This Altadena Resident Watched His Community Go Up in Flames

PAULA NEWTON, INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And we do turn now to Los Angeles, where firefighters are slowly gaining control of the wildfires raging since last Tuesday. Now, for many people affected, returning to their homes or whatever is left of them is likely a while away yet because of critical work to remove hazardous debris and also rebuild infrastructure. Now, that cleanup and rehabilitation process could take between three and six months, that’s according to officials. Kevin Williams is a longtime resident of Altadena, one of the area’s hardest hit by the fires. He joins Hari Sreenivasan to tell his story and that of the diverse community residing there.

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HARI SREENIVASAN, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Paula, thanks. Kevin Williams, thanks so much for joining us. You are a longtime resident of Altadena, and that’s been in the news because of the fires, of course. And I just want to ask, what did the fire do to your house and your home?

KEVIN WILLIAMS, ALTADENA, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: The house sustained some minor damage, but all the outbuildings, the pool house the garage carport, as well as three fences were all destroyed. We spent — my son, myself and next-door neighbor spent most of the day just trying to keep the house and save the house, putting up sprinklers and things like that. But it was a harrowing experience just trying to keep the home itself protected.

SREENIVASAN: But when did you know that it was time to go?

WILLIAMS: It was about — I think it was about 5:00, 5:30 in the morning. And my — I sent my wife and son out to the evacuation shelter. And the fire was actually was north of the home. It made a U-turn. And I have some experience with looking at some of the fires, and the fire pattern changed. And I looked down my street and I saw this glow. And then, the house about three houses down just exploded in flames. There were 40-foot flames. And the flames — it was big wind gusts we had, you know, 60, 70, 80 mile per hour winds. The wind gusts actually knocked those flames over to the side of the street. And I said, you know, there’s a time to be brave and there’s a time to have some common sense, and I left. Only temporarily, though. I had to tell my wife later the things that were going on and she wasn’t too happy. But, you know, we did what we could do to save our home.

SREENIVASAN: If you don’t mind me asking. what in those last hours was most important for you to get out of the house to take with you?

WILLIAMS: There were mementos. I think we took our wedding album and we took some mementos from families. My relatives, my dad and mom had passed away last year and there were a few things that were there and just some minor items in terms of, you know, wedding rings and things of that you don’t sleep with. So, we got those out and close. And then, we left.

SREENIVASAN: You’ve been in that house for how long?

WILLIAMS: We’ve been in this particular house since 1993.

SREENIVASAN: And you grew up in this neighborhood?

WILLIAMS: Yes, my parents bought a home back in 1965. We moved from Los Angeles. My dad said the neighborhood was starting to change. And he said, well, I need to get my family out to a different area. So, we bought a house that was being built out in Altadena. In fact, that house was destroyed by the fire. 1965. We had been in it for 59 years.

SREENIVASAN: I’m looking at a picture here, which I think is of your parents sitting in front of a fireplace. Have you had a chance to go buy that home that you grew up in?

WILLIAMS: Yes, that’s the one I went down in the chimney. That’s why I think that the picture is so poignant. That’s the first night that my parents spent in the home. We were in there. And they took the picture in front of the fireplace and that’s all that remains now. Yes, that was — that’s the tough part. Yes, mom and dad was so happy to buy that home. And now, it’s no longer there.

SREENIVASAN: and that’s not just a lot of memories, that’s an entire community that has built up. You know, take us back a little, for people who don’t know, the history of Altadena and especially for African- Americans why was that special?

WILLIAMS: When we moved out to Altadena in ’65, I remember it was a February of 1965. And I moved from an area that was all black in Los Angeles to come out to Altadena, and there were people of all different types of racial groups. There were Japanese, there were a few Hispanics, there was white students who I didn’t have that much exposure to when we were in Los Angeles. It was very unique. And I wasn’t too excited because there were horses. People were riding horses in the streets and there were no sidewalks. And we told my dad, my brother, and I said, hey, dad, we don’t want to move out here. There’s no sidewalks. So —

SREENIVASAN: For a kid from L.A., that’s the country.

WILLIAMS: Oh, yes. Yes.

SREENIVASAN: And today, when you look at some of the statistics, what’s remarkable is the amount of home ownership by African-Americans. How did that come to be? I mean, over those decades, since your dad and mom moved there, why did it become a place where black Americans and Angelenos felt comfortable?

WILLIAMS: There’s the story that on the west side of Altadena is where most of the African-Americans had migrated to, because it’s really three parts. There’s the west, there’s the central, and then there’s the east. The east side is slightly east of Lake Avenue. It was very warm and inviting. The people were warm and inviting on the west side, so I think it made really comfortable for people to attend. We attended a church, Altadena United Methodist Church, and there were some wonderful people who really welcome and embraced us as people of color. And we had like pancake breakfasts and it was really good. So, that was welcoming there. Central Altadena was a little bit different. There was a small mix of African-Americans there. And then on the east side, there were absolutely very few, if any African-American families over there. But I think with so many people migrating from Los Angeles, there was a community that was instantly developed. Some of the people who I first met in 1965 are still my very closest and best friends.

SREENIVASAN: And what happens? I mean, what’s the magic there? I mean, for black families to put down roots. And to take that leap of home ownership. I mean, you’re talking about changing generational wealth patterns.

WILLIAMS: Right. It was property values in Los Angeles were starting to change and it was really — if you look at it, like I said, we moved in February of 1965, the Watts Riots occurred in August of 1965. So, my dad bought the house — when he first bought the house, when he and my mother got married in Los Angeles, they bought it for $9,000. We were able to leave and sold it for $12,000. I mean, if you can believe that. We moved out to Altadena. And I remember my dad saying, hey, we’re going to buy this house and it’s — you know, it’s $32,000, but I’m going to go down to the realtor and see if I can talk him down a couple hundred dollars. I said, dad, what’s a couple hundred dollars. He said, son, you don’t understand. That may be much money for somebody or — you know, so it’s a – – it’s something substantial. So, it was just a better life. I mean, you’re going from the inner city out to the suburbs and out Altadena really is a suburb. It was a unique experience. It was very — I don’t know, I’m trying to adjust my emotions. I talked to a friend recently and he says, Kevin, how you feeling? I said, I’m in an emotional limbo because I’m looking back at 1965 and some of the early years and I’m thinking, man, this was so warm to go back and see just utter devastation, it’s tough. It really is tough. I’m trying to withhold my emotions right now just for that very reason.

SREENIVASAN: Kevin, what happens after we stop doing the interviews, after the camera crews roll away and you and your neighbors are still in this, what I would call grief?

WILLIAMS: You know, that’s something that not a lot of people are talking about right now. You’re right. There’s a lot of interviews. There’s a lot of camera. There’s a lot of people around there. And then, we have to come back to community. I have a slight background in mental health just on a — I got my, have my degree in psychology and I work with the counseling ministries at our church. And we’re talking about, what are we going to do? You know, because people are hurting. I have friends who are saying, I am not going to rebuild. I mean, that’s the first thought. There’s other people who are saying, no matter what, I’m going to stay. So, there’s a lot of emotion there. Again, a flip flop, but we call it now emotional whiplash. One day, it’s like, I’m out of here because I’m in my late 60s, which a lot of people are who’ve been around for a long time. You know, I don’t know if I have the emotional fortitude to stay for a year or two to see if my home’s going to be rebuilt. There’s a lot of hurt and pain, but we’re going to try to get together. Actually, we are. I’m talking with a lot of my community, activists, and people to say, hey, we need to get some mental health in here to really help people because of that. I think the real work is going to begin, you know, shortly after everyone leaves. Thank you for bringing that up, because that’s really important.

SREENIVASAN: So, what happens to this neighborhood that’s had this prominent place in Southern California and African-American history as a place where people felt safe setting up homes and putting down roots and, you know, trying to create generational wealth? What happens if a large number of this population decides, hey, I don’t — I can’t stomach waiting for a rebuild, that might take years and I don’t have the patience? There’s no wrong answer there, but what happens to the community?

WILLIAMS: You know, I had this question asked earlier and a pastor at our church said, when you have a group of people, a group of friends, let’s say you have five friends down there, and they develop a dynamic, and when one person leaves that group, the group is not the same. People — you know, the other four friends are there, but that one personality is gone. When you remove a group of people, in this case, African-Americans who have been there for a long time, it’s changing the tenor of the community. It’s not the same. It’s just not the same for us because there’s a loss of us in the home ownership and the legacy. And we’re trying to — again, I’m in conversations with people who say, we just can’t let that happen. We have to maintain that sense of — the legacy, the strength. It makes the community a strong place when you have all parts and all people, different races and background in a community. Altadena is a very unique community. It’s a lovely place. Just lovely. It’s — I can’t even describe the devastation that’s occurred in — and the common serenity that was there before this disaster took place.

SREENIVASAN: Do you think it’ll come back?

WILLIAMS: I hope. I don’t know. I mean, how do you rebuild a community where homes have been around for over 100 years? My wife and I take a walk almost every morning to — we live right off of a place called Christmas Tree Lane. And I think when they were doing some early shots of the fire, most of the footage was coming from about a block away, block and a half away from where we live. And we normally go east and north, up towards the foothills, that area was almost totally destroyed. But there are pine trees, the deodar trees. It’s — it was a calm. I just — I don’t know how you build that back with these homes that are there that have been around 100 years. How are they going to replace them? Is somebody going to come and put in a modern home? Because there are a couple — I say modern homes, they were built in the ’70s. And those we call those moderns in Altadena. But there’s many homes that have this just beautiful character, English tutor, Spanish stucco. How do you bring that back? I don’t know. I’m not sure. I hope that people, when they rebuild, take that into consideration. Because that is a part of our community.

SREENIVASAN: As we’re having this conversation, there are still some fires out there. But it also seems to be, you know, the beginning of finger pointing season. People trying to place blame on how this was mismanaged, or what could have been done better, or could this have been prevented. You know, you live through it. You stood there through those 60, 70-mile an hour winds. Is there something that could have prevented this?

WILLIAMS: I have a background in insurance, and we used to take classes in terms of fire prevention and what happens in a fire. And there’s a thing called a fire storm, which people don’t understand the fire makes its own weather. Early in the fire, I was driving towards the east side where many — much of the devastation was, and I looked up towards the foothills and I saw this tall palm tree, and about all of a sudden, an ember came and it attacked the trunk of the tree at about 50 feet, 60 feet high. And within moments it turned from a little ember to a bright flame. And 10 seconds later, it just exploded, the embers from that tree, and went out in multiple different directions. And I’m not talking about small embers, I’m talking about embers the size of, you know, three and four inches. And then the 90 — the 80 to 90-mile an hour winds, I don’t know how you stop that. There could have been a fire engine on every street corner and I’m not sure how they would have stopped it. I mean, this is unprecedented 90-mile per hour and 100-mile per hour winds. How do you stop that? I don’t know. In fact, when I was trying to put the fire out on my garage, my whole hose had a strong stream and when the wind gusts came, the water just came right back in my face. And talking to several firefighters, that’s exactly what happened to them too. So, I don’t know. Why do you — people are angry and I don’t blame them for being angry and you have to point your finger at somebody in the cycle of grief. But, you know, I don’t know what that solves really.

SREENIVASAN: Did most of the friends that you have in your neighborhood have insurance and or do you think that they’re fully insured?

WILLIAMS: In my neighborhood, which is considered Central Altadena, they have insurance. There’s a lot of people on the west side who — there was a fire several years back. And so, insurance changes, it goes to a more substandard, they call it the fair plan. So, the insurance isn’t quite as good because it has to fight fires. So, many of them decided because of the cost of insurance, they just — you know, they own the home, there was no mortgage, and they decided not to have insurance. So, I personally know of three people who decided that. I mean, they’ve lost everything and they have no insurance. Again, we’re in conversation saying, hey, how can we who didn’t suffer the utter devastation, how can we help them? You know, I hope there’s somebody out there. You know, this isn’t a political statement, but I hope their funds, when we’re talking about rebuilding other communities and other places, rebuild Altadena. Altadena is — again, it’s a wonderful place where people have been around a long time. You’d love to live here. Whenever we go off places and we describe our community, people says, that sounds like a place I’d like to live. And I just hope that there’s some funds available from the government that can come in and help these people, my friends, my family.

SREENIVASAN: What’s that legacy that you wanted to leave behind that might be missing now?

WILLIAMS: It’s making sure that my children can inherit my home. But not only my home, my community. I just hope that not too many of the neighbors decide to leave because that changes the community. That’s what I really hope for. I really do. I’m a person that loves people. I love being around people. I was a coach and I like to help people. And that’s one of the reasons why we stayed behind. My wife said, you know, why were you there? And I said, you know, when you’re in the middle of it, when I go broad start caught fire, I said, oh, no, I don’t want to be responsible for my neighbor’s homes burning down. We have a little kid next to us. His name is Elliot. He’s two — just celebrated his two-year birthday. And I just thought, if his home burns down, how is that going to affect him? Or my neighbor to the other side, Greedo (ph), who’s just a wonderful neighbor. Is my home responsible? So, I just hope that the community is there. We can rebuild it somehow so that everyone can live in a — live together in harmony as much as you can in Altadena. Like I said, it’s just a very unique place like that. It’s a wonderful place. I just hope it hasn’t been damaged forever. That’s my hope, that we can somehow retain some of the legacy of experience of camaraderie and togetherness.

SREENIVASAN: Kevin Williams, longtime resident of Altadena, California, thank you. And I wish the best for you and your community.

WILLIAMS: Thank you. Hari. And thank you for this segment to hopefully shed some light on my community that I love and adore.