Fires in Los Angeles Series: Inventory in the Aftermath

There’s so much to do now that we’re back home and the threat has mostly passed.

Much of my time (after thinking all would end well, and soon) was spent wondering if my home was in the line of fire — or if my friends and family were — was then spent cruising online to see what I needed to know to maintain my health once I got home.

Survival of the fire, meant you were lucky enough not to lose your life.

But there’s more to that story.

Everyone in Los Angeles County was affected by the fires.

If you live within 150 miles of Los Angeles, you could still be affected by the fires.

You’re Lucky…

If you didn’t lose your life, you are lucky, but if you live in L.A., you have to take care about staying here.

If you didn’t lose your home, you are lucky, but you may have to spend a LOAD of time, money, or effort, making your home livable so it isn’t a health hazard – an unexpected expense of all the aforementioned resources (time, money, and manpower).

If you didn’t have to evacuate or weren’t in a warning zone, you are lucky, but you may still have to clean your home and take in-home precautions. And going outside won’t be the same for quite some time.

We’re In this Together

But, [as I was to find out myself], everyone in L.A., or who knows someone in L.A., or who has endured a sudden fire, or a natural disaster, or anyone who has a shred of empathy, was indeed affected by the fires on some level.

We have shared a collective trauma.

And even if it wasn’t your house burning down, or losing a property or business; or having to evacuate, or in a warning zone for a few days; or brushing up against a warning zone.

Even if you didn’t lose access to fresh water & had to use only bottled water, and couldn’t even take a shower because the water was contaminated; or you lost power because LAFD deemed your zone an electric fire hazard, or you lost gas and had no way to cook, or only had access to freezing cold showers; or your road was blocked off by no entry zones; or you saw the National Armed Guard with army hummers & military rifles; or a fleet of police or sheriffs, or traffic directing cross guards, or volunteers assisting in the streets.

Even if you just talked to your friends, or saw it on Facebook, or waited for your family to call or check in, or had some other medical ailment while suffering through this experience, or had some medical ailment and had nothing to do with this experience.

You, too, have suffered through the trauma of this year.

It’s Okay to Feel It

And now it’s time to mourn.

Grieve. Alone. Quietly. Openly. Together.

Mourn your loses.

Mourn for your self. Your home. Your family & friends.

Your lost belongings. Your memories. Your trinkets.

Your lost wages. Lost job. Lost net worth.

Hell, I mourned the loss of the food in my fridge because LAFD shut the power off for 1 week to decrease risk of an electric fire. I threw out 5 big black bags of food. I was fortune enough to be able to come home a couple of times and grab nearly 5 grocery bags of food, and I still lost 5 heavy black bags of food — 2 from the freezer and 3 from the fridge.

I spent hours cooking disease management specific, healthy, nourishing foods for the past 4 years, and the refrigerator was the sum of the past 9 months, including open jars, condiments, sauces and leftovers.

A disgrace to mourn a few bags of food, when people have lost entire houses, businesses, properties, vehicles, and let’s not forget the whole of wildlife living in the state parks have lost their lives or their dwindling dwellings.

But it was personal to me. And so it is what I had to mourn.

And it doesn’t matter what it is you have to mourn.

If you need to grieve some thing that runs deep or something that is utterly superficial – then you must grieve it. You must find a way to say your good bye and weep or scream or beat a pillow, until your ache has been felt.

And no one can tell you how you must part with it, or how you must express yourself, or when you have had enough and it’s time to stop grieving it.

Comparison is murder of the soul.

Do not compare your loss to another.

It is yours. You hold on to it. You let it go.

Rage. Yell. Scream. Dance around in a fidgety, spasmodic, adult tantrum.

[Do try your best not to hurt anyone else, or yourself whilst purging your emotions]

And when you feel you are done, then you move on. And when you feel you need help, then you reach out and ask for it. When the burden is too heavy for you to move forward, you suck it up and you ask for help, because it is a strength, not a weakness, to do so.

That’s the way I see it anyway.

Once you have released in the way that you see fit, in the time you feel is right, it is all you can really do.

Then you can start to find a way back up from the bottom.

Find Space to Recover

Get some place safe (safe as you can be at this time). Take a deep breath, if you are able to do so comfortably.

Sit in the moment as pointless as it may feel. Be still. Hug yourself. Quiet the mind.

Peace, Be Still.

Self soothe. Make space.

Notice the sky. the clouds. take note of the moon. note your position in distance and in space [there’s a planetary convergence, after all]

Witness a bird, smell a flower, watch a bee, embrace a tree, smile at a child’s play, wonder at some marvel in a town you still wish to visit one day.

Regroup. And prepare to encounter the next steps forward.

Stay with me as we go through the resources:

• to regulate your nervous system
• to get the funds you need to stay afloat & recover
• to have survival needs met: food, water, clothes, safety, security, a place to lay your head
• to keep yourself in clean air!! while living in Los Angeles
• to find spaces for community
• to find spaces for healing
• to find a spot of joy amidst pure chaos & calamity
• to keep your boundaries and make sure you care for yourself, so you have the energy to help others – if that be your wish (remember airplane culture: apply your oxygen mask first, before assisting others)
• anything else I can think of to support the collective healing & empowerment of others, especially in the aftermath

Sleep. Take baths. Eat well. Drink plenty of water. Exercise that body. Have a cup of tea. Read a book. Watch a movie. Journal. Scroll on social. Binge on YouTube or your streaming service.

Whatever you need to do to make it through one day to the next.

Then gear up to keep moving forward.

Take care out there.

Index for L.A. Wild Fire Series

West Palisades Fire Jan 7, 2025 – Reiki offering (on-going thru Feb 15, 2025) & ideas to help calm nervous system.

Observers of Ferocious Hand of Fire – Resources during Fire Updates

Resources for Recovering – links to information for housing, protection, community, financial aid & relief, home air cleaners & solar generators

Experience of the Aftermath – A letter of a personal account of a devastating wildfire & step-by-step actions to consider afterwards