Today is January 10, 2025. As I write this, fires continue to rage across southern California. We were among the more than 285,000 people without power this week. Family members and friends were forced to evacuate. Although they are safe, several friends lost their homes. As for my family, we are grateful to be safe and that our power has been restored. But we mourn the devastation and heartbreaking loss across Los Angeles County and our state.

I reached out to the many people I had interviewed for my latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE (Norton Young Readers 2024) about the 1992 Los Angeles uprising (AKA 사이구 “Sa I Gu” for Korean Americans). Thankfully they are all safe, but some have family members who have lost their homes. Many told me they also experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of the hauntingly similar images of the fires today compared to 1992.

I also spoke with Emile Mack, a retired Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighter whom I had also profiled in my book. Mack’s wedding was scheduled during the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest. For 72 straight hours, he and his fire company tirelessly fought fires throughout Koreatown and the city of Los Angeles. Miraculously, they still managed to make his wedding! After the ceremony, Mack and his groomsmen tried to return their rented tuxedos, only to find out the store had burned down. “The store’s gone,” the store owner told Mack. “There’s nothing.” (Source: Rising from the Ashes)

Mack is a Korean adoptee (born Yoon Young Do) who was adopted by Clarence and Undine Mack in 1959. He grew up with his Black American family in South Los Angeles (known back then as “South Central L.A.”). Because of his dual heritage, Mack worked with the Black-Korean Alliance and other groups to help bridge both communities together. After 1992, he rose through the ranks to become Chief Deputy, second-in-command, of the LAFD.

When I reached out to Mack this week, he told me: “It was so challenging for firefighters to have several major fires in such populated areas in L.A. We had not experienced this before. Around the world, we see disasters occurring on a larger scale, more intense, and their seasonal periods expand.”

For comparison: The 1992 #LAUprising, which lasted from April 29 to May 4, 1992, resulted in 63 deaths, $1 billion in damages, 3600 fires, over 1100 buildings burned to the ground and more than 3000 businesses destroyed. Schools, concerts, and sporting events were canceled. Curfews were mandated. Wind and air pollution advisories affected millions of residents. Over 15,000 National Guard and federal troops were deployed. The fires in 1992 were so powerful that our satellites alerted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, showing an average of three fires erupting every minute. The heat of the fires matched the same temperature as that of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption in the Philippines.

Cut to 33 years later: The January 2025 Southern California fires share many similarities… but with much more devastating consequences. As of January 10, 2025, an estimated 10,000 structures have been destroyed. More than 150,000 people were ordered to evacuate. Air and dust advisories were issued for over 17 million residents. Over 285,000 residents were left without power (electricity, heat and water issues, too). Curfews have been issued in certain areas. Several school districts have closed temporarily, and many entertainment and sporting events have been canceled. Damages are currently estimated to be up to $150 billion dollars. (Source: Various news outlets including Associated Press (AP)’s “What to know about the devastation from the Los Angeles-area fires.”)

Obviously this is just the beginning. These numbers will unfortunately continue to increase. Right now, people’s lives are at stake. But these fires have also devastated California’s economy and will have immense repercussions for everybody in the state. In my book, I also touched upon the financial aftermath of the 1992 L.A. civil unrest. Almost half of the $1 billion dollars in damage was disproportionately in Koreatown. Many Korean American storeowners lost their life savings and almost 40,000 people filed for unemployment. Korean Americans also experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which led to a turning point in our community where thousands sought professional therapy and mental health services for the first time. Bridges of solidarity were formed between the Korean American and Black communities. To this day, we are all still trying to support each other and maintain friendships and bonds forged since 사이구 Sa I Gu. (Sa I Gu stands for the numbers 4-2-9 to commemorate the first day of the uprising, April 29, 1992, and for the birth of the political and cultural Korean American identity.)

In addition, almost 7,000 buildings have also been damaged or destroyed in Altadena, a diverse and historically Black neighborhood and one of California’s first Black middle-class communities to flourish after “redlining” segregation had been outlawed in the state. I cover these issues in my book, too. Rodney King, whose family I had the honor of interviewing, also grew up in Altadena. (Sources: Rising from the Ashes; Washington Post’s “‘No one has a home’: What fire took from one California neighborhood” by Joshua Partlow, Jan. 10, 2025; and Yahoo News’ “Historic Black neighborhood of Altadena reduced to ashes in Los Angeles Wildfires” by Haniyah Philogene, Jan. 10, 2025)

Let us remember the lessons learned in 사이구 Sa I Gu and continue to support each other during this unprecedented and historic disaster. Climate change is real. We must be accountable and responsible, both as individuals and as citizens who can vote for stronger and more effective legislation to protect our environment and save our planet. We are grateful for the courage and compassion of not only our firefighters but also the individual citizens and neighbors risking their lives to help those in need (including our pets and wildlife!), as well as the intrepid journalists braving the fires to investigate the latest breaking news in order to keep the public well-informed on the facts and how we can best help those displaced by these fires. For starters, here’s a good resource list of how to help those in need: KQED’s “How to Help People Affected by the LA Fires” by Nisa Khan.

As with what happened after the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, let us all commit to rising from the ashes once again to rebuild in solidarity. #LAStrong

(PHOTO CREDIT: Photo collage of two Los Angeles Times front page headlines from January 10, 2025 and May 1, 1992 from newspapers.com; book cover of RISING FROM THE ASHES; and a photo of author Paula Yoo holding up her book outside the same Koreatown mall on 6th & Western that burned down taken by Hyungwon Kang.)