"Before anyone received an official alert about the Eaton fire, a message lit up a pickleball group chat. "Everyone look up, there's a vegetation fire on Canyon Close," the message read. "If you're anywhere near Eaton Canyon, I'd evacuate." Over the next several days, the chat of about 50 people who met regularly at the Altadena Country Club pinged with updates about where the fire was headed, pleas to evacuate, offerings of safe-havens and status updates on what was lost."
"In the nearly 10 months since the fire, that group has morphed into a community of more than 8,500 people, which includes more than 3,000 who regularly communicate in a Discord group and vent their frustrations. The network, a majority from Altadena, has seen the adrenaline that pushed people at the beginning of the year wear off as a sense of dismay set in."
"A recent AI analysis of the Discord chat found that distressed messages about financial pressures have increased. Joy Chen, the executive director of the network, said that sentiment has shifted from defiance to despair. "I'm in the [chat] every single day. I was blown away by the amount of grief and trauma that came pouring out of people," Chen said. "It's definitely on a different level now than it was in the early days after the fire.""
Before official alerts, a pickleball group chat warned residents about the Eaton fire and urged evacuation. The initial chat of about 50 people provided updates, offers of shelter and loss reports. Over ten months, the network expanded to over 8,500 members with more than 3,000 active on Discord. The community shifted from adrenaline and defiance to dismay and despair as recovery slowed. Residents face a waiting game over permits and decisions about returning. AI analysis found rising distress and financial-pressure messages. Members report grief, trauma, feelings of being ignored, and concerns about renters' inability to recover financially.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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