Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Sacred Heart Church, Saved From Flames by Deacon’s Intervention, Will Host Healing Mass on Eaton Fire Anniversary

One year after Deacon José Luis Díaz and three parishioners extinguished flames threatening Sacred Heart Catholic Church with a garden hose and in spite of minimal water pressure, the Altadena parish will host a Healing Mass on Wednesday evening to mark the anniversary of the Eaton Fire.

The Mass, scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on January 7, 2026, at 2889 North Lincoln Avenue, comes as the parish continues to reckon with the fire’s toll on its congregation.

Fr. Gilbert Guzmán, the pastor, has said Sacred Heart lost nearly half its parishioners to evacuation and displacement after the January 2025 blaze.

Sacred Heart narrowly survived. On the morning of January 8, 2025, Díaz left the Pasadena Convention Center evacuation shelter after his wife, Maria Esther, told him the church was burning. He arrived around 7:30 a.m. to find two parishioners already fighting flames near the boiler room.

“We almost didn’t have water pressure in the hose,” Díaz recounted. “So, we had to do everything we could to put it out.”

The sanctuary’s interior remained largely undamaged. The parish held its first indoor Mass after the fire on February 2.

Sacred Heart’s Healing Mass is open to the public.