If it wasn't for the huge response we got I doubt we would have ever found them.
Megan Mantia, Sierra Club Member
I lived on the corner of Fair Oaks Ave & Mariposa in Altadena & on Wednesday 1/8, my entire block burned to the ground in a fire long enough and hot enough to melt gold. It decimated everything except some ceramic items, coins, & a titanium bracelet. It even liquified a ‘fire proof’ safe I had some precious photos in. I lost everything except for what was in my car & and overnight bag I took to sleep at my bf’s when I lost power the night before. I didn’t think I was evacuating at all…I just figured it would be nice to pass the time around him & his housemates and I’d be back the next day. I’ve talked to every kind of evacuee from Altadena, some who lived there 40 years, 20 years, 1.5 years- every single person has said the SAME thing. “There was no way the fire would come that far into neighborhoods…we’d definitely be back the next day.”
I spend the night of the 7th with no power and barely any cell service, had no idea my neighborhood evacuated at 3:30am…no idea that my place burned until I climbed on to my bf’s roof the next morning to assess the smoke & suddenly 50 texts flooded my phone. We immediately jumped in the car and headed that way just to see how far we could get.
We had to park and walk in but we hurried to my address, passing houses just catching on fire/ power lines down everywhere/ no cops, no firefighters anywhere in sight. It was all surely gone- the whole town had just been erased overnight.
Altadena was a utopia. I lost all of the art I’ve ever collected, all of my hardrives with my personal art & all photos on them, every memory I’ve painstakingly collected. And despite the intensity of the heartbreak I feel over losing all of that- I still feel really lucky I got to live in that town while I could. I had 4 of my happiest years in a very unique studio with the best landlord & the best neighbors.
I don’t know what’s next for me, but the outpouring of support from my community has been almost as surreal as the event itself. I feel so lucky & completely in awe.