Photo courtesy of Bryan Swanson.
By Rev. Catie Coots
Tomorrow is a solemn anniversary. On January 7th, 2025, a fire broke out in Pacific Palisades. No one could have imagined the utter devastation that would result: homes, businesses, schools, and churches, like mine, all burned down. Block after block after block. Pacific Palisades is a strong community. When I lived there, I felt a little like it was on an island because the connections to get to some other city are limited, and most people walk to the various businesses in town for shopping etc. Walking through town, seeing neighbors at the market, children attending Methodist Preschool and Palisades Elementary are all part of a shared experience of living in a community that really feels like a community, a community that cares about each other.
Pacific Palisades was started by Methodists in the Southern California Conference, which is my denomination and home conference. My grandfather was a voting member of the conference when the idea was presented of founding a community near the ocean, much like Ocean Grove New Jersey. The community was founded on a lot of ideals that I found continued in the community even with non Methodists like the importance of learning, caring for our neighbors, and helping to make the world a better place.
With the fires, it’s not just that people lost their homes and possessions, and businesses they had built, but everyone, even those who didn’t lose their homes, lost the connection to the community itself. Many people had lived here for multiple generations, and imagined passing on their house to their children and their children’s children. But now that house where people lived as young married couples, and raised their children, and celebrated birthdays, and Christmas, and other holidays, was gone. Life as everyone had known it had changed.
Once people got relocated and settled somewhere else, be it an apartment, or living with a family member, or finding another house to rent, we started working with our insurance companies and FEMA, both of which are complex, with special language unique to themselves, a lingo you have to learn. Most people, maybe even all people, found that insurance didn’t cover the full costs of rebuilding, nor enough to replace possessions lost.
But the biggest loss has been the community connections themselves.
Gathering for worship has an extra special feeling now. People are so glad to see each other!
A year later, emotions still ring strong: grief, anger, and gratitude. The grief and anger may be obvious. The gratitude is deeper and broader. Everyone in my church was helped by someone in this catastrophe, usually several someones. Our church has also been helped financially by other churches and other organizations. Our Methodist Connection stays strong!
Tomorrow there are multiple gatherings. All the churches in town plan something. The American Legion Post 283 and Pali Long Term Recovery Group plan a big event at the Legion and I will be there to represent the Methodists. My church plans its own quiet gathering, to mark the grief of the day, but also the hopes for our future, as a church and as a community.
You can donate to Cal-Pac’s LA Fires Recovery fund at this link.
Learn out more about joining volunteer rebuilding teams at this link.
