Tenants at Altadena apartment complex say they’ve gone without gas, electricity since Eaton fire

At 403 Figueroa Drive in Altadena, a large, tan apartment complex sits, the building spared by the Eaton fire. But the fire’s devastation stretches well beyond structure losses, and every day the tenants at the complex feel the lingering effects of the long-extinguished blaze, along with the scent of its smoke, in their apartments.

For more than two months, tenants say, they have been living with no gas or electricity, or both, as difficulties abound with the rental management. The fire burned the carports at the complex as well as several nearby structures, leaving ash and debris everywhere. Many of the tenants are immigrant workers, and suffer from not only a difficult living situation, but also loss of income as their places of work and clients lost homes and businesses.

“Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,” a group of over a hundred tenants and supporters chanted as they gathered outside the building on Thursday, March 20 to share their stories: “Only the village saves the village.”

Brenda Lopez’s family has lived in the building for 29 years; Lopez has resided there since she was 6 months old. Since they returned home after the Eaton fire, Lopez says there has been no gas in their unit and that others in the complex have been living with no gas or electricity.

“If we have to take a shower we heat up water on our electric stove that we have and we shower that way,” Lopez said. “It’s stressful because it’s one big community and because of how long its taken to address the situation, so many people have left.”

The tenants have been told by Southern California Edison that the issue is with the rental management, not the utility company, Lopez said. But, the management company has not given them any answers, even after some tenants showed up to their office in person.

Request for comment placed with the management company late Thursday were not immediately returned.

“Put yourself in our shoes. We are very conscious that we are not able to stay here, but many of us do not have anywhere else to go,” Lopez said. “This is our home and we are going to fight until we have our basic necessities back.”

Maria Mares, another longtime resident who lives at the complex with her children and grandchildren, will also stay at the complex, but she wants to live in peace and safety, which is not the current state of the complex.

“It has affected her and her family, living in this type of inequality and this type of situation, because the employees of the landlord harass them,” a translator for Mares, who spoke of her experience in Spanish, said. “They threaten to call immigration, they threaten to call the police upon them just for fighting for their rights.”

Mares said she and her family are asking for humanity and to not be ignored. They have looked for other places to live, but with high costs of rent and large security deposits required, it has been difficult to find an affordable place to live, so they will remain.

Lopez and other tenants have banded together to form the Tenants Committee 403, calling for the return of utilities, compliance with tenant protection ordinances and for the cleaning of affected areas to be prioritize.

The National National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) joined in supporting the tenants committee.

“People need to have the materials that they need to protect them from the toxins so that they can clean their homes and do it in a way that is safe and not get cancer,” Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of NDLON said in Spanish.

While Lopez, Mares, their families and many other families are staying at the complex, some are leaving, feeling that it is simply too unsafe to remain.

Maria Dolores Funes lived in the complex for 35 years with her sister and other family members. Her unit has been cleaned out and she will not return. Though she did not want to have to leave her home, she felt that the smoke has made the apartment unsafe to live in. She wears a mask anytime she enters the apartment. It got on everything, her television, clothes, family photos. Instead, she and her family prefer to live in a nearby city, further from the damage.

Those that are staying at the complex, as well as many who are involved in the cleanup effort both at the complex and elsewhere in the burn zone, have fears about the long term affects of the smoke and rubble on their health.

Andrea Morales is another tenant who will not be able to return to the complex.

“I can’t come back because there is no gas and electricity for my kids,” Morales said in Spanish. “The walls are burnt… they’re covered in ash and toxins and one of my children has asthma, it’s not safe for them.”

Morales said management gave her paint and told her to paint over the smoke damaged walls when she asked about what could be done.

As fears of health compound the difficulties of daily life with no gas and electricity, many tenants have been relying on the Pasadena and Altadena community to help them. As tenants and community organizers called upon the rental management to reinstate utilities to the Figueroa Drive residents, they also called for community solidarity.

Cesar Saucedo is one of the many volunteers with the Pasadena Community Job Center who have been helping cleanup in Altadena overall, as well as at the 403 Figueroa Drive complex. He and other volunteers donned hazmat suits and cleaned Funes’ apartment, which now shows no signs of the smoke damage seen in photos from after the fire.

Some residents will seek out the assistance of Job Center employees, trusting their thoroughness over companies hired by management. According to signage posted on apartment doors, the rental management began the necessary cleaning processes on March 10.

“Only through love and solidarity will we continue to be Altadena,” Jose Madera, director of the job center, said.