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Larry Wilson: Altadena, the Palisades and the fire next time

May 30, 2026

For people around the country and the world hearing the news of the terrifying, unprecedented and deadly firestorms of Jan. 7, 2025, to those unfamiliar with our Southern California geography, they basically occurred “in L.A.”

It is nothing as simple as Palisades people being only rich and only movie directors and Altadena people being only poor and only country folk. But, doing the numbers, there are clear indications of the differences. Average annual household income, Palisades: $335,000. Altadena: $180,000, with a significant number under $65,000. The Palisades are (were) over 80% White, 5% Latino, less than 1% Black. Altadena is (was) 41% White, 27% Latino, 17% Black.

And those numbers have changed dramatically in recent years. The Altadena I grew up in was almost all White and all middle class east of Lake Avenue, and probably over half Black, as well as significantly Japanese American, west of Lake, as well as more working class. In the last 15 years huge numbers of Black families there sold to artists, musicians and film industry types looking for more house and way more land than they could get for the same money in Silver Lake. It went from Black horse (and chicken coop) country to creatives (not all of whom are White) horse (and chicken coop) country. Something you can’t trust the numbers for, but know in your heart: the soul of west Altadena stayed Black.

I think of that when mourning the 19 Altadenans who died in the Eaton fire, 18 of them west of Lake, a group that skewed both old, infirm and Black. I can fully understand the righteous anger of those who lost their loved ones and who fully believe that the authorities charged with public safety let Altadena down by not fully evacuating the whole of the town before it burned down. As The New York Times reported: “While wealthier, predominantly white residents of the community’s eastern section were told to leave soon after the Eaton fire began, residents of West Altadena did not receive evacuation orders until flames were nearly upon them, or in some cases until it was too late.”

But I also read with interest the latest report prepared by an independent firm for Los Angeles County, the conclusion of which a cynic might term: “Nothing to see here, no one to blame — as if!” But that would be unfair both to the report writers of Citygate Associates and to the brave firefighters and sheriff’s deputies on the ground that awful night. The fire ignited after sunset in the San Gabriel Mountains across Eaton Canyon from the most northeasterly homes in the town.

The vicious Santa Ana winds were at first blowing the blaze south to the Kinneloa neighborhood and the city of Sierra Madre. Later they whipped around, at one point blowing in three directions at once, and embers started igniting houses and businesses in southeast Altadena. Which is well over four miles from the northwest neighborhoods that eventually burned. No one could have predicted that could happen so fast. No one did.

Given resources deployed to the early Palisades fire, the fact that the howling winds made surveillance by aircraft impossible, “there were simply not enough fire department and sheriff’s department resources available,” the report concludes. Personnel “assisted who they could, but could not help everyone.” And: “There was no failure by Incident Command to request Evacuation Orders west of Lake Avenue sooner, nor would they have reasonably done so under the circumstances … (orders) were subsequently issued once the fire’s spread to northwestern Altadena became known to Incident Command at approximately 2:18 a.m.” It actually wasn’t until after 5 a.m. that the main fire crossed Lake. It was going as fast as the wind by then.

The report found no evidence of racial or socioeconomic bias among responders. “To firefighters, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel, there were simply lives at risk,” the report says.

I believe it. But, man, we need to do better at the fire next time.

Larry Wilson is on the Southern California News Group editorial board. lwilson@scng.com.

Orange County Register

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Larry Wilson: Altadena, the Palisades and the fire next time

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