Rebuild:AL Episode 017 - Like Driving Through a Volcano with Jessica Fernandez and Pastor Anthony McFarland

So much has been written and said about the Palisades Fire, that it sometimes is confounding how the “other” fire that burned through a community in LA County in early January, goes unmentioned. The Eaton Fire started within hours of the Palisades Fire. It came roaring out of Eaton Canyon, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, just 20 miles northeast of downtown LA, and destroyed thousands of homes and killed 17 people. That’s more death and destruction than the Palisades Fire. It leveled much of Altadena, a storied city filled with a century of African American history. The area had been a welcome home for Black professionals and creatives. The McFarland Family was among them. They lost everything in the fire. Pastor Anthony McFarland and his daughter Jessica Fernandez talk to host Cameron Barrett about their harrowing evacuation and survival. They have a lot of questions now that the fire is out, and are looking for answers. Hear their remarkable story on Rebuild:LA.

Resources:

• Eaton Fire Disaster Recovery
• History of Altadena
• Eaton Fire Damage Maps
• Abundant Harvest Christian Center
• Parlee Inc

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:56 Why Altadena?
• 6:52 Black Families in Altadena
• 11:00 Building Generational Wealth in California Property
• 12:54 Under-insured in Altadena
• 18:45 The Night of January 7th
• 25:57 The Morning of January 8th
• 27:35 Like Driving Through a Volcano
• 32:19 Why Do You Think Altadena Burned?
• 38:22 One Word - Mismanagement
• 42:24 How Would You Change Things?
• 49:00 Why Rebuild?