The city of Pasadena and its northern neighbor, Altadena, have slowly begun the long and brutal recovery process following the Eaton Fire, which destroyed at least 4,600 structures along with 14,000 acres of land – an unprecedented disaster unlike anything in Southern California history.
After documenting the wildfire’s devastation to several parts of the historic city last week, I immediately got to work on highlighting the initial recovery efforts, starting with a visit to St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in the heart of Pasadena, where dozens of volunteers were hard at work sorting through piles of donations from those within the community, including school supplies and toys for the children who lost everything, as well as other lost personal items like clothes, feminine products, and non-perishable food. Principal Jae Kim granted me a tour of the recovery center and said the outpouring of support from the Pasadena community had been overwhelming, with donations even from outside the state.
Many other churches in the Pasadena area, including St. Phillips and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, held similar donation drives. Throughout the city, especially along the border of the evacuation zone, several churches, some even from as far down south as Orange County, had set up booths offering free food and water to those who have been displaced, as well as the firefighters, rescue workers, and contractors who were working around the clock to get the city back to a somewhat reasonable state of survival.
Evacuees who could not find shelter were being housed at the Pasadena Civic Center, and though media were not allowed to enter the building FEMA and the Red Cross had taken over, the atmosphere outside was mostly peaceful. Just across the street, people were offering free pizza as well as free massages to those who were misplaced. East of the city, the Santa Anita Race Track had set up a donation center resembling a swap meet where free food, clothes, toys, feminine products, and even phones were offered up by an army of volunteers from various parts of Southern California.
When the city could be restored to a basic sense of normalcy as it moves into the cleanup period remains unknown at this time; over a week has passed since the Eaton Fire devastated most of Altadena and parts of Pasadena and people still have not been allowed to return to their homes (or what’s left of them) in the evacuation zone. The fear of looters taking advantage of the homes left standing has become a widespread concern, but from the security I documented, including fully-armed National Guardsmen at various checkpoints, common thieves looking for a meal ticket would have a difficult time getting into the evacuation zone.
For those who were lucky enough to see their homes or business survive, the months ahead will be some of the most difficult of their lives as they deal with environmental hazards from the cleanup effort as well as smoke damage to their properties. Leo Bulgarini, owner of Altadena’s beloved Bulgarini Gelato, informed me that his business will need extensive restoration in order to open for business again after the fire devastated his community. During my visit, he was actively disposing of thousands of dollars worth of Italian food and gelato that had sustained smoke damage and had been left to rot for several days due to no refrigeration from the power outage. I will admit that tears began to fill my eyes when I snapped the photo of him wearing a respirator behind his inactive gelato counter and looked forward to the day I could enjoy a cup of his famous pistachio gelato along with a slice of his custom pizza.
Leo Bulgarini in Gelato Shop, Paul Bois/Breitbart News
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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