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Anthony Obi never imagined the night of Jan. 7 would be the last time hed step inside his safe haven. The Houston rapper, known professionally as Fat Tony, has lived in the Altadena neighborhood for a year and says he and his neighbors were prepared for heavy winds and perhaps a few days of power outages. I totally expected, you know, maybe my windows are going to get damaged, and Ill come back in like a day or two and just clean it up, said the rapper. But residents like Obi woke up the following morning to news that thousands of homes and entire neighborhoods had been burned to ash, destroyed by flames that wiped out large areas of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Although the neighborhoods are on opposite ends of the county, they are known hubs for many of the citys creative community, housing filmmakers, actors, musicians and artists of various mediums. LA is not just rich, famous people who have giant mansions that were destroyed, said visual artist Andrea Bowers, who is assisting artists recover. So many members of our community lost everything, they lost all their artworks and their archives, thats irreplaceable, a lifetime of labor and a lifetime of research. A lot of my collectors lost their homes, said figurative and conceptual artist Salomón Huerta, who lost his Altadena home of three years to the Eaton Fire and worries the art scene in LA will downsize as a result of the wildfire. Before the fire, I was in talks with certain collectors. And then, after the fire, theyre not in a good place to talk. Im hoping that theres support so that the art scene can still thrive. But its going to be tough. Obi and Huerta lost not only personal treasures, business opportunities and homes but also vital equipment and professional archives, adding to their emotional burden. Huerta left behind slides and transparencies of past work that he had planned to digitize for an upcoming book. Everythings gone, Obi said. All of my stuff that is related to Fat Tony music that was in that house is gone, and it was the motherlode of it. From aftermath of one fire, a support network is born Kathryn Andrews never imagined shed experience another wildfire in her lifetime. The conceptual artist was forced to flee her Pacific Palisades neighborhood as smoke drew near, the second time in four years shes had to escape a wildfire. She lost her Juniper Hills property to the 2020 Bobcat fire, which burned a large section of rural Los Angeles County. Ive already experienced one home being burned. I think you have a different focus after that. Maybe we become a little bit less attached to material things. And we began looking at a bigger long-term picture, thinking about, you know, how we live together in community, how we live in relation to the land and how we can work together to solve this, she said. Andrews is the co-founder of relief effort Grief and Hope, which aims to support creatives financially as they enter the long road ahead and was founded alongside a group of gallery directors, art professionals and artists like Bowers, Ariel Pittman, Olivia Gauthier, and Julia V. Hendrickson. Our primary goal is getting people triage money for just whatever the most emergent need is, said Pittman. The fundraising effort began shortly after the fires broke out with a Go Fund Me seeking $500,000. They have now raised over $940,000 of their new $1 million goal via non-profit art space The Brick. As of Tuesday, Grief and Hope has received more than 450 inquiries, and Pittman says the funds will be evenly distributed to applicants. The deadline for artists to submit a needs survey has concluded, but the relief effort will continue fundraising until mid-March. Grief and Hope also has five different groups of volunteers providing peer-to-peer support, helping with medical needs, safety issues, and renters issues and collecting survey data to better serve their creative community. These are people who already have made very long term commitments in their work, including the five of us, towards building community and building sustainability around artists and art workers in our city and beyond, said Pittman. For Grief and Hope, creating a more sustainable future for artists throughout the city begins with affordable studio spaces and housing. Creative tools lost, and a long road ahead For photographer Joy Wong, losing her home of eight years meant losing the beauty of Altadena. She describes the overall area as a pocket of heaven. I didnt want to leave, said Wong who safely evacuated with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. We were just so in love with this house, and it wasnt just my house. It was also my studio space. Many, like Obi, Wong and Huerta, have started GoFundMe accounts. Meanwhile initiatives and relief efforts have popped up around Southern California ready to assist with clothing donations, art supplies, professional equipment for creatives and more. Im applying to everything, said Obi, who needs to replace his instruments and recording equipment. Wong said shes received much support from family, friends and colleagues. I think I just have to kind of lean on the community and get back into shooting, she said. I got to get all my gear back, too. Its going to be a long road, but itll be OK. How some artists see L.A.’s arts scene can be reborn Superchief Gallery co-founder and director Bill Dunleavy said he believes that this is an opportunity to rebuild long-needed infrastructure for the arts throughout Los Angeles. Quite a lot was lost and in the areas affected by the fire. And its going to affect rent prices and studio prices and art markets and everything else, said Dunleavy. Ive been so impressed with the amount of compassion that people feel and the sense of duty people have felt to help with this. … I hope that continues into the coming years. Creative director Celina Rodriguez said she hopes freelance artists and creatives continue to work and shoot production or projects throughout the city, rather than leaving because of the wildfires. Having lost so many locations that we would shoot, typically in Malibu, Topanga, the Palisades, all throughout. We will have to absolutely come together and figure out how we can continue working in Los Angeles … and urging people to shoot productions here, she said. Rodriguez and Dunleavy began collecting donations at the Downtown Los Angeles gallery and within 48 hours transformed it into a bustlingdonation center with over 150 volunteers. The duo are now working with displaced families to make sure their daily needs are being met. Dunleavy said the relief effort has only encouraged him to take this work beyond just the donation center and explore the possibilities of non-profit work for the community. All of our wheels are turning now that weve seen the power that just self-organizing can have. Leslie Ambriz, Associated Press
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The Army helicopter and regional American Airlines jet that collided over Washington are both workhorse aircraft that operate around the world on a daily basis. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ700, officials said. Three service members were on a training flight on the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. None are believed to have survived the Wednesday night collision, which caused both aircraft to plunge into the frigid Potomac River. What to know about the aircraft: Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk There are about 5,000 Black Hawks in use around the world, according to the aviation site FlightGlobal.com. The twin-engine, four-blade helicopter is manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The aircraft involved in Wednesday’s collision was an Army version. There are other variants made for the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, and for specialized duty such as intelligence gathering. The Black Hawk made its debut in 1979. The helicopters have been involved in numerous U.S. military operations, including the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the invasions of Panama and Grenada. It is perhaps best known as the namesake aircraft in the 2001 war film Black Hawk Down, about a U.S. helicopter shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war there. Others have crashed over the years on training missions. Bombardier CRJ700 The passenger jet was manufactured by Quebec, Canada-based conglomerate Bombardier Inc. The CRJ program was sold in June 2020 to the Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which no longer makes them but continues to produce parts. The twin-engine aircraft comes in several versions capable of seating between 68 and 78 passengers. It is a commonly used regional aircraft used for medium and shorter flights, with more than 900 produced since it was introduced in May 1999. Bombardier said in 2015 that the CRJ700 series accounted for 20% of all departure flights in North America, with about 200,000 flights per month. The plane in Wednesday’s crash was registered as N530EA and manufactured in 2010, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The jet was operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, PSA Airlines. Curt Anderson, Associated Press
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President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned the actions of the army helicopter pilot and air traffic controller ahead of a deadly midair collision in Washington and quickly veered into politics to speculate that Democrats and diversity initiatives shared blame for the deaths of 67 people. As Trump spoke, a federal investigation into the crash was just getting started and first responders were still working to recover bodies from the wreckage of the commercial jet and army helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night. Speaking from the White House just over three miles from the scene Trump at points acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged the nation to pray for the victims. But he moved nonetheless to assign blame. Trump said we are one family as he expressed condolences for the crash. He then proceeded to attack political opponents and unleash grievances about diversity initiatives. The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencys website, Trump said. He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and dwarfism. Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses. They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses, he said. You cant have regular people doing their job. Trump said he had no evidence to support his claims that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring preferences played a role in the crash, allowing that “it just could have been. He defended doing so because I have common sense. The plane crash marked the first major disaster of Trump’s new term, and his response evoked his frequent and controversial briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic. His handling of the pandemic helped sour voters on him as he failed to win reelection in 2020. Trump said we do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions. Then he proceeded to hold forth at length about what happened, at one point wondering if the helicopter pilot was wearing night vision goggles. Trump declared that you had a pilot problem and the helicopter was going at an angle that was unbelievably bad. And he questioned why the Army pilot didnt change course, saying that you can stop a helicopter very quickly. He also mused about the air traffic controller, saying of the two aircraft, for whatever reason they were at the same elevation,” adding “they should have been at a different height. Vice President JD Vance, new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth all lined up behind Trump to praise his leadership and echo his concerns about DEI programs and hiring. When you dont have the best standards in who youre hiring, it means on the one hand, youre not getting the best people in government,” Vance said, But on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there. Trump complained specifically about Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, calling him a disaster. Hes run it right into the ground with his diversity, Trump said. Complaining about the previous administration, Trump continued, their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse. Buttigieg responded in a post on X, calling Trump’s comments despicable. He added: As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying.” Trump made a point to tell Duffy, who was sworn in on Tuesday as Buttigieg’s replacement, Its not your fault. Duffy took the White House podium alongside Trump and declared, When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. Duffy added, We will not accept excuses. Despite the crash, Trump said he “would not hesitate to fly. Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian, Associated Press
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