Vigil mourns lives lost in Eaton fire, urges equity for community during recovery

Altadena residents gathered for a vigil Monday evening to mark the six-month anniversary of the Eaton fire, honor each of its victims and urge an equitable rebuilding process.

A mix of grief, joy and anger filled the air, as the vigil moved from prayers, to captivating musical performances, to passionate demands for fairness. The evening concluded by commemorating each life lost during deadly fire.

“At the end, we’re going to break bread together,” said Florence Annang, one of the vigil’s organizers. “We don’t want to just end on this. We want to understand that justice really begins after tonight.”

Vigil attendees tightly packed onto the street in front of the home of Evelyn McClendon, who died in the fire. Community members stood on the driveway holding framed photographs of 18 of those who passed.

As the sun began to set, Samantha MJ Yang, a member of the Tongva tribe, opened the vigil with a blessing of the land. “It grows wonderfully here (in Altadena) especially after a fire,” as Yang waved white sage in the air. She then led attendees in a Tongva prayer.

In a moment of unity, clergy leaders from Altadena prayed over the fire’s victims as well as the lives lost in the past week’s Central Texas floods.

“I’m sure you all are familiar with what that community is going through in that state with that horrific flood and especially the precious children’s lives who were snatched from them,” said Pastor Anthony McFarland of Lift International Church.

Brandon Lamar, President of Pasadena NAACP, read out the list of demands put forth by the organizations that put the vigil together, urging that elected officials assure that the Altadena community has “real choices” in the rebuilding process.

Among the demands: funds directly for homeowners and renters to rebuild; no red-tape hassle for homeowners by waiving or easing permit restrictions; comprehensive testing throughout the fire zone; clean-up of all contaminated sites; a moratorium on selling lots to developers looking to make quick profits; and safety for all, especially Latino  day laborers.

Lamar said that demand is important to the Altadena community because such workers were cleaning up lots the night of the Eaton fire, before any city or county personnel arrived, so emergency workers could easily access the burn zones.

The vigil concluded as Annang read victims’ names and stories aloud.

Among them: “Anthony Mitchell died with his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy and was in his early 30s,” read Annang. “As Anthony was in a wheelchair, he told his family that someone who help the two evacuate by 8 p.m. That night, they were both dead… His son felt that the system let them down.”

Words of tribute continued for each of those who passed.

The final name to be read out loud was Evelyn McClendon.

“The love that I have for my sister and the love that I have for the community and everybody that’s out here — this is what I’ve been talking about about the whole time,” said Zaire Calvin, McClendon’s brother.

“The diversity of my community and how much love they show,” he added, “is so different than anybody or any place in the world.”