All posts tagged: california fires

In fire-scarred Altadena, displaced congregations remain ‘in the wilderness’

In fire-scarred Altadena, displaced congregations remain ‘in the wilderness’

LOS ANGELES (RNS) — To drive the streets of Altadena now, a little over a year after the Eaton Fire, is to be confronted by acres of dirt — and greenery. The last of the charred debris was removed in August, and thanks to record-breaking winter rainfall, weeds and wild grasses have claimed many of the cleared lots.  The Eaton Fire was among the most devastating fires in California history, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,400 structures in this racially and economically diverse suburb of Los Angeles. More than a dozen of those buildings were houses of worship — like Masjid Al-Taqwa, Altadena’s first mosque. Jihad Abdus-Shakoor, whose parents helped found Masjid Al-Taqwa in the 1970s, spent much of his life within its walls. Today, all that remains of the mosque are its parking lot and street sign.  Abdus-Shakoor feels some relief at seeing rubble removed, but seeing the empty land is also “another blow,” he said. “You’re glad the city is cleaned up, but the finality of looking at dirt is a …

On the Frantic Front Lines of the Los Angeles Fires With Governor Gavin Newsom

On the Frantic Front Lines of the Los Angeles Fires With Governor Gavin Newsom

At the intersection of Midwick Drive and Sinaloa Avenue in Altadena, neighbors had mobilized to stop a situation almost exactly the same as I had seen playing out across the street from my brother’s home in the Palisades. Flames from a house, fully engulfed, were pouring up and over the fence toward the home of Eric Fiedler and his son Christopher, which had survived the fire that night. With two garden hoses and a ladder, they climbed to the roof to attempt to beat back the flames by wetting the roof and the hedges. It was 9:25 a.m. One resident who was wearing a cutoff black T-shirt and sunglasses used the shirt to cover his mouth to prevent smoke from asphyxiating him. A fire truck from Riverside County Cal Fire pulled up, resulting in the exalted screams of even the KNBC reporter on the scene, Michelle Valles. “Thank you so much! Oh, my goodness. Praise the Lord.” Around the same time the Riverside County firefighters battled the flames on Sinaloa, Ashley, the daughter of Herb …