“Fire has no social class”

Juan Pablo Plaza prays for wisdom every day. As a husband, a father of two young girls, and a pastor for the Conexion Church of the Brethren in Pasadena, California, he’s trying to care for a lot of people.

Plaza lost his home—a parsonage owned by the church—to the Eaton Fire in January. Since then, he and his family have been living an hour’s drive away from the church, and an hour’s drive from the girls’ elementary school.

But Plaza is glad to make the drive. “Our daughters have already lost their home,” he said. “We didn’t want them to lose their school and their friends as well.”

The Eaton Fire, which burned more than 9,000 structures in California’s San Gabriel Valley, has affected the entire Hispanic community, especially in the unincorporated community of Altadena, where the parsonage was located.

“Fire has no social class,” Plaza said. “A lot of people from my church had jobs cleaning houses—and those houses burned, so they have no jobs now.”

He has observed that people who were economically vulnerable before the fire are struggling to survive in a recovery that will take years.

Two months after the fire, Plaza reflects on some deep realizations. “I have learned it’s okay to feel sad and feel a sense of peace at the same time,” he said.

The Conexion Church meets in the same building as the Pasadena Mennonite Church and The Church We Hope For, a nondenominational congregation. The churches have always worked together, Plaza said, but now they’re collaborating even more.

“The fire has also bought me closer to God,” said Plaza. “I am making a lot of decisions, and they affect a lot of people, so I pray for wisdom every day.”