By Steve Segner, Sedona Resident and past resident in Altadena California.
Sedona, AZ — As I sit here vacationing in Hawaii, watching the news about Los Angeles on fire, hearing the stories of loss, fear, and total devastation in a place I know so very well, I want to embrace a message that there will be a tomorrow that’s brighter but for now it is as dark as it can be.
I am hearing from my family and friends who live in the Altadena area, whose homes and businesses have been burned to the ground or are and danger of burning to the ground. I am reflecting on what does this mean and what is the message that we’re supposed to embrace when armageddon comes to your town.
I remember. Forty years ago I was elected President of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce. I loved contributing to the life of that community. We were a small business community at the top of Lake Street. We were a blue-collar merchant class. We held fundraisers. We put on parades. We planted trees. We built community. Today, January 7, 2025, that community disappeared.
Hurricane Force winds, combined with the driest of dry vegetation, void of moisture at a time considered to be the rainy season, gave birth to a giant monster of fire devouring everything in its path. It’s the firestorm of the century for a populated area in America. It’s the end of life as so many people know it. It is a scar on so many wonderful memories while at the same time so many people I know are living through extreme crisis.
Many of the small businesses are gone, and the people who helped build community in the past are gone. I hope when Altadena rebuilds it won’t forget the downtown section and allow small merchants to come back, build and be part of the community.
A community cannot thrive without a merchant class. I am so sorry to see what happened today. The pet store I started as a young man in 1972 and now run by my niece is gone along with the most all the other businesses on Lake Street.
Click HERE to see video of Steve’s Pet Store on fire.
I live in Sedona for 2 1/2 decades, but still have my heart in Altadena. And so many of us who live in Sedona still have our hearts back from where we hail from. We all should count our blessings and hope that perhaps the dry season that were experiencing ends with a rain storm and not a firestorm. When you hear experts, remind us that we all should have a “go bag” and have a plan on what we want to save once everything we own owned is gone.
Nature can be cruel if it wants to be. But we embrace The Beauty and love of Sedona’s red rocks and green forest, but we should never take it for granted.
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2 Comments
Oh my! As if we couldn’t be any more impressed with Steve Segner than we already are. Over his 2 plus decades in Sedona, he has spearheaded many of the Sedona landmarks, while busy owning El Portal with his wife Connie, serving as head of the Sedona Lodging Council, shepherding the famed Sedona History Walk, and many, many more selfless accomplishments. This article written by Steve is profound, insightful and filled with hope. To see his beloved Pet Store in Altadena burned down only a day ago is beyond tragic for many of us who know a bit about his beginnings, creating healthy pet food – whose success brought him and Connie to their beloved Sedona. The fact that Steve served as President of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce tells a lot, considering his unwavering ability to achieve all that he does for our town. Thank you to Steve for sharing this sad, yet uplifting message. He offers comfort at a time when everyone needs it most.
Even though I’ve lived in Sedona for 23 years, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center is so much a part of who I am that I am deeply grieving for its loss. I wasn’t able to have a Bat Mitzva when I was 12, so the Cantor at PJTC (David Julian, now a rabbi in Memphis) encouraged me to do it when I was 42. I was so nurtured by David, his family, and the entire congregation, and my knowledge of Judaism grew even deeper. Singing in the choir was a completely different–and more involving–experience, than merely being a congregant. I am grateful that no one was hurt and that the Torah scrolls were rescued; I have special memories of the silver engraved Mizrachi Torah that was returned to our congregant (an Iranian emigre) by the Ayatollah. And way beyond PJTC, I have friends in danger, who have had to evacuate, whose home burned down, and another friend who’s in NY but we haven’t heard about her house in Malibu. The whole disaster is way too huge for words, way too huge for me to process–for those I know and the hundreds of thousands of people I don’t know. All I can do at the moment is send prayers and donations, and gratitude that lives are saved.