Original subtitles

I had a big health scare in 2017.

I'm scanned annually for pancreatic

cancer due to my family history. And

this year, my doctor called to say there

was a mark found on my pancreas in an

MRI.

So, I'd gone through the holidays

watching my son Juki open presents and

cuddling him to bed.

The year before his father had died in a

motorcycle accident. So I sat there

holding back tears because according to

the statistics this was to be the last

year he would have a parent.

I went in for the endoscopic ultrasound

on the very last day of the year. And as

they gave me the anesthesia I prayed

which I rarely do.

Burn everything.

Burn every film. Burn every award.

Just please let me see my son grow old.

I went under and when I opened my eyes,

my mom was standing over me.

It's all clear. It was just a shadow on

the MRI.

My son turned 21 on November 1st, 2024.

Maybe I should choose my words more

carefully next time.

Here

it is.

>> I'll just pull up here.

>> Yeah.

>> Wow.

>> I'm horrified. It says unsafe and it

says it right there. You see it?

It was like my whole life. I loved it

there. I'm still alive. But look at

that.

>> This is how we have to go home now.

We're home in a hazmat outfit. There's

no home here.

I'm just so sorry for the town of

Altadena.

It's beautiful place.

>> This is Andy's movie. One of her movies.

It might be Maple Thorp.

>> Babe.

>> Oh my god. Is that my film?

Everything. It's just gone. This is my

boy's room who grew up here. The thing

that I'm saddest about is losing my

son's cards to me. We would draw the

highlights of our life together every

year. They were beautiful.

>> I had this really meaningful instrument

right over here. It was right there.

[ __ ] Here it is.

Wow.

I played it on all my records.

It's called a hung.

>> We got married right here.

This is where we got married.

>> And we say together.

>> And we say together.

>> Amen.

>> Amen.

>> All the time.

It's just beyond belief.

>> Yeah,

>> it's all just ruined.

>> I couldn't believe that I could live

here.

We knew it was a great day if we could

get on our bikes and roll down to our

plot at the community garden and then

over to Farnsworth Park to enjoy a

concert and some dancing. Then down to

foxes for the best meal ever. But it's

gone. As is the Bank of America, the

hardware store, the pet store, the whole

town.

This is a safe.

>> The cash is burned.

>> You can see the money.

>> You can see the money. Oh, [ __ ]

>> You can see the take it. It does have a

number on it.

I don't know if we can live here. Morgan

really doesn't want to live here because

she doesn't want this to she thinks

it'll happen again. But I I also don't

want to abandon my community. I mean,

Aladena is my my community, you know.

So, I don't know what to do.

What would you do?

>> Welcome home, Audrey. Ry's my across the

street neighbor and he is just a

fantastic lovey bear.

>> That's all right. You know what? It's

We'll be back. We'll be back.

>> I lived here since I was 12 years old.

Moved away when I was 21.

And then when my father passed, I moved

back up to take care of my mom. And then

I took care of her until she passed. And

then I moved my son up with his wife and

my three grandchildren.

>> The memories that I had here, where I

have with my grandmother, where I had

with my dad, what I had with her, cuz we

were high school sweethearts.

The insurance company let us know we're

underinsured. They said we're about

70 grand short.

>> So, three generations. This was our

family legacy.

Multigenerational living is as prevalent

in Altadena as the peacocks which

visited daily and crun from our trees at

night. I filmed these peacocks

obsessively as well as everything else

that I loved about Altadena.

>> When the fire was over to the lake, I

said there's no way it's going to make

it all the way to our house. Oh my god,

that's downtown Aladena.

>> Cuz it would have to burn all these

houses and it did.

>> It was Randy who texted me to tell me

that our homes burned down. I was in

Budapest of all places.

It's not looking good. My house is gone.

And I'm sorry to say yours and Steve's

didn't make it. Most of Altadena is

gone. Ry's moved several times since the

fire from Flea Bag Motel to Airbnb.

>> We have faith. We're strong faithful.

>> We have faith that things are going to

work work out in our favor.

>> Yeah.

>> We don't know how.

>> It always has.

>> We don't know how, but we know it will.

>> I'm wondering what that is. Oh my god.

That's dad's road.

>> Oh man, it made it. That's unbelievable.

He raised us in that robe. He wore it

all the time when we were growing up.

I never even saw this robe in the

bathroom. Did you, babe?

>> No, I don't remember that.

>> That's God. That's got to be God. That's

That's his spirit in presence.

>> He always said he was going to watch

over us. But how did it survive? Even

the fireproof safe is burnt to a crisp.

Look forward.

That's bad.

>> I knew your father and he was an awesome

guy and I I think his spirit is still

around especially after seeing his robe.

That's the hope. That was him telling

you something. It's like, hey, you know,

I'm still here. I'm still a presence

here.

My brother David and his wife Kelly lost

their home in Altadena the same night, a

mile south of ours, and thousands burned

between us.

>> This is how I go to your house.

And so right here is where all the

books,

all of our books were. And look how look

what happened. It's all just like

confetti.

Like holding on to something.

>> Something big. The minora.

>> That's the minora.

>> Oh, we found the minora.

That's the garage. That's where all of

Kelly's paintings were. That's the

biggest The biggest hardest thing for me

is that all of Kelly's artwork is gone

and uh she doesn't make art anymore.

We might be the first climate refugees

you know personally, but we won't be the

last. The Eden fire that destroyed

Altadena, killing 19 people and wiping

out over 14,000 acres was one of the

worst in LA history. And half of

California's largest wildfires have

happened in the last 5 years. I found

out through our attorneys that our

neighbors, the Wormleys, are also

plaintiffs in the lawsuit against

Southern California Edison, whose

transmission towers were witnessed

causing the sparks that ignited the fire

that destroyed Altadena. I knew Renell

and her daughter, La Porsche, from our

walks around the neighborhood. Their two

sweet kids loved my husky, Bellatrix,

and they'd all wave and say hello as we

passed by on Olive Street.

They narrowly escaped that home at 4 in

the morning because they had no

evacuation orders.

All three generations are living at the

travel lodge for over a month now.

>> I'm about to travel lodge here cuz I

lost my house. I lost it. I lost

everything that I have. My mom didn't

even get the queen of toys that I asked

her to get. got very bad

cuz I had some true memories about those

toys. But she did take her insulin.

>> I was a nurse at LA County USC Medical

Center. Kind of followed my mom's

footsteps cuz she was a nurse as well.

>> And I did home health hospice. She was

the beginning and I dealt with the end.

>> Aladina was what we called home.

My parents worked hard to provide us a

home. My mom loved that home and asked

me did I want to keep it. And I told her

yes, it's for the family. Whatever I

need to do. Our lives were lived there

and our families were there and my

parents and my children and my

grandchildren.

The community was awesome. neighbors

helping neighbors. We would lift each

other up. That's what Aladena was about.

And everything is gone now.

>> Is there something that you're looking

for?

>> Yeah. I wanted to see if I could grab

this lock box

>> and I think I saw it.

>> This is it. This is remember my Lock

box.

>> Lock box.

>> Okay.

>> Oh [ __ ] my knee.

>> Reel slipped and fell in the ruins of

her home and is now in the hospital. On

top of this, she's facing a large

reverse mortgage. I'm worried about so

many of my neighbors who are

underinsured and truly in desperate

straits.

Anyone who paid off their mortgage was

not required to have insurance. And now

they're facing homelessness.

>> Aladine is not for sale.

>> Alena is not for sale.

>> My brother tells me about a rally and an

activist named Heavenly Hughes.

>> Aladine is not for sale.

>> Aladine is not for sale.

>> Alina

in the house for sure.

We're here to say do not sell. We are

here to support you during that time

when it's time to rebuild. We do not

want to be swept out of Aladena.

>> All this devastation that you've seen

here could have been prevented. But

Southern California Edison, instead of

spending the money to update their

equipment, they were worried about

>> a $14 million CEO payday.

>> Dollar.

>> Yes.

>> Oh my god. Hey, Roert. What are you

doing here, bro?

>> I saw Roert of my tribe rise. I worked

with Roert 20 years ago and then we lost

touch because we were just like

co-workers back then. And I had no idea

it was my neighbor.

>> Your house burned down, bro.

>> Yeah. Everything burned up there.

>> Yeah, mine too.

>> So, when I saw him at my tribe rides, I

told him, "I'm going to go to my lot and

do some digging." And he's like, "Can I

come help?" So, he came right over. We

started digging. And that's when we

found all of my wife, Kelly's ceramics.

And I kept saying, "Thank you so much."

and he's like, "No, no, thank you. This

is therapy for me. I couldn't find

anything at my house. Something like

this happens and he's my friend now."

Aldadina was the best. It was the

friendliest, most diverse neighborhood

I've ever lived in. And everyone seemed

to be thriving. There were holiday

parties and block parties. So many great

mom and pop joints. And then the fire

comes along and it's like, "Some of us

are going to be okay, but some of us are

at risk of losing everything."

>> So that's out of my window at 2:12 in

the morning.

>> Wow. Wow. And we didn't get the warning

evacuation board until 3:30.

>> His shoes had melted from the fire as he

tried to save his house.

>> So, my sister lost her house.

>> My niece lost her house. My

brother-in-law lost his apartment. Guy

next door is a gardener. He's in a

sticky situation. Forgot to make his

premium. And I did January 4th, they

gave him next, you are no longer you no

longer insured. So those four days,

he didn't hit He was not covered.

>> Not covered.

>> And how many years did he live there?

>> Over 30 years.

>> I come back here just to remember how to

get here

>> and just to know the way back home.

>> You guys ready?

>> One second.

>> After the fire happened, after losing my

house and studio, someone reached out

and donated two different tint type

cameras to me. The end of today, I will

reach my 200th portrait.

11 1.

>> Looking at Rupert's footage and hearing

his story, I don't feel safe anywhere.

Models predict fires like these are 50%

more likely in the future due to climate

change.

12,500 homes burned over two days on

January 7th and 8th on opposite sides of

LA.

Over 6,800 buildings burned in the

Palisades and Malibu.

>> Oh my god.

Oh my god.

>> And over 9,400 buildings in Altadena. 86

square miles were scorched. It was the

costliest fire in US history with losses

estimated to be between 76 and $131

billion.

I was like, "Wow, look at that fire." It

was a beautiful visual. Actually,

it was beautiful. And I didn't like to

share that, but I'm watching this whole

mountain just like dancing. That's

literally what it looked like to me. It

looked like the fire was just dancing

through the sky and just becoming more

and more broad as it's dancing. And then

it kind of took a turn because now I'm

seeing it come down into the actual

residents and the community. So that's

when it's no longer beautiful cuz now

you know life is in danger.

We were actually trapped in the house.

Couldn't get out and had to break

through my glass door to even get out

the house.

There were no helicopters or a fire

truck. It's almost like they allowed it

to burn.

>> Heavenly. I grew up with the

understanding that fire trucks came when

there was a fire and people were told to

evacuate, but no one showed up here.

>> What do I really say about that? I mean,

the I'll have to say that the black

community is not surprised that we were

not informed.

You moved into a black community where

we are not on the priority list to save

our lives.

I've been in Aladena my entire life. I

was born in the mid70s and raised in

Aladena. Due to red lining, negroes were

only able to purchase property on the

west side of Aladena or in northwest

Pasadena. Real estate agents would not

even show Negro's property in those

areas. According to vehicle locator data

uncovered by the LA Times, 40 county

fire trucks surrounded the Palisades

fire. Whereas in West Altadena, where 19

of my neighbors perished, there was only

one. They could care less if we had all

died that night. They've been wanting to

get us out of there for a very long

time. And a part of making prices so

high, unreachable that we already know

the only people that are going to be

able to now even move into Westside

Aladena are those who are fluent, got

money. I mean, things are selling for a

million dollars or more.

When I think about Aladena's not for

sale, I think about the community

members, the culture. I think about

those who built Aladena. That can't be

sold. Yeah. Our community is not for

sale. Our culture is not for sale. What

we've put into building this atmosphere

of love within our community, that's not

for sale. We have a full day today

making sure that we get the resources

necessary for the new build and

everything in between.

Thank you, Sue.

>> Despite living next to each other,

exchanging occasional hellos and waves

from a distance, it's only after the

walls came down and my neighbors and I

are displaced and dispersed that our

bonds of connection truly form. We have

lunchons where we invite Aladinians

throughout the community who've been

impacted by the fire. We call them our

power lunchons.

>> Hello, how are you? Blessings. Good to

see you. We going to talk.

>> Our last lunchon, I saw probably 20 of

my classmates that I graduated from high

school with. They come up to me like,

"Thank you so much. Feels good to be

able to serve them." Altadena is

actually not a city of its own. It's

unincorporated LA County. So, we only

have county services like the county

fire and sheriff. And Katherine Berger

was our only local politician. How many

of us in here are planning to rebuild?

Because we want to keep you encouraged.

We want to keep you encouraged that we

are going to rebuild. There will be a

new Aladena and we're going to all be a

part of it. Blessings.

>> My background is in disasters. I'll be

with you for the next at least 10 years.

>> Hi, young man.

>> Hey, nice to meet you.

>> I'm going to need some resources or

connections with rebuilding. My mom was

in a reverse mortgage.

>> Okay. And so she has a balance.

>> That's what what we can help you figure

out.

>> Thank God for you.

>> Up to now, we've probably given over

$200,000 in direct assistance just for

temporary housing.

>> People tell her often that she should

run for mayor next.

>> Shauna is my right hand. She's doing it

all with me. So I truly appreciate. So I

love you and thank you so much. Hey

Shauna, we need to get all these 100 or

more community members who have sent in

emails. We needed to get it into one

letter for supervisor Barker.

>> We got a letter from world 3 Figaroa

where a lot of tenants were left there

alone. They feel like they were left

alone to die. So the same situation was

happening over there at the El Miridor

where the seniors were left to fight for

themselves to get out the night of the

fire. So yeah, we got a letter from

NAACP president saying that he has

reached out to Supervisor Barger at

least five times and no response.

We're headed up to LMA Alto Park. They

are doing a reopening. We're going to

present an invitation asking Supervisor

Barger to come to a community organized

town hall meeting. Who has the letter?

>> Okay, I'll be right there. I want to

introduce you to the hardest working

elected official for the recovery of

Aladena, Supervisor Katherine Berger.

>> Three, two, ONE.

>> Super Ber, we'd like to

request that we'd like to see in

improving your response to the Aladena

fire. Supervisor Barger,

>> this is not the time.

We got that on tape. We appreciate that

she's here for the kids, but uh how do

you celebrate at a park when you're

looking over at disaster?

>> Let's also spend money on rebuilding the

neighborhood.

>> Hello, Catherine.

>> Sorry. How are you?

>> How are you?

>> Excuse me, ma'am. With all due respect,

with all due respect, this is not the

time. Heavenly

>> heard today. We heard today. I'm I'm

>> not today. I got you. No, I don't have

>> Isn't it for community?

>> No, this is a closed tour. No,

>> I'm thankful about the park, but there's

a lot of community members who are

saying we might have to start sleeping

at the park because we are unhoused. We

don't we're sleeping in our car still.

So, we came to meet the supervisor where

she's at because we have not been able

to contact her. So, there was no

disruption about the park. I think that

how you just came up me was wrong cuz

this has been my park for over 49 years

and you just hurt my feelings.

>> Now I'm fired up. So we going to be

meeting y'all for real where y'all at?

Everywhere y'all at. If I'm seeing all

these people still sleeping in cars,

still sleeping on couches, maybe we need

to see where money can go to really help

the people.

Renell, did you get the lease signed for

the temporary housing?

>> As far as the payment of the lease

agreement, the agent wanted me to pay

out of my pocket and I'm like, I'm

living off that money and I've got to

buy things for the place cuz you forget

we're starting completely over. So, when

it comes down to a spoon or a fork or a

cup, we have to buy everything.

>> I'm on my way up now to go pick up my

mom's ashes. I realized

the one thing that was illreceable was

my mother's remains. And they're finally

starting to clear my lot. So, I gave the

Army Corp the approximate location where

my mother's ashes might be. And

yesterday, they text me and told me they

found them. Okay, let me

Thank you so much.

>> Thank you.

>> She's back with me. It's heavy, isn't

it?

>> Thank you so much.

>> She wanted to be found.

>> All right. Right. Okay. You take care of

yourself. Okay. It made it.

Do

>> you want to go into our property this

way?

>> Doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want

to do.

>> Should we keep these boulders?

>> I mean, they're just rocks, Mom.

>> Well, right now, the Army Corps is going

to ask us what we want to keep and what

we want to lose. So, at least look at it

with me from that perspective.

>> Look at the lizard juice.

you okay?

>> Sad cuz this is our stuff. Like even if

it's a mess, it's still like our stuff.

You know, that thing is your That's your

room.

>> I know.

>> A snake.

>> So cool

that it still exists. Oh,

>> so many wonderful.

>> There was so many wonderful gatherings

here.

>> What do you want them to keep?

>> Nothing. I I don't even reminisce. I

think we deal with these things very

differently.

I got to get out of here, Mom. I got to

get out of here. Suck me.

know for me, mom, that it's okay because

I have had a lot of good times in this

place, but I also was just really

depressed from like 15 till like 19, you

know, and now I feel better than I ever

have.

>> That's great.

>> And so it's just we're in different

places about this place. Somehow I'm

ready to just leave it.

So, we're going to come here three feet

and they're going to saw cut and remove

the foundation.

>> Okay. So, the night of the fire, my

brother, his family, my mom, and her

cats evacuated to my house. And one of

the cats got trapped in here under my

bed. So, if you could find the remains

so that my mom could bury her, I know

that helped her a lot.

>> Yeah. Just so much debris. Yeah. But you

never know things.

>> Have you found remains at other houses?

>> Yes, we had one we cleaned up. It's uh

they found his sister in the bathtub on

lost floor. She tried to hide from the

fire, I believe. And she

>> Yeah, something.

>> We know that story. Yeah,

>> we know Zire.

>> Yeah, that's one thing I think this fire

has actually did for this community is

bring people back together, right? I see

everyone talking, sharing information,

and helping out as things go. The

community is going to be way stronger.

But this is the worst thing you've ever

seen at 13.

>> Yeah, we I mean I think I heard we

passed 911 as far as debris clean up the

tonnage. I think we're over 100 million

tons.

>> Tomorrow's Mother's Day. We'd sit right

at that table.

my mom and Kelly.

>> Cheers, mama friend.

>> My sister-in-law would be celebrated

every single Mother's Day.

>> Happy Mother's Day. Mother's Day.

>> And right now, I'm sitting inside of a

danger zone. That is my house.

That's my bedroom wall right there. My

safest space in the world. In the world.

Travel all over the world. And the only

thing I knew is I could come back to

that place right there. [ __ ]

destroyed.

I'm just grateful. I'm grateful for the

time we had to be here and raise my son

here. Been 13 good years here. I don't

know what to do next, but at least I had

that.

We got to have you guys out of the red

tape.

>> I'm just like crying. It was a great

great house. It's like the end of a

chapter, you know,

>> right? Yeah. A lot of the homeowners

describe it as like a funeral.

>> It's like a funeral. That's exactly

right.

>> The piano. Oh my god.

Hey Ra, I'm having a really hard time. I

don't know. It feels victim me to be

crying about it still.

>> It's appropriate to be victim.

>> It just feels like such an attachment to

things. You know what I mean? that it's

it's not spiritually elevated for me to

be like sad about that but it's the

place it's the orientation I feel so

disor oriented now you know

that idea that you just said that it's

not spiritually elevated that is just

that is just really not true the home is

is is like a mess the dichotomy between

like spirituality and materiality is

just wrong

>> our lives are made of the things we

gather around us in a matter

>> on a thing about grief. You can't argue

with him. Grief has its own timeline is

in charge. You are actually not in

charge.

>> It was the best neighborhood I ever

lived in. You know, in 4 years, I knew

all my neighbors. So, that's why we're

rebuilding cuz you can't just pick up

and find another place like that, you

know. So,

There is one cat here who is available

in our cat center who has recovered from

burn injuries.

>> Poor babies.

>> We took in over 500 animals for

emergency boarding after the fire.

>> Well, hi. Hello, baby. I would love to

take her.

Okay,

>> we actually have a really cool program

called Seniors for Seniors. So, her fee

is going to be waved, so there won't be

an adoption fee.

>> How sweet. How sweet.

>> Come here, baby girl.

>> How you doing, neighbor?

>> Wow.

>> Congrats on getting this rental finally.

And are you going to rebuild? Have you

even thought about

>> Yes, I do plan to rebuild. So, what I

have to do for me to stay there is just

pay the loan balance. So, I got, you

know, I got to work on getting that

money to

>> It's like 600,000 [ __ ]

>> cuz I I' I've got to

>> start dealing with that portion of it.

>> Well, we're here.

>> But maybe I can cuz my next door

neighbors

>> like we're neighbors now.

>> Yeah.

>> We're more neighbors than we ever have

been,

>> man. But it took our houses down

>> to connect.

Alina,

>> we are one. Glory out of yours.

>> I love you, Aladena. We want to make

sure that Supervisor Barger know that we

want to be a part of the conversation

when we invited Supervisor Barger to

come here. Supervisor Barger, are you

here?

>> No.

>> We're going to be out here most of the

day asking you to come and meet with us.

Are we ready to march?

>> Hallelujah.

Look who's here.

>> What's happening with the house?

>> They're saying that they're going to do

a foreclosure 26th of August.

>> What?

>> Yeah. So, all these months that I've

been trying to get them to tell me

something, nobody could ever tell me

anything.

just sending me to different

departments.

>> I'm so sorry that you're dealing with

all that.

>> I just can't believe they can take your

property. It's just been a whirlwind.

Auntie,

>> you got your family. You need to take

care of

>> and I got my family. That's why I had

kind of started saying, you know, I'll

just sell it.

>> But what about if we can get you to

stay? Wouldn't you prefer to stay in the

lot?

>> Yeah, but I don't have the money to

rebuild it.

>> But the power company does.

Oh my goodness. We have a special guest

here. Our congresswoman Judy Ch is in

the house.

>> Look at all these incredible resources

that are here. This is so fantastic.

Foothill family, young and healthy.

Thank you my tribe rise for bringing

together the community.

>> I had a question. I was affected by the

fire.

>> My mom had a reverse mortage on the H

Reverse mortgages are the scourge of the

earth.

>> They're all seniors.

>> There's not one young person under the

age of 65 that has a reverse. And the

level of interest, it's above credit

card rates. I'm like,

>> really?

>> There are about 300 and some odd reverse

mortgages now, which is an over

representation now.

>> Oh my god.

>> Um, which HUD has already acknowledged.

>> Okay. We need some help from Congress to

say, "Hey, she shouldn't be foreclosed

on under these circumstances."

>> We really need to do something.

>> Well, especially with a a pending

lawsuit where there's a lot of

plaintiffs who are due to get money,

there really should be a moratorium on

foreclosures.

>> We'll try to do whatever we can,

including making them be embarrassed

about what's happening.

>> Yeah.

Then all the walls came down.

Didn't know your face in the

walls.

>> Today marks the sixmonth anniversary of

when the fire started.

This is the largest debris mission that

we've ever had in the 250 years that the

core of engineers and the army has been

in existence. And I have 100% confidence

that it will rise up again.

>> As we breathe together, we also heal

together.

>> Only get one home.

Barbara Lewis,

Dalis Curry,

>> my sister Evelyn McClendon was the very

first victim found in the fire. I know

that because me and my cousin came up

here and found her the very next day.

>> All the walls came down.

If you guys can stand in a line. Here we

go.

1 10 100 2 100 3 100 Right.

I'm sorry guys, that is beautiful.

>> I don't know how many black people are

still going to be able to enjoy

beautiful Aladena, but this kind of love

throughout the community has been at

such a high rising.

I believe together we're going to see

this new Aladena and it's going to be

better.

>> It's like it was 1907 or 1908. This is

probably how the neighborhood looked.

People were starting to move up here and

they'd get their little piece of land

and they'd start building their houses

and you know be a lot of lots in between

and then there's a house. A lot of lots

in between and then there's a house.

People scattered but just building brick

by brick, year by year, it just started

getting better and better. It's

absolutely sure that anything is

possible and that it can come back. I

think it could come back.

>> I've learned we each carry a piece of

Altadena inside us. We are Altadena and

this is our story.

Someday

I'm going to live in your house up on

the hill.

And when your skin head neighbor goes

missing, I'll plant a garden

in the yard. Then they're gluing roses

on a flat bed. You should see it. I mean

thousands. I grew up here till it all

went up in flames except the notches

in the door frame.

I don't know when you got taller.

See our reflection in the water.