‘Recovery is failing survivors’: Fire survivors say billions still needed to come home, one year later

Citing lengthy delays and underpayments from insurance companies, thousands of survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires that devastated several coastal communities and Altadena exactly one year ago are unable to rebuild and remain displaced, while many face becoming homeless.

The dire assessment comes from the Eaton Fire Survivors Network (EFSN) as well as state legislators who spoke in front of several hundred fire survivors and media representatives in a resource center space for fire victims in Altadena on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

“Families are not failing at recovery. Recovery is failing survivors,” said Joy Chen, EFSN executive director.

The group cited a new survey conducted in late November to mid December by the Department of Angels, a nonprofit studying the recovery, that showed about 70% of Eaton and Palisades survivors remain displaced near  the one-year anniversary of the fires.

Of those, about 40% have taken on new debt to pay rent at temporary residences, and pay for storage and basic living expenses.

The Eaton fire took the lives of 19 people and destroyed 9,144 structures. Most of those were homes in Altadena, where whole blocks were left in ashes. The Palisades fire claimed 12 lives and destroyed 6,837 structures, including hundreds of homes in the Palisades, Malibu and unincorporated communities along the coast.

This past fall a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of lighting the fire that officials say eventually swelled into the Palisades fire. However, Altadena awaits the official cause of the Eaton fire, but survivors and plaintiff attorneys in hundreds of lawsuits point to the public utility Southern California Edison as being at fault for its equipment and mismanagement sparking the blaze in the foothills above the town.

What county officials had hoped would be a rapid rebuilding process, has not materialized, the group said. Those who have extra insurance and extra savings can recover sooner, while those who are middle or low-income face tremendous uncertainties, Chen said.

“Whether a family gets back home or is replaced comes back to one thing: Money,” she said. “How we unlock the billions needed for recovery is how America learns to come home after disaster.”

One of the major issues involves displaced residents running out of housing allowances. Many are using up their allotment quicker because rental prices have doubled or even tripled, the group reported.

Ada Hernandez moved her family into their dream home in Altadena in November 2018. Shortly after that their first-born child died. She told the crowd that the loss of her home also mean a disconnect with her deceased son, having lost artifacts of his life in the fire. She said their other children had not finished opening Christmas 2024 gifts when the fire destroyed everything.

Her family has been living in an Airbnb supplied by the Salvation Army, but that funding ends Jan. 14. “After that, my husband, myself and our small children may have to live in our car,” she said. They are still making mortgage payments on the lost home while facing high rental rates — if they find a place in a tight market.

“This is heartbreak upon heartbreak,” she said.

Christy Zamani, CEO of Day One and a leader of the Eaton FIre Collaborative Leadership Council, scrambled the day after the fires to put together a list of available rental units. Often, survivors experienced doubling or tripling of rates by landlords and were forced to move several times.

Zamani, Chen and others at the gathering have asked Southern California Edison, which has said their equipment may have been responsible for the fire, although no cause has been determined, should help pay for housing.

“Our urgent housing relief proposal would keep families housed now,” Zamani said. “It would prevent mass homelessness and allow recovery to finally move forward for all families.”

She said some survivors have become desperate for a place to stay.

“A 16-year-old kid told me we are living in a trailer with no electricity. Can you help me find a job?,” he asked her recently, she said. “It has been a year but we are not where we should be. I’m embarrassed to say that.”

Zamani said asking SCE to provide a housing relief fund to those who need it is not unprecedented, saying other utilities have done so after a fire that may have been their responsibility. “It is about humanity. The communities are waiting and we don’t want to wait one more day.”

State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, said she wrote a letter to Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison. “They need to provide emergency housing relief to the community of Altadena. Edison has recognized it is likely their equipment that has caused this fire. Edison you need to step it up,” she said in her remarks.

SCE would not specifically comment on the idea of providing housing relief to fire survivors. Instead, the utility pointed to a compensation fund it began offering survivors in October.

“We are fully committed to helping the community move forward. We are doing it through our Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program,” said Gabriela Ornelas, SCE spokesperson on Wednesday. “Those funds can be used for interim housing.”

So far, the utility has received 1,840 claims and extended 82 offers that total $34 million, Ornelas explained. The application process can be accessed through the website sce.com/directclaims. The program expires on Nov. 30.

The other major roadblock to recovery are insurance delays, said the group and many survivors speaking at the event.

“The insurance process has been more difficult than anyone should have to endure,” said LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena and Pasadena. “This system has been broken for a long time.”

Chen gave the county and Barger credit for launching an investigation on Nov. 13 into State Farm Insurance’s handling of claims, amid widespread complaints of delays and underpayments from policyholders in the burn zones.

“And we are not going away,” Barger said. “We will continue to investigate to ensure survivors don’t have any more hurdles.”

State Farm responded that the county investigation will distract from their work to process claims.

“State Farm is committed to paying customers what they’re owed. We’re handling over 13,500 claims and have paid almost $5 billion to California customers affected by the January wildfires, the company said in a written statement.

“We’re here every step of the way and working with elected officials to build a more sustainable insurance market in California,” the statement said.

Perez has launched two bills in Sacramento. SB877 will require transparency of insurance claim documents, so applicants to see if the compensation was lowered. A second bill, SB878 would impose 20% interest penalties on insurance companies that delay payments.