For these Eaton and Palisades fire survivors, Rose Parade trip down Colorado Blvd. will be no ordinary ride

On a morning the world awoke to news of mass shootings at a college campus, a Hanukkah celebration in Australia, and the murder of a beloved Hollywood couple, five survivors of the Eaton and Palisades wildfires gathered in Pasadena to inspect what at first glance seemed not-so big a deal.

But looking over the bare bones of the “Rising Together” Rose Parade float at the Rosemont Pavilion on Monday, Dec. 15, Eaton fire survivor Gina Clayton Johnson said the work in progress can remind a watching...