51�Թ�

Hope, gratitude and grief mix as the holiday season starts, 10 months after devastating wildfires ravaged the Pacific Palisades community.

Ten months after raging wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades, American Legion Ronald Reagan Palisades Post 283 continues serving its recovering community. The post — untouched by the fires even though neighboring buildings were destroyed — represents a shining beacon of hope for thousands of families facing their first holiday season without the homes where they previously celebrated such joyous occasions.

Jim Cragg is a past commander of Post 283 who recently retired after 30 years in Army Special Operations. For him, this experience hits particularly close to home.

“My kid watched a wall of flame come down a hill toward her school,” he recalls. After three decades of military service, Cragg says this disaster “is worse than anything I’ve seen because this is my kid, this is my family.”

The scope of devastation is staggering. Cragg, who now heads the long-term recovery group for the community, oversees aid for 10,460 families representing 25,000 people. More than 6,000 homes burned to the ground, and another 4,000 families were displaced due to toxicity.

Just as it has since the devastation was revealed after the Jan. 7 fires, Post 283 is leading the community resurgence.

Gratitude mixed with grief

“People are attracted to leadership,” Cragg explains. “They walked into Post 283’s disaster center, saw 15 different organizations, and they saw the military uniforms of the Army Corps of Engineers, and made a beeline straight to them. People are thirsting for decisive leadership in this time of disaster and time of trauma.”

The post’s survival itself was remarkable.

While churches, schools and grocery stores burned, Post 283 remained standing. Even its air conditioning and bathrooms were functioning in the immediate aftermath of the fires. Current Post 283 Commander Joe Ramirez, a Marine Corps veteran, recalls entering the neighborhood as fires still burned. “Our building was still intact and there was fire around our building.”

That allowed the post to immediately transform into a command center, bringing FEMA, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers under one roof. The post served as headquarters for VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Assisting in Disaster), coordinating 40 agencies including the Salvation Army, Team Rubicon and Red Cross. At the height of operations, 1,600 families passed through the building seeking help.

Now, as Thanksgiving approaches, the mood is complex — a mix of gratitude and grief.

“We’re about to hit the holidays,” says Ramirez. “It’s going to be a very, very emotional time.”

An interfaith gathering is planned at the post, bringing together displaced congregations whose own buildings burned. The post will host a Thanksgiving chaplain service and dinner, along with holiday events for community organizations that have nowhere else to gather.

The recovery phases have been carefully structured, drawing on military precision.

After the initial emergency response, the post established a disaster distribution center, run by the post chaplain with experience in Haiti and other disaster zones. Initially providing essentials like clothing and toiletries, it now helps families furnish temporary apartments with items like microwaves — things people don’t realize they need until everything is gone.

The post created a separate Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG) to serve as the trusted conduit for tens of millions of dollars in aid. Disaster case managers, federally funded and trained, work with affected families, presenting their needs to the 40 VOAD agencies to prevent duplication and ensure resources reach those most in need. Habitat for Humanity is planning to build over 100 free houses.

A ‘five-year deployment’

The mountainside community reflects the recovery efforts. Some buildings like the post were spared. Nearby, homes are being rebuilt while razed structures serve as a reminder to the tragedy.

Surveying the landscape, progress is indeed visible.

The community has already rebuilt 220 homes — faster than typical disaster recovery. Flags erected at neighborhood entry points remind residents that “your community is there for you.” For Cragg, success is measured simply: “When I see smiles on the faces of our children.”

But there’s still work ahead.

“This is a five-year deployment,” Cragg acknowledges. The post is developing a disaster response manual to help other American Legion posts nationwide prepare for emergencies in their own communities.

As families gather this Thanksgiving and Christmas — many away from their former Palisades home, breaking holiday traditions — they know Post 283 is working to ensure no one slips through the cracks.

“Every day I get tears, I get hugs,” says Cragg. “When you look in the eyes of your neighbors and they genuinely appreciate what you’ve done, it kind of makes up for all those deployments where there was no parade coming home.”