Aryana Noroozi
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Approximately 1,000 people gathered in the parking lot of Grocery Outlet in Altadena in a display of community resilience. The event marked the one year anniversary of the Eaton Fire on the First Anniversary Commemoration of the Eaton Fire, sponsored by Community Coalition for Altadena Recovery. The fire was the fifth deadliest and second most destructive in the state’s history. It claimed the lives of 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 buildings.
Of those killed by the Eaton fire, over 70% were Black and 64% were women, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.
During the fires and the months after, The Grocery Outlet parking lot served as a place where aid was provided and impacted families could receive support. A year to the date of when the fire began, the community gathered to hold space for each other as well as those who did not make it through. The community’s resilience, strength and regrowth was also celebrated.
Nineteen members of the clergy from across the community took the stage holding photos of the 19 community members who were lost to the Eaton Fire. Wilberta Richardson, president of the Altadena NAACP, named each clergy member as they took the stage holding photographs of the victims, and also shared the names and addresses of each victim.
The gathering concluded with a light vigil as Judy Matthews, president of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, encouraged the crowd to hold up their cellphone lights in a moment of silence for those whose lives were taken by the Eaton Fire.
“Let us pause, not only to mourn the lives lost, but also to recognize the strength and the resilience of our community and the faith of tragedy,” Matthew said.
