BONUS EPISODE: Losing Altadena - A 'The Joy Reid Show' Special

Summary

The Joy Reid Show: BONUS EPISODE – Losing Altadena Summary

Introduction

In this heartfelt special episode of The Joy Reid Show, host Joy-Ann Reid delves deep into the devastating Eaton Fire that ravaged Altadena, California. Released on July 23, 2025, this episode provides an unfiltered look into the lives of residents affected by the most expensive fire in Southern California's history. Through personal narratives, expert insights, and community perspectives, Joy-Ann paints a comprehensive picture of the destruction, resilience, and ongoing challenges faced by the Altadena community.

---

The Eaton Fire: A Catastrophic Event

The episode opens with a recount of the Eaton Fire's onset:

• Nicole Stevens describes the night of January 7th: "It all started the evening of January 7th as powerful wind gust 70-90 mph stoking a fire in Eaton Canyon into an inferno so strong it couldn't be contained" (00:42)

The fire resulted in over 7,000 structures destroyed, 14,000 acres burned, and 16 lives lost, marking it as the most expensive fire in Southern California history.

---

Personal Stories: Escaping the Inferno

Joy-Ann Reid introduces listeners to two sisters, Natalie LaForche and Nicole Stevens, who experienced the fire firsthand.

• Natalie LaForche shares her harrowing evacuation experience: "When the fires came about 4 o' clock in the morning... We see fireballs hitting houses. Still can't comprehend what's going on" (02:16)

• Nicole Stevens recounts the frantic efforts to save her family: "The only reason we left that day is because we had a four-year-old. When the lights went out, she was uncomfortable with the winds" (11:18)

Both sisters highlight the suddenness of the disaster and the lack of sufficient warning systems, emphasizing the chaotic and terrifying nature of the evacuation process.

---

Community Impact: A Tight-Knit Black Neighborhood

Altadena's predominantly Black community, with roots tracing back to the 1970s, faced unique challenges during the fire.

• Natalie reflects on the neighborhood's transformation: "This was the block where I grew up... It was all black. All black families" (17:28)

• The fire not only destroyed homes but also disrupted generational wealth and deep-rooted community bonds. The sisters express concerns about the future of the Black community in Altadena, questioning whether it will survive the catastrophic loss.

---

Challenges in Recovery: Bureaucracy and Inadequate Support

Post-fire recovery has been fraught with obstacles:

• Natalie discusses the slow insurance and permitting processes: "Only 15 approved to rebuild homes total in Altadena" (37:15)

• Nicole reveals the aftermath of her home being looted: "My bank account started being drained. That's how I knew something was wrong" (24:24)

The sisters highlight how bureaucratic red tape, insufficient insurance coverage, and underfunded recovery efforts have left many residents struggling to rebuild their lives and homes.

---

Mental and Emotional Toll: Loss Beyond Property

The emotional devastation extends beyond physical losses:

• Natalie shares personal grief: "I've lost my sister, my brother... All the memories are gone" (03:00)

• Joy-Ann underscores the continuous nature of trauma: "Life is still happening... The loss keeps happening and it keeps continuing" (27:07)

The sisters emphasize that recovery isn't just about rebuilding structures but also about healing from profound personal and collective losses.

---

Community Solidarity: The Silver Lining

Despite the immense challenges, the Altadena community has shown remarkable resilience:

• Nicole praises the community's support: "Our community has come together with GoFundMes, friends and family... It's been an amazing feeling" (35:22)

• Joy highlights the presence of community resources and grassroots efforts that have provided crucial support to affected families.

---

Future Outlook: Hope Amidst Uncertainty

Looking forward, the sisters remain hopeful yet realistic about the road to recovery:

• Natalie expresses optimism for future generations: "I'm very hopeful that my children will have that [a vibrant Black community experience]" (50:25)

• Nicole echoes this sentiment, wishing for the preservation of the Black community's legacy in Altadena despite the formidable challenges.

Joy-Ann concludes the episode by acknowledging the relentless spirit of the Altadena residents and urging state and local officials to expedite support and rebuilding efforts to restore the community.

---

Notable Quotes

• Nicole Stevens: "Truly came up so quickly. So many folks up here really didn't." (05:36)

• Natalie LaForche: "Our issue is a little different. Our claim is fire damage because our windows flew out of our house." (23:13)

• Joy-Ann Reid: "It's almost as if it's not clear whether it's worse to have been in the fire engulfed or to have your home next door." (22:08)

• Community Member: "Everybody's dying on the inside and it's almost like you don't have a choice. That's the real truth." (41:18)

---

Conclusion

This special episode of The Joy Reid Show serves as a poignant reminder of the human stories behind natural disasters. Through the voices of Natalie LaForche and Nicole Stevens, listeners gain an intimate understanding of the Eaton Fire's impact on Altadena's Black community. The episode underscores the urgent need for streamlined recovery processes, adequate insurance support, and community-driven rebuilding initiatives to restore both homes and lives devastated by the tragedy.

Timestamps

• 00:42 – Introduction of the Eaton Fire by Nicole Stevens
• 02:16 – Natalie's evacuation story begins
• 03:00 – Natalie discusses personal losses
• 11:18 – Nicole explains her family's evacuation
• 17:28 – Natalie describes the Black community in Altadena
• 23:13 – Discussion on claim discrepancies
• 27:07 – Emotional toll of the fire
• 35:22 – Community solidarity and support
• 37:15 – Permitting challenges in rebuilding
• 41:18 – Emotional struggles and recovery process
• 50:25 – Hope for the future of Altadena's Black community

---

Note: This summary is based solely on the provided transcript and podcast information. For a more comprehensive understanding, listening to the full episode is recommended.

Transcript

[Joy]

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[Natalie LaForche]

Okay.

[Nicole Stevens]

It all started the evening of January 7th as powerful wind gust 70-90 mph stoking a fire in Eaton Canyon into an inferno so strong it couldn't be contained. Over 7,000 structures destroyed, at least 14,000 acres burned and 16 lives lost.

[Joy]

I happen to be in the car with two amazing singer family, Nicole in here making us actually sound, me and Winnie. Happy birthday.

[Natalie LaForche]

Happy birthday to you all right. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday.

[Joy]

Happy birthday.

[Natalie LaForche]

All right. Happy birthday Embers. People with no, no fire sleeping. Go ahead and make it right. Right here. This is the most expensive fire in Southern California history.

[Joy]

Eaton is more expensive than palsy to combine.

[Natalie LaForche]

This is an empty lot. Clearly there was a house here and plenty of backyard space. Altadena is known for its orange groves, so you're looking at orange groves back there that are partially charred. But hey, they still hanging on.

[Joy]

Wow.

[Natalie LaForche]

So these lots were sizable. With most of these homes are single family homes or what we call bungalows. Two bedroom, one bath, two bedroom, two bath. Lots of people remodeled and added onto their lot. But as you can see, it's gone.

[Joy]

Can you please tell me your Eaton fire story?

[D]

It's hard.

[E]

On January 7th. Like everyone, like me and my family had no idea what was ahead of us in less than 24 hours.

[D]

My Eaton fire story starts off with evacuating.

[E]

It sounds like a freight train is coming through the trees here. Like here comes another one. You can hear it kind of building.

[Natalie LaForche]

As it starts and then these winds.

[D]

When the fires came about 4 o' clock in the morning, having to get my wife and my daughter out of the house. We own two homes, five, five dwellings, two homes. And my mother lives next door also, so had to get my mother out as well. My cousin PJ lives down the street, comes running down about almost 4 o' clock in the morning, like, hey, I think it's on the street now. We run to the corner, look, we see fireballs hitting houses. Still can't comprehend what's going on. Run back to the house, rush, grab my wife Daughter, wake them up, say, hey, we gotta go get them all packed up, put them in the car. Now we have to get my mother. So now we're frantically running over there to get my mother out because she's disabled. We have to go down steps.

[F]

She doesn't walk, you know, we're right across the street from where the fire started. And I had a friend in our complex, I live in a condo complex with 48 units. And so one of my friends in the complex called me at 12 o' clock and said, God has been telling me to pack a bag. And she says, I finally packed a bag bag and put it in the car. And I'm thinking, it's windy, why are we packing a bag? You know, I hadn't lived up there long enough. I didn't know enough about wind and fire up in this area. And so she had to talk to me a long time. And finally she said, the worst thing that could happen is that you packed a bag, you put it in the car and you don't need it and you have to unpack. So I finally stomped around the house, packed a little bit of something, just basically something to recreate our financial footprint because I figured clothes and things like that we can replace if something happened in which I didn't think anything was going to happen.

[E]

Truly came up so quickly. So many folks up here really didn't.

[Natalie LaForche]

Even have time to grab anything.

[E]

They had to just jump.

[Natalie LaForche]

Here comes one of these guts we're talking about. Yep, these things are so strong. I have covered a lot of fires.

[E]

In my time out here in Southern California, and I have to tell you, I've run a hot experience.

[D]

My son who lives there also, and my sister, they said they were leaving earlier, so wasn't even a thought. And even in the wake of all of this, you're still not. There's no thought of the houses are going to burn down. You're really running from. Even though you're seeing what you're seeing, you're really just trying to get out for the smoke. So I was literally just leaving for the morning to go, okay, it's 4:00 in the morning, we'll come back and get stuff or whatever in the morning after it's daylight.

[E]

I remember it very distinctly. You know, everything was going on in the Palisade and I remember thinking to myself, like, oh, you know, I'm expressing concern and, you know, hoping that everyone was going to be safe. And then later that evening, the fire sparked and eaten Canyon. And I actually live west of Lake Avenue, which is the dividing line in Altadena, Pasadena. And my husband arrived home somewhere around 8 o' clock that evening. We had dinner as we normally do, got ready to go to bed, and somewhere around, I don't know, nine, 30 or so, we started getting alerts. And I remember he. He said, well, let me go to the corner and see what's going on. And so he left. I went upstairs and I looked out the window and I could see like the orange glow on the horizon. And I was just thinking in my head, like, it's not supposed to look that close. And he called me and he was running down the street. He basically said, you know, let's go. He saw a tree, a tree on fire that like had come, the fire was coming over the. The horizon. And he said, let's go. He says, throw whatever you can into it. We're going. And so he just pulled his truck in and we left somewhere around 10 o'.

[Joy]

Clock.

[E]

And we went to my mother's house, who was right below the freeway in Pasadena.

[D]

We go to my cousin Rahsaan's house, or good friend we know, we call everybody cousins who lived by John Muir. He happened to be out of town. He was like, well, fine, anything, you know, you have the place, you have the keys. So then I ended up moving my whole family there. As we were leaving, I noticed that my sister's car was still there, but she has two cars, so I was like, maybe she drove her other car and left. Knew my son already said he left, so it wasn't a thought. Next day, coming back, couldn't get in touch with. With certain people. And then like, my sister's a bit of a recluse, so I was just like, you know what, I wonder? And then I. Because I kept seeing visions of her car when I woke up. So then just to make sure, I was like, nah, I had my cousin, he came up, he was like, do you want me to check? Fine. To just make sure she's not there. The first time it was the police, but it, the ground was still smoldering, so it was like I had to wait hours to see. And then my cousin was like, I'll go up there. And then he went up there and he ended up finding her literally, like, through. So we were the first ones to have a death in Altadena because we literally found her the next day.

[Natalie LaForche]

It just. And then some houses have been remodeled in the last decade, and so new equipment, flame resistant. So some houses were going to stand.

[Joy]

I'm looking at that.

[Natalie LaForche]

Because they were updated.

[Joy]

It just looks normal.

[Natalie LaForche]

Right. Untouched. It's untouched. But if we go around the corner, you might see something else.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

And even maybe next door, people were sleeping. Yes. Sleeping. And did not know their house was on fire. Laying in bed, garage on fire, living room on fire. It was so quiet. I mean, the wind was loud.

[Joy]

Right.

[Natalie LaForche]

That's all you could hear.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah. But you people didn't know until they smelled smoke, you know, came out the house, looked out the window. Oh, my God. You know, it's like through the night.

[Joy]

Yeah. It's terrifying and great to be in the middle of the night.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. And you didn't know what was going on unless you had the mind to like, go to your car, charge your phone or. Or you had a bunch of batteries or generator.

[Joy]

Because the power was also out.

[Natalie LaForche]

The power was out. 12 hours. Internet out. Yeah. Yeah.

[Joy]

So there's no fire alert system. There's nothing.

[Natalie LaForche]

Because there's supposed to be. Right. But not like a loud alert, but they're supposed to be an alert system. It ended up being the sheriff driving around, knocking on doors.

[Joy]

Wow.

[Natalie LaForche]

Driving down the streets that they could. That they could get down. That they could get down on the loudspeaker, trying to wake people up.

[Joy]

Right.

[Natalie LaForche]

But it was the, the willingness of people in our community to actually get up and knock on the. Knock on doors. Our neighbor came and knocked on our door. Yeah. And I kept calling, calling, calling everybody on my block that I had their numbers to leave.

[Joy]

And how close is your block? Because you two live near each other.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. I'm a few blocks up the street and then she's maybe two blocks west of me.

[E]

Yeah. Ten years from today, Lisa Schneider will trade in her office job to become.

[F]

The leader of a pack of dogs as the owner of her own dog rescue.

[E]

That is a second act made possible by the reskilling courses Lisa's taking now with AARP to help make sure her.

[Natalie LaForche]

Income lives as long as she does. And she can finally run with the big dogs and the small dogs who.

[E]

Just think they're big dogs. That's why the younger you are, the.

[Natalie LaForche]

More more you need AARP.

[F]

Learn more at aarp.org skills.

[Nicole Stevens]

And the only reason we left that day is because we had a four year old. When the lights went out, she was uncomfortable with the winds. And so I was trying to talk her out of leaving, but we left way earlier in the day. Right. When the sun.

[Joy]

So where did you shelter during the park?

[Natalie LaForche]

We just got a hotel. We were like, we'll just go somewhere where we just like relaxing whenever it's windy, like I can't sleep anyway, cuz you hear things and you, you like.

[Joy]

Wake up and you're like what was that?

[Natalie LaForche]

It's like your neighbor's umbrella.

[Nicole Stevens]

And we had a big giant oak that would like kind of go over the house. Would make it even riskier. Yeah, right there.

[Joy]

Yeah, you all have that sign. We saved ourselves.

[Natalie LaForche]

Where?

[Joy]

Yeah, that there.

[Nicole Stevens]

So yeah, so the fire. Okay. So I came back that morning when the winds were still going. When I first turned down this street, I saw a fire truck, but they were just driving past and kind of like they gave me a look of hands up. I got, I came back and I finally found a way to get here because all these houses were on fire and neighbors were outside in their chonies throwing stuff in their car while the backs of their houses were on fire. And so it was like the last. So I was coming back thinking I had time to grab some stuff and I didn't. And so we were all evacuating, getting out. We came back the next day and there were still some houses standing that hadn't burnt. But firefighters were, even though there wasn't winds, firefighters were still not putting out fires. The National Guard was there to keep us out and we weren't able to identify and tell the firefighters, hey, that house is on fire. We got to this house and there was a gas line that was still up. And we asked a firefighter in passing, hey, this house over here is still, still up. And we got a four foot flame here, we got a four foot flame here, we got a four foot flame here. Can you help us turn off the gas? And the answer to them was it's not our business, it's not our problem, it's not our job. And so I think that's where we get that reason.

[Natalie LaForche]

There was no evacuation notice. We weren't even in a warning zone. Like I watched it, you know, like I lived in the Midwest and so you know when there tornado is coming.

[Joy]

You go into a yellow.

[Natalie LaForche]

So you know to be on alert and then when it's nearby you need to get in your shelter, it's red. So I remember watching the, like we weren't even yellow. It was just high wind warning, high wind warning. We were watching it on that watch duty app and then it was like instantly at 3am from that to like red the whole, whole area. I was like, what's going on? Why would we be like that quickly evacuated? So I told him to go get Our dogs, cuz we had left. And at 3 he said I think it was too smoky for him to really see how close it was because he got the dogs. He didn't grab anything again.

[Nicole Stevens]

Yeah, sorry.

[Joy]

Is there anything left from inside your house?

[Nicole Stevens]

Nothing.

[Joy]

Photos?

[Natalie LaForche]

Everything. My dad's ashes, we couldn't find them. Like all of my like birth, all, everything.

[G]

So the Santa Ana winds are basically kind of like a wind event that takes place in Southern California. It's just essentially due to when we get an area of high pressure usually to kind of build over the Great Basin state. So that's Nevada and like western Utah and then a usually like lower pressure to the south. And it's basically the pressure difference between high pressure to the north and low pressure to the south that causes a northeast wind over Southern California.

[E]

And we ended up getting evacuated from there around 5:00', clock, 5:30 in the morning. And when we left, we just left. And so we attempted to go back and get our cars which were both in the garage at our house. And we could not get past Woodbury, which is the main street heading in from Pasadena into Altadena. It was just so smoky we could see the cemetery on fire. And there was just no way we could safely get back to our house. So we just turned around and went back to my parents house and we all evacuated. My parents, my twin sister and we went to her house in Ontario and eventually we came back to Altadena the next day, Wednesday afternoon to see what was going on. And we just saw everything on fire. We were able to get up to our house, we saw the whole street on fire, there were no firefighters, no emergency personnel, except for keeping people from going up into the neighborhoods. And we just had no idea that we would be coming back to essentially nothing. It was just a very harrowing experience. And you know, I don't think it's something that will, that any of us in the community will get over anytime soon because just the depth and breadth of the impacts of the fire is just so widespread. I was born and raised in Pasadena my whole life, you know, went away to college, came back very intentionally and just to see essentially all of Altadena gone and even parts of Pasadena is just devastating. I don't think there has been a day yet where I haven't cried.

[Natalie LaForche]

The mortgage crisis really tore up Altadena.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

Because people our age weren't prepared to take their parents home. They weren't prepared. I lucked out to help my dad get out of his subprime mortgage, but yeah, and then a lot of black families left in the late 90s to go further east to Rancho. Rancho. Fontana had new builds and everybody wants. And they were just cheap, dirt cheap. So you get more bang for your buck. A larger home.

[Joy]

Tell us where we are.

[Natalie LaForche]

This is the block. The block where I grew up. Where we grew up, where we were raised in this house right here.

[Joy]

This was your home growing up.

[Natalie LaForche]

This is the house we were brought to fresh from the hospital. This is where we grew up. All of our childhood memories right here. Friends with everybody on the block. Same makeup. Two parent households. Bunch of kids stayed out and played till the street lights came on. And you were saying fond memories.

[Joy]

You were saying, Natalie, that this was the block. You all knew all these families.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah, we knew all the families. We named the houses. Yes. Name the houses that were first here. This was the Huff house, the Huff family, the Swains, the Johnsons. And I can't remember their last name, but this family here, they had foster kids, right? Three foster boys. I can't remember their name, but we all took care of each other. Yes. We borrowed milk eggs, we watched kids, we play. Yes.

[Joy]

Everything on this block. And it was a black block, basically.

[Natalie LaForche]

It was all black. All black families.

[Joy]

Not anymore. It's gentrified since then.

[Natalie LaForche]

Oh, yeah. My family is the last black family on this block.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah.

[Joy]

And then you. Which of y' all said you met your husband?

[Natalie LaForche]

This husband right next to her.

[Joy]

Nicole met her husband right here. Y' all come walk over. We gotta see where the romance began.

[Natalie LaForche]

My future husband moved in as a single father.

[Joy]

Okay.

[Natalie LaForche]

With three sons. Okay. And my mother bogarted him and got all of his details to let all the ladies in our house know who was living next door. Yes. And I got him. Yes. Some years later. Some years later. Now We've been married 14 years. Yeah. And we have a five year old son. I love that.

[Joy]

That's a great love story. Well, let's talk about what happened. Because these homes look like they. From the outside.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah.

[Joy]

That they're okay.

[Natalie LaForche]

They do look like they're okay. But as you can see, no one is living in them.

[Joy]

No one's living in them.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah. The wind really got us pretty bad.

[Joy]

Let's walk over this because. So when the fire started, it was late at night.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes.

[Joy]

Did you all. Because these look like they're still standing. So did you see fire?

[Natalie LaForche]

Oh, yeah. The fire came from the east. This is pretty much the fire line. There are some houses that burned. About six houses that burned behind me. And from My backyard on toward her house. But for pretty much. This is pretty much where the fire stopped. And so we thought we were going to burn because the houses across the street were fully engulfed and the wind was blowing so hard, the embers were going. This tree, which is now showing green, very resilient. That tree caught on fire and it looked like it wasn't going to work out for us, but the neighbors put it out. When I got back to check to see if my house was here, I saw water hoses connected all around the house and the roof was wet. So I know that my house was hosed down by some friendly neighbors who wanted to save the neighborhood.

[Joy]

And just to be clear, this is the house still standing. And then pj, flip around, look, turn around. Those are gone.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes, those two houses. So literally, the fire was across the street. It was across the street, all the way down, Standing five blocks down.

[D]

Yeah.

[Joy]

And so now how has that impacted how the system is treating you?

[Natalie LaForche]

Well, they're kind of scooping me out of the fire damage zone. My house is not considered part of the Eaton fires because it looks untouched.

[Joy]

Right.

[Natalie LaForche]

But when you go inside, you see the devastation of the fires, you see the devastation of the wind. My roof was pretty much blown off on the back, so we didn't go in. I don't know if you want to go in there. There's a lot of mold right now because the rain, the first rains we got after the fire, we didn't know the roof was compromised so bad. So the house flooded. And because insurance has been taking so long, we're almost six months out. It's starting to mold in there. And so there is threat of asbestos because I still have my parents popcorn ceilings in some of the rooms, so they really don't want anybody in there.

[Joy]

So your damage is mold, smoke, soot, ash and ash?

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes.

[Joy]

And that's the damage here. And so how is that not considered fire damage?

[Natalie LaForche]

Great question. I was told that my roof was old and it was neglected. And so. So because my roof was old and neglected, any kind of wind could have ruined my roof. It had nothing to do with hundred mile per hour winds.

[Joy]

And could ash have been caused just by wind?

[Natalie LaForche]

Oh, oh, no.

[Joy]

Because one would think ash comes from fire.

[Natalie LaForche]

No, that's neglect. Okay.

[Joy]

And so how has that impacted getting assistance from insurance, getting assistance from the city, the state?

[Natalie LaForche]

Well, they're trying to say that we're just trying to get money because we live in Altadena. Yeah, we're just trying to scoop ourselves into the real Devastation of fire. That was across the street. Exactly. I mean, we're what, 200ft from fires, and then. Not to mention the houses that burn from my backyard. So I'm sandwiched in. And when you look at the fire map, you can see that there's fire all around my house. So we got it north, south, east, west.

[Joy]

So it's almost as if it's not clear whether it's worse to have been in the fire engulfed or to have your home next door, because next door there's even less help.

[Natalie LaForche]

Right.

[Joy]

So are you having the same issue?

[Natalie LaForche]

Our issue is a little different. Our claim is fire damage because our windows flew out of our house. That's how strong the winds were. And so ashes just covered the whole house.

[Joy]

Claiming. Covered the whole interior of the house.

[Natalie LaForche]

House.

[Joy]

Right.

[Natalie LaForche]

We have roofing damage, and so we are just waiting on insurance, too.

[Joy]

Do you both feel you have to completely rebuild or can you repair?

[Natalie LaForche]

I'm. It's up in the air. It's up in the air. Yeah. It's so toxic in there that I don't know if I could bring my children back. That's the same issue I have. Yeah. And we're still awaiting test results.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

So whether it's safe to even be inside that. Right. It doesn't smell safe.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

It doesn't feel safe when you're inside. So that's. I mean, it's. It.

[Joy]

To me, it's almost more of a torment to be able to.

[Natalie LaForche]

It is.

[Joy]

And not be able to go.

[Natalie LaForche]

It is. Yeah. I try not to take my son because he. He misses his room in his home. Yeah. When we go pick up the mail, I try to drop. My kids haven't been here either.

[Joy]

Haven't been back.

[Natalie LaForche]

No. It'll trigger a meltdown. Yeah, absolutely.

[Joy]

Because they want to go inside.

[Natalie LaForche]

They do. And it doesn't look the same. And, you know, they ransacked the rooms and.

[Joy]

So your house was broken into.

[Natalie LaForche]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was broken into.

[Joy]

Neuters took whatever you had in the house.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes, yes, yes. High, high price, high ticket items is what they were after. And my identity. And that's how I knew my house was looted, because my bank account started being drained. They had gotten an old ATM card and started draining my account. That's how I knew something was wrong.

[Joy]

So it's just abuse on top of devastation.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. Just a few blocks over, there was people who stole the identity of the whole block. The whole block. And got thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars from fema in all the people's names.

[Joy]

There's a lot of fundraising going on. Naming Altadena. What's happening to that money?

[Natalie LaForche]

That money is going to these pop up non profits, and we're uncertain if the non profits are getting the money in the hands of the residents for rebuilding.

[Joy]

Do you know any residents who gotten money from one of the nonprofits?

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. Minimal amounts.

[Joy]

Just small amounts.

[Natalie LaForche]

Small amounts, yes. Yes.

[Joy]

But all of the big fundraising, all of the big ticket fundraising doesn't feel like it's helping. Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

It's not materializing.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

That it's helping. E. Either people are keeping it quiet that they're receiving help, or they're just not getting it, which I believe they're just not getting it. There's a horse. That's a good sign.

[Joy]

Wait, a horse?

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. We have lots of horses in Altadena. The fires. A friend came into the city and there were horses running straight down the street. Just being.

[Joy]

They're just horses. Just out here.

[Natalie LaForche]

There's lots of horses. Livestock up in Aladdin. Yeah.

[Joy]

I cannot believe a horse just is.

[Natalie LaForche]

Literally trapping down the street. That's a great sign. Wow. And when I see horse poop in.

[Joy]

My driveway, they're like, good sign.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. People are coming home.

[Joy]

People don't normally welcome horse poop.

[Natalie LaForche]

Right.

[Joy]

In this case. Come on. Poop. That is amazing.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes. That movie about the Compton cowboys, We got them up here too.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah.

[G]

You have these mountains to the north and to the east, and what happens is the winds kind of butt up against those mountains. They kind of go over the mountains, and then they kind of come crashing down on the other side and accelerate as they do so. So it's not only those little gaps, you know, between the mountains. You know, the winds that don't go funneling through the gaps can also just kind of come riding up and over.

[Joy]

Almost kind of like impossible to even, I guess, conceive of it. But what does recovery even look like from your point of view?

[D]

Recovery isn't a thought process. It's more survival of what we're going through. Life is still happening. I think that's the hardest part, that people don't understand. They're thinking about everybody's life from the fire side of you lost everything. I mean, losing completely every thought process. When you lose everything, people think, oh, the things that could be replaced. But there's so many memories that can't be replaced. So you're talking about examples of my brother who was murdered in Pasadena. All of his. In Altadena. All of his stuff. All of his memories. Everything that was supposed to be passed down to his daughters and his children are all gone. When you talk about my brother who died from diabetes, all the memories of our childhood memories, all those are gone. When you talk about, so it's bringing up new deaths. My father, his ashes, forgetting that his ashes, like, oh yeah, he's right there. Like I have to go back and figure out how to get that. And it's all those memories. So the loss keeps happening and it keeps continuing. Then you move into regular life because life is still life. So then you know, my uncle just passed and just buried him a week ago. So when you talk about recovery, then everybody's displaced. My wife is in Harupa Valley with my child who's a year and a half. My mother was in Los Angeles when all this happened, meaning I took her to her sister's house. Then my son was bouncing from hotel to hotel. I'm in the car half of the time laying on people's couches, my silence couch or whoever's couch, trying to figure out how I'm going to put everybody in place. Still having to deal with my sister's death, burial memorial, all that different stuff that still hasn't fully happened. Life just continues to hit you. It rips families apart. And the reason I'm being so transparent with everything is people don't really understand what it's going through. It has ripped my family apart, meaning me and my wife probably not, probably will not make it. So that separation, not because we were at odds, but because this fire has literally ripped family completely apart.

[Joy]

For you, it's a different, there's a different recovery process because you were, you were a renter.

[E]

Yes.

[Joy]

And so how is that recovery process different? What does recovery look like for you?

[E]

Well, my family, unfortunately we did, like many others, we did not have rentals insurance. Again, being in an urban wildfire is just not something that you ever contemplate. And so in fact we were underinsured. And so we've been working through the numerous processes businesses of fema, you know, non profit organizations that have stepped up to assist. But we were just able to move into our, I don't even know what to call it, temporary home, long term, temporary home this past weekend. And unfortunately we were not able to stay in Pasadena for numerous reasons, you know, pride scourging, just supply and simple supply and demand, which Pasadena and Altena were both impacted before the fire just due to regular California market conditions. And now it's even worse. And so we were able to secure a spot right outside of Pasadena. But like, I've never willfully chosen to live outside of Pasadena, so that's something that's heavy on me as well. But at least I'm able to stay close. But for many renters, they have not been able to stay closed again. I knew we were under market in Altadena, but not as far under as some of the rents that we're seeing, which was, you know, $4,000, 5,000 for even two simple two bedroom, one bathroom apartments, townhouses, even houses. And I, in my mind, it would be very irresponsible even though we have the money to go and pay $5,000 a month for rent, when like, literally we have just lost everything. And so in terms of recovery, like, it's, it's overwhelming to think of all the things that we've lost, especially those things that are irreplaceable. I've lived in Pasadena all of my life, but Altadena is the only home that my daughter, who's 7 years old, has only known. We, we brought her over the threshold to bring her home from the hospital. I had her, you know, umbilical cord, baby items, photo albums from family members that have passed away. I served on city council in Pasadena. I lost all records of, you know, my elections certificates, proclamations, kindergarten pictures, just her Christmas decorations that she, she made every year. Just things that will never, ever be replaced.

[D]

And it's tearing our community up in a way that people don't understand. And the day to day to try to survive and live. Everybody thinks it's getting better, so it's not.

[E]

It's.

[D]

On my way here. Let's be all the way transparent. On my way here. Driving here, I'm speaking to my mother. My mother's 85. My mother just told me after she's buried her daughter, two other kids before this brother John Meadow just passed. So she just buried her brother. She's tired. So on my way here, my mother's trying to prepare me for her not being here, which is a whole nother level while you're sitting there still fighting. And she's telling me to stay strong and be okay. The cold part about even being in this bookstore is my mother knows, knew Octavia Butler. My mother grew up with Maya Angelou. These were people that she was friends with. The reason I know Octavia Butler is because of her books and my mother's relationship with her and my mother's relationship with Maya Angelou growing up in LA and my family lineage of being here since the 1800s and my grandmother establishing head Start and changing the whole education system for Los Angeles, which she has a school named after her, which, ironically, when they did the raids, I mean, when they're doing. ICE is doing a thing. Now I have another thing to deal with because just found out my cousin. This is how crazy I'm giving you guys. Just real talk at this point. Ice, I guess, rated an elementary school graduation. Guess whose campus that was on? That's my grandmother's school as Gratz elementary that they literally raided. So my cousin's like, what are you going to do about it now? So it's literally this ongoing fight. That's where you see no refuge. So when you say recovery, you're talking about people who are fighting every day just to breathe, just to make it. Everybody's trying to speak positive because that's what you're supposed to do. But that's not how everybody feels.

[F]

The devastation is horrible, worse than I could ever think of. But the silver lining is the community for our household. We didn't have enough insurance. Now, that's a whole nother story with our insurance company. And when I can, they will get fired, but I need them right now. But our community has come together with GoFundMes, friends and family, people we don't know, organizations we don't know. They have just really come through because we didn't know how we were going to make it. And at this point, I feel confident that we will be able to make it in an apartment until we get back into our home without having to pay mortgage and rent at the same time. And that was huge. That was huge because I refused to sign a lease when I didn't know if we could afford to pay it for at least three years. And so the community has really, really stepped up. And I can't do anything other than be grateful for them because it has been an amazing feeling when you're really, really down and out. Those that come to your rescue really show who they are. You know, when they. They say, when people show who you are, believe it. So our community has shown they love us. And I. I can't say anything other than thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to our community. It's been amazing.

[Joy]

So it seems that some people. Is that a sign of rebuilding? If you're seeing the studs.

[Natalie LaForche]

No, that's advertising. Remnant. Oh, you're talking about this, right? No, this was a home. That's what's left. So it didn't burn.

[Joy]

Oh, just the concrete is what's left. You were saying?

[Natalie LaForche]

And the foundation, the foundation there.

[Joy]

Only 15 permits.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes.

[Joy]

To. To rebuild.

[Natalie LaForche]

15 approved to rebuild homes total in Ala. I'd say about 10,000.

[Joy]

So only 15.

[Natalie LaForche]

Only 15.

[Joy]

What is the, what is the explanation that folks are being given for how slow the permitting process is?

[Natalie LaForche]

Too many, too many requests, not enough manpower to approve them. And lots of money. Money to pay for these permits.

[Joy]

Right. Because you also have to get insurance.

[Natalie LaForche]

We're not even there yet. Yeah, it's about $50,000 just to start building. Yeah. You've got to pay the architect. Architect, that's 20 to 30,000. And then you got to pay for somebody to approve the architect's drawing. And then a whole bunch of other county and state permits is going to cost you 50 plus thousand plus. 50,000 plus.

[Joy]

And then your home has to be assessed. And then if you are underinsured, the amount that your insurer assesses you for may not match your.

[Natalie LaForche]

Most of these homes, most of us were underinsured. So a lot of people are coming out of their pocket 400, $500,000.

[Joy]

And these homes date back to the 1920s, 30s.

[Natalie LaForche]

1920S.

[Joy]

When did black folks started moving in here?

[Natalie LaForche]

Well, our parents got here early 70s.

[Joy]

Yeah.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yeah.

[Joy]

So a lot of folks have had these homes for 50 years.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes, yes, more. And our parents were young. They were young, very young homeowners. And a lot of black families lived here because their parents worked at jpl, which is a part of NASA. So there's a whole little city NASA owns just a few blocks down. And so a lot of people were able to rise above poverty and make middle class wages working at jpl. They employ a lot of people in the area. That's how our family got here. My dad worked for jpl. Yeah.

[Joy]

And you were saying that the likelihood is that's not a construction trailer.

[Natalie LaForche]

No trailer there. No. Somebody's most likely living in there.

[Joy]

You see that there? That looks to me like it would be a construction trailer. But you're saying someone's probably staying.

[Natalie LaForche]

Yes, absolutely. There is nowhere else to go. And this person looks like they still have property. Copper. Copper thieves. So they're probably protecting their property, protecting what's left.

[G]

So the research on climate change and these wildfires in Southern California says that by the year 2100, we're going to be seeing about a 75% increase in burn area for the state of California. That's an exceptional stat that is extremely concerning as we move forward here over the next several decades.

[E]

I always say there's three degrees of separation in Pasadena, Altadena, because We're all either born here, grew up here, went to school here, your grandma taught me, or my or someone else I know. My best friend's parents lost their house in Altadena. My line sister lost her house. In fact, half of our sorority lost their homes and many of them are elders. And so I just think of how I'm feeling at a youngish 45 years old and the impacts on me. But then I think of my parents who have lived in Pasadena for 50 years and my dad is 86, my mom is 74 and like I cannot even imagine, even though they had some impacts of smoke and damage and couldn't be in their home for a month, like for them to not be able to come back to their home. And that's always been our home base. Wherever we are in the world we know we can always go home. And in fact, when I was on the city council I used to tell people like nobody if anybody says they were looking for me, they were not. Because everybody knows we've been on the same house in the same corner for the last, you know, since 1976. And for so many families that I know personally, like that's just not the case anymore because the house is not there. Home based generational wealth, like it's just absolutely devastating.

[D]

Everybody's dying on the inside and it's almost like you don't have a choice. That's the real truth. The truth is you don't have a choice. It's either that or die. See that I get drunk, go do drugs, go do whatever, which I can never do because that's why my father wasn't in my life, because he chose drugs. So that's one thing that I said I would always choose is to be a father.

[Joy]

And what is missing in the recovery process? What's going wrong in your view?

[E]

I think that there's. Well, number one for sure. I think renters are being left out of the process for numerous reasons. Of course we definitely feel for all of the homeowners that lost their homes. But Altadena is a tight knit community and a lot of the renters were long time renters. We were in our home for almost 10 years. I know others who were in their homes for 15 years, renting for 15 years, 20 years. And even insofar as where we live, my landlord is also a soror and they had five back families in townhouses that they own. They also had impacts to their own home in Altadena and another building that they own. And so like the combination of the level, levels of impact that this has affected. Like, I don't put anything past saying that, you know, regardless of what your income level or socioeconomic level was before this fire, like, nobody deserves to go through this. And even if you have all the money in the world and could re you have the money to rebuild tomorrow, that's still not going to happen just because of bureaucracy and insurance companies and everything else that has, that's outside of our, outside of our control.

[D]

I've been Altadena my whole life. So I've been a community leader because of my grandmother and because of my mother. My mother, I come from a faith background, which faith was instilled in me as a child my whole life. And I just had the world of being involved in two faiths fully where Christianity and Islam. I literally was brought up under because my mother converted to Islam and my grandmother and my whole family was Christian. So I was always in the church and in the mosque. My mother helped establish Masjid Al Taqwa, was one of the founders and was a pillar in the community, doing the same thing as in community and bringing what Altadena looks like. She's been in Altadena for the last 60 plus years, 70 years to say the least. This is waking up to a nightmare. So when you say recovery, again, we don't even believe it's real as a community. We still wake up and try to act like it's some dream that keeps happening and we can't process it. So again, when taking each step and learning that this is the absolute worst thing that people can go to, like I said, I've been through gang violence, I've been through the crack epidemic time periods and all of that stuff, which to give credence, like I said, my brother was murdered and that was the worst time in my life. I lost my grandmother, who was our matriarch. All of that lost went to a funeral every month for that year. When that happened, and this is a hundred times worse, is to kind of give some type of perspective of what it feels like because you literally are waking up in a nightmare every day. Everybody's recovery, you're signing a lease for a year, then what? You have to build back a home. You have to do all these different things that has to happen. You have to have the finances, then your community has to be built back and all of that is daunting. I need my mother to be able to see her, her house built back. So that means it has to be done in record time because she doesn't even Know how long she's going to be here day to day. And for me, I can't handle her not being here because my mother is who, as every little black boy, has been the center of everything for me and has been. Who's instilled all of these values in me to be strong and to push through ashes. And she's telling me this while I'm on my way here and I'm telling her, and she's like, the reason I have breath is because you continue to ask me to have breath. And I do need her to continue to have breath. I don't have a path without her not being here. Because what am I building at that point? My family's already been ripped apart. My neighborhood and my family. It's like, what am I going. What am I going to create at that point? Or how am I going to move? It's a million questions that you're cycling and figuring out. On top of fighting for community, getting legislation passed, which is a whole nother life protecting the housing and all that for Altadena and Palisades. So with that fight, that's a whole nother fight, which trying to make sure we have the resources, make sure that black people are at the front of those resources. And we need so much help nationally, I believe, because I believe this tragedy is a way to set a precedence of how a community can come back. So, so much is needed for that, so many resources. When people think that it just goes away, it actually gets worse. People haven't even processed the loss that they've had at all. So that's not going to be for a year. And when you say recovery, that's not going to be until we get back into our homes and know that we can.

[Joy]

So as a business owner here with an iconic bookstore, the only black bookstore in this community, when you look at what's happened with the Eaton fire and the aftermath, do you believe that 50 years from now there will still be a black Altadena community?

[H]

I don't know. I have a tremendous amount of hope. I know that we are resilient. But the numbers weren't looking good for us. Pre Eaton fire, we were hovering around 18%. And so I do worry a lot about what's happened. Post fire. Many people were uninsured, underinsured, or for whatever reason, you know, are not able or. Or have the desire to rebuild. And so I know that there is a vibrant black community here who wants to stay here. I just don't know that. That we can figure out how to Purchase it quick enough. So. And I say that as someone who lives in Altadena, in the fire zone, like, on my street, we had over 100 houses. There are 12 left, and my house happens to be one of them. I'm just getting back home after, you know, having to have the home gutted and. But, you know, sometimes I'm like, oh, you know, we're kind of one of the lucky ones. But, you know, I, I don't know if it's safe to be there. We're still surrounded. Buy ash and, you know, lead and asbestos, but I don't have any money to go anywhere. I have a mortgage that I still need to pay. We were paying, you know, so, like, there are these things. And so 50 years from now, oh, my gosh, I, I, I hope and I pray and I'm gonna keep doing everything that I can possibly do to ensure that the landscape of Altade is reflecting, you know, our presence in Altadena. And so I'll just leave it at that.

[Joy]

Yeah. If you can put yourself forward 50 years from now, do you believe, do you have faith there will still be a black Altadena?

[Natalie LaForche]

Just a loaded question. Joy. I think I could speak for both of us when I say that we're very hopeful because the alternative would be even more devastating than the Eaton fires itself. This experience has been super traumatic, and watching your neighborhood go to ashes, it changes you forever. And I'm hoping that my children can have the experience that me and Nicole had in Altadena. And it was a very black experience, but it was beautiful and it was ours. So I'm very hopeful that my children will have that. Our children will have that, too.

[Joy]

Thank you to Natalie LaForche and her twin sister, Nicole Stevens, for taking us through their neighborhood and introducing us to their friends and neighbors. And Jyoteca Edie for introducing us to the Octavia Butler Bookshelf experience. And Nikki High for allowing us to to do interviews in her fabulous and wonderful store. And all of the local residents who spoke with us and shared the stories with us, thank you, thank you, thank you. Here's hoping the state of California and the officials in charge get busy making these families whole. Thank you for watching this special episode of the Joy Reach show. Please be sure to hit like and subscribe and share this episode with a friend. We'll see you on the next episode of the Joy Reach.

[Natalie LaForche]

Get it back to the basics.

[D]

Grassroots level.

[E]

Let me dig a little deeper with the shovel. Plenty can't tell the force from the trees that I'M hard to detect Like.

[D]

A black hole in the dark Injustice.

[Natalie LaForche]

Anywhere, it's a threat Injustice everywhere Let.

[E]

Me make this clear I got a bone to pick and I'll never fear.

[Natalie LaForche]

The threat of poverty they don't want.

[E]

To talk about it they rap the.

[Natalie LaForche]

Party so I'm a real talk about it for sure.