Thursday, January 8, 2026

Eaton Fire Anniversary: A Night Full of Light

By EDDIE RIVERA | Photography by Eddie Rivera/Pasadena Now

At first-anniversary commemoration of the Eaton Fire, Altadenans gathered to remember the 19 lives lost and to mark a year of grief, resilience and community

The Grocery Outlet parking lot in Altadena — a place that became an informal meeting ground, aid station and gathering point in the days and months after the Eaton Fire — filled again Thursday night, this time with music, poetry, prayer, and remembrance.

An estimated 1,000 residents, survivors, neighbors and friends gathered there for the first anniversary commemoration of the January 7, 2025 fire, which killed 19 people and destroyed large swaths of the community.

As dusk fell, cell phone lights rose into the air, illuminating the lot during a moment of silence for the fire’s victims.

“Each of us here remembers where we were on January 7th, 2025,” said Gilda Riazi Moshir, district governor of Rotary International District 5300 . “That day is etched in our memory.”

Moshir told the crowd she personally knew 39 families who were displaced by the fire. Though she did not evacuate herself, she said she helped her mother and a friend leave their homes and housed them for two weeks. What she remembered most from that time, she said, was not only fear and uncertainty, but togetherness.

“One word captures it all,” Moshir said. “Community.”

The evening was organized by the Community Coalition for Altadena Recovery as a commemoration rather than a rally.

Speakers repeatedly emphasized remembrance, reflection and care for one another. Music and poetry were interwoven with remarks from elected officials and community leaders.

Paulina McConnell, a recent Pasadena High School graduate and first-year Yale University student studying environmental science, returned home for the first time since losing her family’s house on Loma Alta Drive. Standing before neighbors and former classmates, she spoke about displacement and the loss of permanence.

“When I lost my home of 12 years, I lost my belief in permanence,” McConnell said. “In its place, I gained a hesitancy to allow myself to be comfortable, to settle.”

McConnell described moving from place to place and carrying a constant sense that everything was temporary. Yet she said that experience reshaped her understanding of resilience and home.

“To me, being uprooted makes us durable,” she said. “Home is both everything beautiful we had in Altadena and everything beautiful that we’ve learned about ourselves from losing it.”

State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, who represents the area, told the crowd that Altadena lost not only residents but also schools, places of worship and small businesses that formed the backbone of daily life. She urged the community to remember both the devastation and the acts of courage that followed.

“We remember the fear, the uncertainty, the smoke and ash,” Pérez said. “But we also remember the neighbors who stepped up when systems failed.”

Assemblymember John Harabedian said the fire occurred during his first days in office and permanently shaped his legislative focus. He described returning to Altadena the morning after the fire and finding a landscape he barely recognized.

“The fire broke our structures,” Harabedian said. “But it never broke our spirit.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger told residents that accountability and transparency remained priorities. She said residents had a right to answers about what happened and a right to rebuild without unnecessary bureaucratic barriers.

“I want people who choose not to rebuild, for it to be their choice,” Barger said, “not because they can’t.”

Altadena Town Council Chair Nick Arnzen, who lost his own home, spoke briefly before the memorial portion of the evening. He acknowledged the conflicting emotions that marked the past year — anger, fear, hope — and asked the crowd to become fully present for the lives lost.

“Forgetting them would be a crime,” Armasen said.

Nineteen members of the clergy then stepped forward to read the names of the victims, each name spoken aloud and received in silence.

As the final name was read, attendees lifted their phones, flashlights glowing across the huge parking lot. Judy Matthews, president of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, invited the crowd into a moment of silence.

“Let us pause not only to mourn the lives lost,” Matthews said, “but also to recognize the strength and resilience of our community.”

Victoria Knapp, former Altadena Town Council President, choked back tears as she told the audience the lights were the “most emotional moment” of a long, emotional day.

The evening closed with poetry from Altadena writer Shé Shé Yancy, who spoke of mountains, ash and renewal.

“Altadena does not break,” Yancy said. “It bends, it heals, it will remake.”

A year after the fire, the Grocery Outlet lot once again served its unexpected role — but the only free supplies it was handing out were memories, light, hope and a shared resolve.