Altadena

When the Eaton Canyon fires roared through Altadena and Pasadena on January 7, the historic Black community of Altadena, a beacon of resilience and Civil Rights-era progress, faced near-total devastation. Among Los Angeles County’s hardest-hit areas, the unincorporated San Gabriel Valley town — home to 42,000 residents — saw over 1,000 structures destroyed, at least five lives lost and thousands displaced.

As the rapidly spreading Eaton wildfire in Los Angeles crept closer to the home he’d lived in for nearly six decades, Rodney Nickerson, 83, wasn’t going to panic. Despite the pleas of his worried daughter and anxious neighbors, he was staying put.