On Jan. 7, Missoula International School teacher Gillian Kessler called her sister in California. Her sister, also a teacher, let her know that the Santa Ana winds were raging, and that her school in Pasadena was waiting to hear if it would have to shut down. Just a couple days later, they spoke again, going through the list of people they both know — childhood friends, family members — who had lost their homes in what would become known as the Eaton Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California history.
The Eaton Fire had torn through Altadena, leveling homes, turning lives to ash. Kessler spent the next few days texting childhood friends: Are you safe? And while they were, their homes were not. One of those friends, Amelia, had spent the last decade building a life on a small urban farm in Altadena. Now, it was gone.
After Rolling Stone came out with a story featuring Amelia’s farm, Kessler shared the story and images with her middle school students. She decided to task the students with making cards decorated with watercolor paintings and then writing a note to Amelia and her teenage daughter. “I didn’t give them too many guidelines,” Kessler noted in MIS’s newsletter. “Somehow my intuition trusted that they would know what to say.”
And it’s true. The kids responded the way you’d hope kids would: with unfiltered compassion. They made notes full of color — caring messages that feature the kind of honesty adults often lose. Those cards made their way to Altadena, where Amelia read them to her daughter, Charlotte, and the farm’s one surviving goat. And then something for them shifted.
“The cards gave Charlotte the strength to go to the house for the very first time since the fire,” Amelia texted Kessler. The small act of sending words turned into something bigger: a reason to gather, to grieve, and to do something. And that’s how the idea for (disco) INFERNO was born.
On Sat., March 1 at Free Cycles, anyone interested can show up — not just to support the families who lost everything in Altadena, but to prepare for what feels inevitable in our own backyard. The night kicks off at 6 p.m. with a brief but potentially potent panel on climate resilience, featuring representatives from Families for a Livable Climate, Approach Design Build, Climate Smart Missoula, and the Montana DNRC. Kendra Potter, of Sister Moon Wellness, will facilitate. Tabling from local organizations will offer resources on both emergency preparedness and long-term climate action.
Then, at 7 p.m., DJ Ms. Sparkles will be taking requests and dedications a la Delilah. There will be snacks from The Camino and drinks from Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (wine) and Highlander (beer). And thanks to the boundless energy of Aimee McQuilkin, owner of Betty’s Divine, the silent auction is stacked: gift cards from Betty’s Divine, FLOAT Missoula, Ritual Yoga, The Dram Shop,and Brasserie Porte Rouge, plus experiential prizes like a vacation rental in Mexico, a custom-designed piece of jewelry from Bathing Beauties Beads, and a salmon dinner from Taste of Alaska.
Beyond the immediate devastation, the Eaton Fire exposed another ugly reality: climate gentrification. As Altadena families try to rebuild, developers are swooping in, offering fire victims pennies on the dollar for their land. It’s a pattern we’ve seen before — one that turns disaster into an opportunity for displacement. And it raises an uncomfortable question: When the next fire comes (because it will), who gets to come back home?
So, this event is meant as a way to gather, dance, listen and learn. And maybe, in the process, we walk away a little more ready — for the emergencies that are coming and for the work it takes to prevent them in the first place. Family-friendly. Future-friendly. And just the right amount of disco.
