Lincoln Heights, a Black Northern California community, mostly destroyed by wildfire
The fire began Sept. 2 and wasn't fully contained until Sept. 13.
The future of a historic Black community in Northern California remains uncertain after a ferocious fire last month devastated much of it, The Seattle Times reports.
The fire began on Sept. 2 at an old mill building called The Mill Fire located in the town of Weed, where the Lincoln Heights neighborhood is located. The wildfire quickly spread to nearby vegetation and burned nearly 4,000 acres before it was fully contained on Sept. 13, KCRA reported.
At least three people were injured and two deaths — Marilyn Hilliard, 73, and 65-year-old Lorenza Glover — were linked to the fire, the Siskiyou Sheriff’s Office confirmed. Glover died as she tried to escape the blaze and Hilliard allegedly suffered a fatal heart attack during the fire, according to The Times.
The fire destroyed dozens of homes and 118 structures and damaged 26 other buildings, Cal Fire reported. A popular park is reportedly all that remains in one section of the neighborhood, according to The Times.
Scores of people were forced to flee their homes in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood, which was founded during the Great Migration in the early 1900s. Laborers from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas worked at a lumber mill in the 1920s. Many of their descendants remained in the town, passing down homes from generation to generation.
According to the 2020 census, the city accounts for 6% of Siskiyou County’s population, but 36% of its population is Black people, The Times reported.
“My grandfather came out here from Mississippi in the ‘20s,” said the Rev. Alonzo Greene of the 100-year-old Mt. Shasta Baptist Church, The Mercury News reports. “He got here and went to work at the mill, and went back, got his brothers and other family to come out here and work in the mill.”
The church survived the fire but many congregants lost their homes to the blaze.
“Everybody knew everybody,” said 59-year-old Lincoln Heights resident Dave Rodgers of the community. “Old people would sit on the porch. It was a friendly neighborhood. You needed something, everybody was there to help you.”
Rodgers lost everything in the fire, his home, his two Chihuahuas, his boat, and his RV, per the report.
“It’s terrible,” he said of the loss to the Lincoln Heights community.
The Times reported that since the fire many Lincoln Heights residents have sought shelter in nearby towns to stay with relatives or at motels and temporary housing facilities. Residents who are determined to rebuild also lack the money or insurance to do so. There is also concern that their longtime neighbors with deep community roots will permanently relocate to other cities as not everyone intends to return to Weed.
In the weeks since the fire, Roseburg Forest Products, the mill’s owner, has been hit with at least three lawsuits, including a wrongful-death suit by Glover’s son.
Roseburg officials said the company is investigating whether the fire was started by hot ash in the mill. In the meantime, the company intends to provide $50 million for a “community restoration fund.”
“We’re committed to doing the right thing for Weed, for Lake Shastina, for the long haul,” said Pete Hillan, a Roseburg spokesperson.
KCRA reported that this is the second fire to rip through the town in recent years. In September 2014 wildfire, 200 homes were damaged.
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