Some might say that one family’s tragedy is another family’s burden. In the aftermath of the Eaton Fire that claimed 19 lives and decimated over 14,000 acres, an entire community’s tragedy quickly escalated into the burden of its own town. While some feel forgotten as time has passed since fast-moving flames set fire to homes and businesses, some residents of Altadena hold on to the pride of their culture, their battered resilience, and the fragments of their undying hope.  

The Lloyd family is your typical military family whose grandparents purchased their home in Altadena for $35,000 in 1975. During that time, the city became one of the leading destinations for African Americans to achieve homeownership following the Fair Housing Act of 1968. 

“They just had a little dollar and a dream, and wanted to build a home. So they settled in Altadena, and that was the plan forever,” says filmmaker Sadé Sellers, best known for “Deadly Dispatch,” who has been documenting the Lloyd family’s journey after the Eaton Fire since January 2025.

With a foundation in place to secure their home as a generational mecca to be passed down within their family, no one imagined tragedy would strike on an unparalleled scale 50 years later. Like many other residences in Altadena, the Eaton Fire of 2025 reduced their home to ash and rubble. A year later, and a mountain of added challenges like stress, anxiety, a lack of access to basic needs like hygiene products and clothing, and destroyed family photos, Emani Lloyd, 31, and her family are determined to rise again. 

“They shared a motel room with their grandmother because they got vouchers for weeks, and every time a motel got an actual paying guest, they got kicked out. So they each traveled from motel to motel until they got their own apartment,” Sellers recalls during a conversation with the Lloyd family. “ [Emani] went to therapy for the first time in her life. She told me that the fire alarm went off and she had a panic attack. She went into shell shock.”

But as the dust continues to settle on the hearts of those caught in the crosshairs of tragedy, the possibility of gentrification looms. 

Sellers considers it’s not if, but when. According to her, “Gentrification for any Black neighborhood in the United States is not a possibility; it will happen. It's happening. It's in motion, it's in play.”

Days after the Eaton Fire, some residents and business owners of the fire-battered community were approached to sell their land. A year later, those intrusive calls have persisted. From low-balling homeowners to seeing the bruised land as a cash cow, these unsettling aims to reshape the historic Black community within Altadena are now being compared to other disasters within American history that resulted in the attempted erasure of Black people and their beloved communities.

“We look at New York, we look at South Central. We look at Tulsa. We look at Altadena, and the pattern is to tear these communities down, build them back up, make them unaffordable, push the people out, and get the white people in there,” says the filmmaker. “That's why they're offering such cheap stuff so they can build really expensive things that you will never be able to afford again.”

“The ripple effect of Hurricane Katrina is still being felt. Unfortunately, I feel like that's going to be the same thing for Altadena. This is a very long fight of recovery,” she continues. 

A day before the Eaton fire set Altadena ablaze, the Palisades near Malibu, California, also experienced a devastating wildfire that caused 12 deaths and burned over 23,000 acres. Two weeks after these fires, President Trump visited the Palisades, but skipped Altadena, a juxtaposition Sellers believes paints a broader picture.

“You can't help but think it's racial. Our own president didn't step foot in Altadena. Vice President Harris did. She was there in a hat volunteering and passing out food,” Sellers points out. “Same thing with Hurricane Katrina. I'm old enough to remember Bush's response to that. I remember Kanye calling out Bush, as he should have. You just can't help looking at the differences between the two. It's because they're black. That's it. And then you look at Tulsa. The patterns are patterning.” 

So, will history repeat itself? And if gentrification is the game at play, is it too late for Altadena and the Lloyd family, or can something be done to rebuild a city that is nearly unrecognizable? Sellers thinks the damage might be too deep to undo.

“We're still doing this over and over again….I'm seeing the chess pieces being placed, and it looks like we're about to get checked mate,” she says. “I feel like it's here already. Gentrification feels like the endgame for Altadena in terms of our government response.”

As for Emani, even if gentrification continues to threaten Altadena, her hopes are on something more worthwhile. She and her fiancé recently signed domestic partnership papers and are currently planning their wedding. The couple also wishes to reside in Altadena.

Sellers’ documentary of the Lloyd family is slated to premiere after 2026.

To help the Lloyd’s rebuild, please check out their GoFundMe.