She woke up to the news of three fires. At the time, she didn’t think anything of it because it wasn’t necessarily out of the normal– then it quickly became five fires, almost doubling in size within hours. 

 Reign Snowden began her spring semester watching and waiting for news of how her home in Altadena, California had fared. She was born and raised between the Los Angeles and Altadena communities. As global warming and climate change continue to cause unprecedented events, Snowden and her families bore witness to the destruction of the L.A. fires. 

“On a regular night with no wind, the wildfires would’ve never happened”, Snowden explained. Fires are named based on where they started; the Eaton fire was the one that impacted the Snowden family. 

 On Jan. 7, Snowden’s father, Kenneth Snowden, found out there were fires that were spreading near his Altadena home. With his pre-existing respiratory conditions in mind, he evacuated the house. He wasn’t expecting it to burn down. Upon returning, he witnessed the entire neighborhood on fire. The fire was spreading to their garage where their family heirloom, a black Buick Grand National 1987 known as The Black Beauty, resided. In an instant, he was back in his home which was now on fire trying to salvage anything he could. He would’ve risked his life in the process had Snowden’s brother not assisted and convinced him to evacuate the home. This time for good. 

 For the first few days, everyone was devastated and distraught. It wasn’t just Snowden’s home impacted but, “It was my grandparents, my cousins, my aunties’ homes”, she reported. 

Landmarks that were staples in her childhood such as the neighborhood corner store, the banks, and the bunny museum were all destroyed. Since the 1960s, Altadena, California has been a safe haven for black families. During the Jim Crow area, it was one of the first middle-class communities and it was heavily impacted by the fires. 

Louisiana may not be impacted by fires as much as hurricanes but there are similarities and differences with both emergency protocols. Even fire insurance is being canceled for the victims similar to how insurance is impacted after floods in Louisiana. 

The predictability of a hurricane is what allows those in its path to evacuate days in advance. Evacuations aren’t the same when it comes to wildfires because meteorologists can’t predict fires, sometimes warnings can only come within hours of advance. For these wildfires, evacuation orders were given too late or never came, causing the casualties of 17 residents all in close vicinity.

Louisiana residents know too well how evacuation orders coming too late can cause casualties, and more importantly, understand the mental impact natural disasters can have on the victims. 

“I felt alone,” Snowden shared. 

Snowden was on campus when the Eaton fire spread across her community, and in a span of hours, everything in her life had changed. Her family had worked hard to make their home in Altadena the perfect place with it finishing in late 2024. Not even a year later, it was all gone. She shared how she wished she were back at home around people who understand because, with less news and social media coverage, there isn’t a focus on the victims of the L.A. fires. When asked how students and Dillard University help her feel supported, she shared how she wished a statement were made in condolences or sympathy for those from Los Angeles or living in the impacted communities. 

“I feel like there’s a couple of people from California who go here so a statement from the school would be nice. Something that shows they’re empathetic to the students,” she said. 

Snowden lost her home but she didn’t lose her passion and perseverance to make the world a better place. Her love for helping people and wanting to make a difference in her community led her to become a nursing major with goals of becoming a cRNA or labor delivery nurse. She saw how many black women were dying giving birth and as she took care of her great-grandmother, who was a nurse herself, she realized she wanted to be a nurse to advocate for other black women. 

She comes from a family that focuses not only on their well-being but the well-being of others even more. As a result of the fire, the Snowden family created a GoFundMe that will not only go towards rebuilding her childhood home but rebuilding the community she grew up knowing and loving. 

Her final sentiments were, “I’m scared that our community will not go back to what it once was. I’m scared that people are going to decide that the damages that were done are too big and that they’re going to sell.”

To support Snowden’s family, please visit the link below.

https://gofund.me/8a343bb8