The lightning speed with which the Mill fire — fueled by extreme heat and winds — swept into a residential community and caused such destruction underscores the growing toll of wildfire in California. “Most of the community of Lincoln Heights is gone,” Greene said Saturday, describing a scene of eerie quiet as smoke hung over the smoldering remains of the neighborhood. Historically known as “the Quarters,” Lincoln Heights was once home to a flourishing Black community. Weed’s Black population boomed in the early 1920s, as the prospect of jobs at the Long-Bell Lumber Co. drew Black workers from the South who played a pivotal role in the community’s growth. In Lincoln Heights, Black workers and their families developed their own institutions, including two churches, a cemetery, a hotel, apartment house and club, according to a National Park Service history.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 04, 2022 08:02 UTC