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LA County Fires are a RJ Issue: A Message from SPARK RJ NOW!


Los Angeles Fires & The Impact on Altadena

On Tuesday, January 7th, fueled by powerful winds and extremely dry conditions, a series of disastrous wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles area. These fires have, and are continuing to destroy hundreds of homes, neighborhoods, businesses and communities. More than 200,000 people have been put under evacuation notices, with an unknown number of people being left houseless. 

While there are several active fires in Los Angeles, the significantly devastating Eaton fires in Altadena, California have not received much media presence. Altadena, California, a historically Black and minority populated city in Los Angeles County, noted for the rare opportunity it afforded Black Americans to purchase land and reach the middle class without discriminatory practices during the Civil Rights era, was devastatingly impacted by the Eaton fire. The city of Altadena and its structures are all but gone. Not only were homes and businesses burned to the ground, but there is no telling what impact this will have on the health of people in the community due to the smoke and toxic chemicals released in the air- or what the impact on the long-term air quality in the area.

The Tenets of Reproductive Justice & How They Relate to the Fires

Reproductive Justice is defined by 4 tenets: the right to bodily autonomy; the right to have children; the right to not have children; and the right to parent the children we have in a safe and healthy environment. The fires in Los Angeles, and specifically in Altadena, are a Reproductive Justice issue because they directly impact the right for one to parent the children we have in a safe and healthy environment.

Due to the fires, parents, guardians and caregivers are being forced to raise children in an environment without access to basic resources including clean air, housing, and water. An environment that puts people, families, and communities’ safety, health and well-being at imminent risk.

The lack of containment and the extensive damage of these fires are a direct result of climate change: by releasing fossil fuels and exploiting Earth’s natural resources, the fires have become uncontrollable and have caused a large amount of devastation in a short amount of time. However, the fires are more than just a climate change issue. These areas have been fire-prone for a long time; however, real estate developers and capitalists created housing in these areas contributing to the devastation we are currently seeing. The same capitalism system used to drive Indigenous folx from their land replicate the one that created the current climate crises.

What Other Movements Should be Considered?

Disability Justice

As the wildfires continue and the smoke is released into the atmosphere, there is no telling what the long-term effects it will have on the populations living in the neighborhood. Those who already have health problems, children, and the elderly have a heightened risks of facing long terms effect due to the fires. Further, as the fires continued there have repeated reports of disabled people being left behind in homes, as the evacuation procedures being used don’t consider people in wheelchairs or with any kind of limited mobility. This goes for the evacuation centers too, most, if not all, of which do not have what these groups need to perform daily functions like eat, sleep, or even use the restroom.

Environmental Justice and Capitalism

The cause of the fires rapidly spreading is not only due to the long-term effects of climate change, but also due to large corporations buying large portions of sacred land and using up all its natural resources for profit. This not only deprives citizens of the benefits of natural resources, but also contributes to making natural disasters, like wildfires, more devastating. 

Abolition and Economic Justice

Hundreds of incarcerated folks are members of California’s conservation fire camp program in which they are selected to risk their lives and fight against dangerous fires for only $10.24 a day, while Firefighters salaries in LA start at 85k a year. This little amount is somehow justified because of their criminal record. This is not only a labor issue because California’s minimum wage is $16.50 an hour, but this is also an abolition issue because it speaks to the value of their lives and how it is contingent on how “good” of a citizen they weren’t.

RJ includes the right to bodily autonomy. This has been violated by this prison labor to fight fires, despite not having experience fighting fires. This lack of experience can make them more susceptible to not only injury but long-term health issues from the exposure to smoke. 


It is important to realize that these issues don’t end when the fires go out. There is no telling what long term impact the smoke will have on the air quality in the area, the historical black and brown communities that were devastated can never be truly rebuilt, and those exposed to the toxins while the fire was burning could suffer from long-term medical issues.

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