LOS ANGELES — When he became a pastor, John Shaver knew he would deal with life-shattering moments. 

He never imagined that a firestorm, during one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, would incinerate his church. 

“It’s tough being someone who is trying to truth-tell,” Shaver said amid the ruins of the Community United Methodist Church in Pacific Palisades. “It’s a bad situation right now. Ninety percent of our town burned.”

Fueled by heavy winds, the Palisades Fire destroyed or damaged nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures after sparking Jan 7. It’s estimated at least 12 people were killed.

For nearly 100 years, the church on Via De La Paz served as a cornerstone of the community. In fact, methodists founded Pacific Palisades in the 1920s and named the streets after their missionaries.

The structure survived the first night of the inferno, but when embers got into the tower on Jan. 8, firefighters had run out of water, Shaver said. He watched on a friend’s live stream as firefighters stood by helplessly — unable to stop the flames from destroying the historic and sacred site. 

One of those firefighters later told Shaver he was consumed with guilt that they couldn’t save the church. 

“I shared with him in the Methodist tradition, God is not putting out guilt for anyone in that way. And so I just prayed with him, and we prayed that God would be with him and bring him the healing that he needs,” Shaver said.

Shaver says the church does plan to rebuild — but in the meantime, he’s trying to figure out how a church without walls can become a center for hope and healing. 

“We want people to have a place where, eventually, they can have some coffee, maybe hear some music,” he said.

Los Angeles County Director of Public Works Mark Pestrella said the Palisades and Altadena burn areas remain unsafe. The fires left behind 4.5 million tons of toxic soot and ash — half the amount of waste the entire county of 10 million people usually produces in an entire year. 

“We really haven’t seen this scale. I think Katrina is probably close to it in terms of debris and people effective. This is spread out everywhere. It is unsettling to see the risk that is present,” Pestrella said of the burn scars left behind both the Palisades and Eaton fires.

The long-term health impacts of returning amid all that debris are unknown, according to Dr. Mark Wilson, public health scientist and toxicologist with the Chemical Insights Research Institute. He said short-term effects could include skin, lung and eye irritation, and exacerbation of asthma.

Wilson said research into the debris from mega-fires that destroyed thousands of structures is relatively new. While the Centers for Disease Control now has decades of research on the adverse health effects experienced by 9/11 first responders, the chemical makeup is different, Wilson noted. 

“The fuel loads and the type of debris that were present associated with 9/11 are likely very different from the mixture of fuels associated with, specifically, this very large wildland/urban interface fire in California,” Wilson said.

For example, some of the health issues experienced by 9/11 first responders came from the massive amount of caustic dust created by the collapsed concrete structures.

However, Wilson emphasized that the stress alone of surviving a mega fire is bad for your health.

“When you distill stress down, it is a chemical exposure, it’s just inside of you,” said Wilson. “Your internal chemistry changes due to experiencing stress.”