At Jackie Robinson's high school, a fire-ravaged city rebuilds

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE days aft the fire, astir 70 seniors from John Muir High School emergence from their seats wrong Pasadena's historical Civic Auditorium. Like their 200 classmates seated astir them, their acheronian bluish gowns are draped with colorful ribbons and stoles. Blue-and-yellow tassels bent from their graduation caps.

"Give these students a circular of applause for their perseverance, for staying focused and for overcoming adversity," Muir's principal, Dr. Lawton Gray, says arsenic raucous cheers echo done the theater.

Five months ago, these 70-some seniors mislaid oregon were displaced from their homes erstwhile 1 of the astir destructive fires successful California past ripped done their town. Jasmine Collins, a three-sport standout, is 1 of them. Now, she glances astir the auditorium, her eyes welling with tears. She's surrounded by the astir important radical successful her life. Her friends. Her family. Her coaches and teachers. She adjusts her graduation cap, which she's lovingly decorated with a photograph collage and the words, "To turn is to change."

The infinitesimal is conscionable similar she'd imagined it would beryllium ever since her mom, Brenda Sharpe, archetypal told her astir her ain graduation from Muir astir 30 years ago. But thing her ma told her could person prepared her for the months starring up to this day.

Jasmine's household has lived successful Altadena for generations. They mislaid everything successful the Eaton fire. Their homes. Old photographs. Their favourite places. On the mode to the ceremonial today, Brenda hugged astir everyone who crossed her path. She knows this municipality and its people. They cognize her. Her begetter graduated from Muir, arsenic did her 2 oldest daughters. She was classmates with truthful galore parents and module gathered present today. Jasmine included galore of them successful the collage connected her graduation cap: Dr. Gray, caput h2o polo manager Micol Issa, diversion manager Alfredo Resendiz.

They each came backmost to their hometown due to the fact that they judge Altadena is special, a spot wherever families enactment down roots and stayed. In the weeks and months aft the fire, they tracked each student's whereabouts, feeling keenly the nonaccomplishment of each household that left. For the students who made it present to graduation, and particularly for the 70 oregon truthful who stand, contiguous is simply a celebration. As they determination their tassels from close to near and flip their caps into the air, they outcry and hug and instrumentality successful this infinitesimal of reprieve from surviving successful edifice rooms, waiting successful enactment astatine donation centers and sitting successful unending uncertainty.

Their families basal and cheer the caller graduates. Today is for them, too. They unrecorded with what was mislaid each day, not conscionable successful homes and possessions, but successful the places and radical that made their assemblage what it was. Five months aft the fire, a caller world is mounting in. For each person, moving guardant means answering intolerable questions.

When truthful overmuch has been lost, what crushed bash immoderate of america person to stay? And if we stay, however bash we clasp connected to each that was precious astir Altadena earlier 6:30 p.m. connected Jan. 7, erstwhile sparks from a transmission operation apt ignited a occurrence that decimated our beauteous town?

It is imaginable to rebuild houses, schools and churches. But is it imaginable to rebuild what's been lost?

THE NIGHT OF the fire, Jasmine is astatine a friend's location erstwhile she archetypal sees the flames. She has a feeling this isn't similar different fires she's heard astir successful the Angeles National Forest, though she's excessively young to person experienced those. Another occurrence has been raging successful Los Angeles since a small aft 10 this morning, and the images connected the quality and societal media are scary.

Jasmine calls her older sister, Janiya, to prime her up. At home, she pleads with her household to evacuate. "I kept saying to Jas, 'We're gonna beryllium OK; the occurrence is gonna pain done the mountains similar always,'" Brenda recalls.

"But she was afraid, and that fearfulness is what we should person listened to earlier," she says. "It wouldn't person stopped the devastation, but astatine slightest she would person felt harmless immediately."

NINE DAYS AFTER the fire, Brenda and her 3 youngest are successful a motel country adjacent the freeway successful Pasadena. The abstraction is thing similar the three-bedroom location they were renting, but that location is uninhabitable. Each day, she asks herself, "How bash I marque this concern bearable for my kids?"

She blows up aerial mattresses and drapes them successful multicolored quilts from donation centers. She helps Jasmine carve retired a abstraction that is conscionable hers, wherever she tin beryllium quiescent and crochet, gully oregon constitute poetry. "When her caput is racing, she needs to fto her originative broadside travel out," Brenda says.

Brenda has been backmost to her vicinity lone erstwhile since the fire. What wasn't burned was sopping and moldy and smelled similar smoke. But successful 1 room, she saw 2 houseplants she had been watching for a housekeeping client. They were inactive alive. She poured a spot of h2o into the pots and carried them to her truck.

The household keeps what's near of their belongings successful that truck. They don't person much. Jasmine was the lone 1 who packed a container erstwhile they evacuated. She stuffed a alteration of clothes, her swimsuit, goggles, aquatics cap, softball glove, schoolbooks, a crochet needle and yarn into her h2o polo bag, navy bluish with the University of Michigan-style "M" for Muir connected the side.

Jasmine has been withdrawn since the fire. She's bushed of adults telling her that it volition each enactment out, that things volition get better. Nine days feels similar a beingness ago. Back then, she was outgoing and joyful, known for showing up to schoolhouse with a purple unit chopped oregon wearing a unicorn onesie. Back then, she was looking guardant to attending Cal State Northridge successful the fall. The schoolhouse is lone 30 minutes from Altadena, but adjacent that seemed excessively acold away. Now, she's not definite astir anything. She's hardly slept. She hasn't seen her friends. She doesn't cognize wherever the household volition spell next.

Schools volition reopen successful a fewer weeks. Brenda wonders however she'll negociate the choreography of it all. It's hard to program for thing beyond today. She doesn't cognize wherever oregon erstwhile she'll find much work. All but 2 of her clients' homes burned. But she sees nary different prime than to stay. She is determined to springiness her kids the beingness she wants for them, the beauteous beingness she had here.

Brenda's grandparents moved to the country successful 1952, 1 of the archetypal Black families to bargain a location connected tiny Glenrose Avenue, successful a vicinity that existed extracurricular of the restrictive lodging covenants that governed the remainder of Pasadena astatine the time. Her parents purchased their location successful northwest Altadena successful the mid-1970s. By 1980, Altadena's colonisation was much than 40% Black, and procreation aft generation, Black families owned their homes astatine a acold greater complaint than the nationalist average, passing the wealthiness held successful those homes connected to their children.

When she was a kid, Brenda and her brothers spent their summers swimming astatine Loma Alta Park, a abbreviated locomotion from their home. They played shot determination successful the outpouring and hiked Chaney Trail, winding northeast from the parkland into the Angeles National Forest.

She graduated from Muir successful 1996. She was a cheerleader, and erstwhile she talks astir her precocious schoolhouse years now, it's similar she's backmost determination again, singing the combat song, performing astatine pep rallies. "We drank retired of the h2o hose. Always walking from 1 extremity of Altadena to the other, riding our bikes, eating honeysuckle and picking citrus and pomegranates disconnected people's trees," she says. "Altadena was beautiful. The radical were beautiful."

IT'S BEEN ELEVEN days since the fire. For galore Altadenans, dates are nary longer defined by a calendar but alternatively by however overmuch clip has passed since that fateful Tuesday. There is lone beingness earlier the occurrence and beingness aft the fire.

Jasmine and her household are astatine a picnic organized by Micol Issa, the caput h2o polo coach. The schoolhouse was deed hard -- 1 successful 4 students mislaid their homes oregon were displaced -- and the aquatics programme was deed adjacent harder. Twenty-one athletes mislaid everything. Most of them lived adjacent Loma Alta Park and its pool, successful the country that sustained the astir damage.

This is the archetypal clip galore of them person seen each different since. They cry, laughter and speech astir the favourite places they've lost.

"Nearly each anchor these kids person ever known, the places wherever they felt harmless and felt joyousness are gone," Issa says. "I effort to punctual them that we tin beryllium devastated astir the nonaccomplishment of a spot similar a parkland oregon a excavation and retrieve however we felt astatine that park. But a batch of our memories halfway astir people, and you inactive person those people."

She looks astir the picnic and sees the interaction the excavation has had connected truthful galore of her athletes. Jasmine didn't cognize it erstwhile she tried retired freshman year, but she was becoming portion of a affluent past of Black athletes who learned to aquatics astatine Loma Alta and played h2o polo astatine Muir. "People speech astir wanting to diversify the athletics and Muir has been doing it for decades," Issa says.

Muir's walls are lined with images of celebrated Black alumni. Jackie Robinson graduated successful 1936, a twelvemonth aft his older member Mack Robinson, who finished 2nd down Jesse Owens successful the 200 meters astatine the Berlin Olympics. Science fabrication writer and 1995 MacArthur chap Octavia Butler graduated successful 1965, 5 years earlier a landmark national tribunal determination made Pasadena the archetypal metropolis connected the West Coast ordered to desegregate its schools. Rodney King was successful the people of 1984.

The schoolhouse is inactive closed, but sports resume adjacent week. The girls' h2o polo squad is having its champion play successful 4 years. A league title is wrong its grasp. Issa wants to springiness her athletes thing affirmative to look guardant to, but she wants the determination to beryllium theirs. She and her adjunct manager stitchery the players and inquire if they privation to decorativeness retired their season.

"We said, 'We're not asking you to win. Do you privation to play?'" Issa says. Jasmine is quiet. Her teammates notice. The girls look astatine each different and a fewer connection opinions. They don't cognize what to expect from themselves oregon however they'll respond to the unit erstwhile they get successful the water. Issa tells them their competitors whitethorn not attraction what they're going through. "In life, they mightiness person empathy for what you've lost," she says. "But successful the pool, they mightiness instrumentality vantage of your vulnerability." She tells them the games volition beryllium hard, but worthy playing.

"A large feeling successful a nonaccomplishment this monumental is feeling similar you've truly mislaid everything," Issa says. "But if they tin proceed playing, if they person this, past they person something. And they haven't mislaid everything."

FOURTEEN DAYS AFTER the fire, Alfredo Resendiz is driving done Altadena, surveying the damage. He's been doing this astir each day. He wants to spot the devastation with his ain eyes. During the fire, helium spent each nighttime hosing down his mom's house. His ex-wife's parents mislaid their home. So did his niece.

Like galore of his peers astatine Muir, the diversion manager near his hometown for assemblage but returned to springiness backmost to the assemblage helium feels gave truthful overmuch to him. It's hard to process what's happened to this spot helium holds truthful dear. As helium drives north, the blocks look astir blurry, similar they're passing by astatine precocious speed. He slows down, but the blur is inactive there. He knows these streets, knows their stories. But helium hardly recognizes them.

"This is wherever it began," Resendiz says.

He parks adjacent a motion for Eaton Canyon, a beloved quality sphere located astatine the basal of the San Gabriel Mountains. The aerial inactive smells similar fire. The canyon's walls, greenish and lush with maturation conscionable 2 weeks ago, are brownish and marred with the charred remains of chaparral, sage and wildflower bushes. "The Altadena apocalypse," helium says.

He drives on, past rows of blackened ceramic chimneys and factual slabs reaching skyward from piles of twisted metallic and ash, incomplete outlines of erstwhile acquainted homes. He wonders erstwhile the clearing volition begin. His telephone rings constantly. A section sports newsman asks erstwhile Muir's games volition beryllium rescheduled. Another school's AD offers the usage of her gym for a elder nighttime celebration.

At a airy connected East Washington Boulevard, Resendiz notices 1 of his erstwhile students adjacent to him. He rolls down his rider window. "What's going on?" helium yells. "How are you?"

"Good." she responds. "You? Did you lose?"

"I'm good," helium says. "Did your dada lose?"

She shakes her caput no. Resendiz rolls up the window. He lets retired a heavy breath.

"That's ever the archetypal question," helium says. "It's heart-wrenching."

Did you lose?

Those 3 words person go shorthand betwixt neighbors. There is simply a knowing successful this mode of asking, an unspoken knowing that the nonaccomplishment successful question approaches totality. A home. A business. A life. The afloat question is excessively overmuch to inquire of anyone.

SIXTEEN DAYS AFTER the fire, Jasmine and her teammates measurement disconnected a autobus and locomotion toward the excavation to instrumentality connected Burbank High School. Resendiz chartered the autobus truthful the girls could thrust to the crippled unneurotic arsenic a team. He wanted to springiness his athletes a triumph earlier the archetypal whistle.

From the infinitesimal Jasmine stepped onto the bus, she's been quiet. Her eyes seldom assistance from the excavation deck. Her teammates and coaches effort to buoy her spirits, but they cognize what she needs close present is time. "It's hard to spot her hurting similar this," Issa says. "She's a large portion of wherefore our squad wanted to beryllium present today. They wanted to amusement up for her."

Muir has lone 9 players tonight, not adjacent capable to sub a afloat lineup erstwhile lungs commencement burning and legs get tight. Late successful the archetypal quarter, the Mustangs are up 2-1 and they're playing smart. Issa was right. Burbank is doing everything they tin to frustrate Muir's players. But contempt Burbank's aggressive, carnal crippled plan, the Stangs are keeping their calm.

Near the pool, Dr. Gray's telephone rings. He motions to Resendiz, and the AD drops his head. Another student's parents person called to accidental they've moved away, this clip crossed the country, and their girl won't beryllium returning to Muir.

Dr. Gray leans implicit his laptop and makes a enactment successful a color-coded spreadsheet. He's tracking each student's story: wherever they lived, however their location fared successful the fire, wherever they are now, wherever they program to beryllium erstwhile schoolhouse reopens. He's received dozens of calls similar this implicit the past 2 weeks. Each telephone feels similar a monumental nonaccomplishment for the schoolhouse and an adjacent deeper chopped to the community.

"When generations are mislaid similar this, it breaks my heart," Issa says. "They're what makes this spot unique. A batch of the Black families who came present recovered thing peculiar and continued to physique and determination into this community. If those families don't travel back, past what?"

Jasmine scores connected a punishment changeable with 2 minutes near successful the archetypal fractional and Brenda leaps into the air. She hugs each genitor astir her. Muir wins 10-2.

After the game, the squad changes retired of their suits, past gathers astir Issa successful a semicircle. Jasmine sits successful a seat adjacent to her, her caput down and her eyes formed toward the ground. Issa places her manus connected Jasmine's shoulder.

"We're truthful ace arrogant of you all," Issa says. "How bash you feel?" She gives Jasmine's enarthrosis a airy squeeze.

Jasmine looks up. "I ..." She stops. Her eyes capable with tears. She smiles and forms a bosom with her hands.

FORTY-EIGHT DAYS after the fire, Jasmine is wearing her caller varsity missive jacket, with the Michigan-style "M" connected the beforehand and her past sanction connected the back. A fewer days ago, her coaches amazed her with it. They pitched successful to bargain it for her. "She hasn't taken it disconnected since," Brenda says.

The overgarment represents truthful overmuch to Jasmine. It comforts her to deterioration it, to wrapper herself successful a reminder that she hasn't mislaid everything, which is important successful what Issa calls "the hard stretch" of surviving this fire. "It's existent now," she says. "Everyone is realizing, 'This is our life.'"

Money from online fundraisers is drying up. Donation centers are packing up and closing. The rebuilding process is slow. But beingness and the quality rhythm rotation on.

The radical of Altadena cognize that portion their nonaccomplishment feels singular, their symptom is not unique. They're each assemblage facing intolerable questions aft a loss. They're Asheville, North Carolina, aft Hurricane Helene; Waverly, Tennessee, after devastating flooding; Uvalde, Texas, aft different deadly schoolhouse shooting; Paradise, California, after the Camp fire.

"I don't cognize that we tin clasp connected to what Altadena was," Issa says. "But if we're choosing to stay, past we're going to person to clasp that it's ne'er going to beryllium the aforesaid again."

THE SUN IS rising arsenic Brenda leaves to instrumentality her lad Joshua to school, 50 days aft the fire. Yesterday, she ran into the mates who owned the houseplants she rescued from her home. Their location burned, too. She told them their plants had survived. She smiles remembering what it felt similar to archer them they hadn't mislaid everything.

Now, arsenic she and Joshua attack the truck, they spot idiosyncratic has breached successful overnight. Everything wrong is gone. Their apparel and shoes. Their blankets. Important paperwork.

Jasmine's missive jacket.

When she tells her girl her caller overgarment is gone, Jasmine is dumbstruck. She can't ideate that idiosyncratic would instrumentality each they had left. "They could intelligibly spot we were homeless," she says. "I walked astir the artifact for a portion crying." At school, her friends effort to comfortableness her. When she gets home, Brenda promises her they won't unrecorded retired of her motortruck forever.

"I can't support them from immoderate of this," she says. "That's the hardest portion arsenic a mom."

ONE HUNDRED DAYS aft the fire, tons successful Altadena are being cleared. Heavy machinery and demolition crews are everywhere. Issa passes galore of the 9,000 destroyed structures connected her thrust to Muir each morning. Twelve houses burned connected her thoroughfare alone, and galore of their remnants inactive hold to beryllium carried away. Taken successful total, the demolition is overwhelming. Each idiosyncratic clearing brings a consciousness of optimism.

"There's thing hopeful astir the cleanable slate of cleared tons that's bringing radical bid of mind," she says. "We're moving forward."

In a small implicit a week, a unit volition interruption crushed connected the archetypal location to beryllium rebuilt successful Altadena. New operation volition regenerate a 100-year-old compartment connected West Palm Street, a fractional mile southbound of Loma Alta Park. "Altadena is changing," Resendiz says. "It's inevitable. Even earlier the fire, determination were signs of nonaccomplishment and alteration arsenic West Altadena started to gentrify. But that was a trickle. This was an avalanche."

For weeks aft the fire, Resendiz continued to thrust astir his community. But helium can't bring himself to instrumentality those drives anymore. "I've fluctuated successful value passim my life," Resendiz says. "When I'm heavier, I debar looking successful the mirror. That's wherever I americium close present with Altadena. I request to look away."

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN days aft the fire, Jasmine is dancing with her champion person Eva astatine elder prom. She's wearing a chic achromatic suit and her favourite blistery pinkish Nikes. Halfway done the dance, she slips into a bath and changes into a strapless achromatic dress. She received some outfits astatine foundation events. She and Eva creation and airs successful the bath reflector and station TikTok videos.

Her friends announcement the change. They drawback glimpses of the aged Jasmine, the confident, comic miss who inspired different kids to articulation the h2o polo squad conscionable to beryllium astir her. She's inactive uncovering her mode backmost to herself, to the miss she was the time earlier the fire, but successful this moment, successful her outfit swap and blistery pinkish Nikes, they spot her again.

Since outpouring break, she's been staying with Eva and her mom, Johanna, who went to Muir with Brenda and is present Jasmine's play manager there. With each the moving implicit the past 2 months, Jasmine has struggled to enactment focused astatine school. "Jasmine has a hard clip successful the motels," Brenda says.

ONE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE days since the fire, Jasmine is extracurricular with her classmates, diplomas successful hand, taking photos. She's posing with Coach Issa and her h2o polo teammates, and with manager Matt Milton and her softball team. She's hugging her grandparents and her siblings. Joshua graduated from eighth people earlier successful the day. Janiya can't halt crying. "I'm conscionable truthful arrogant of her," she says. "We've been done a lot, and she's gonna marque it out."

Jasmine turned down her acceptance to Cal State Northridge. For truthful long, she wanted thing much than to enactment adjacent to home. But excessively galore of the things that brought her comfortableness are nary longer there.

"Everything present is gone," Jasmine says. "I privation to commencement caller for myself. There's not truly thing to travel backmost to. It's a clip for maine to instrumentality the adjacent measurement into life."

She and Eva volition be Cal Poly Humboldt successful Arcata, a 10-hour thrust northbound of Altadena. She hears it's beautiful. She's excited to research Redwood National Park and walk clip astatine the beach. She's reasoning astir trying retired for softball her sophomore year.

Brenda is heartbroken that Jasmine volition beryllium truthful acold away, but she understands. In the meantime, she'll absorption connected rebuilding. She and 2 of her children are inactive surviving successful the motel. She sees corporations and concern companies buying up the spot wherever she erstwhile rode her motorcycle and picked citrus and pomegranates disconnected her neighbors' trees, but she holds retired anticipation she volition find affordable housing. Loma Alta Park reopened past month, and she believes 1 time she and her household volition instrumentality to aquatics successful its excavation and hike its trails.

On the days erstwhile it feels intolerable to support going, she looks astatine Joshua. She has 1 much Muir graduation ceremonial to attend.

As the assemblage extracurricular the Pasadena Civic Auditorium thins, Dr. Gray finds Jasmine who, contempt the June temperatures, is wearing a caller varsity missive overgarment implicit her gown. It's not the original, but it has the aforesaid Michigan-style "M" connected the beforehand and her past sanction stitched onto the back.

A fewer weeks ago, Dr. Gray and Coach Issa called Jasmine retired of class. "I thought I was successful trouble," Jasmine says. When she arrived, Dr. Gray told Jasmine they had a astonishment for her. Tears streamed down his cheeks arsenic helium handed her the caller jacket, which they ordered the time they learned the different 1 had been stolen.

She wrapped the overgarment astir her shoulders and headed backmost to class, betraying small emotion. When she got backmost to her classroom, "I started crying truthful hard," she says.

Now, draped successful her overgarment extracurricular the auditorium, she finishes saying her goodbyes. Brenda stands with her household and takes it each in. She doesn't cognize erstwhile they volition beryllium unneurotic similar this again. She watches arsenic Jasmine and Dr. Gray hug and she's thankful for everyone who helped them marque it to this day.

"I anticipation to spot you soon, Jazzy," Dr. Gray says. He hopes that, similar him, she finds a crushed 1 time to return.

"I'll spot you soon," Jasmine says, walking away. She stops and looks backmost astatine him. "I mean it. I can't accidental it volition beryllium existent soon, but I'll beryllium back."

ESPN researcher John Mastroberardino contributed to this story.