Thursday, May 14, 2026

Eaton Fire Survivors Demand Answers on $2.5 Billion Relief Package as Newsom Releases Budget Plan

[Eddie Rivera / Pasadena Now]

A coalition of Altadena advocacy groups times its push for accountability to the governor’s May revision

Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire leveled more than 9,400 structures across Altadena, the people still waiting to rebuild want to know where $2.5 billion went.

A coalition of fire survivor groups and community organizations plans to hold a news conference at 9 a.m. Thursday in Altadena to press for transparency on the state wildfire relief package that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in Pasadena in January 2025 — the same day the governor is expected to release his May budget revision, which includes a proposed $100 million fund to help wildfire victims secure construction loans. Organizers said speakers will include wildfire survivors and recovery leaders affected by the Eaton Fire, according to a statement from the coalition.

The groups organizing the event — Eaton Fire Residents United, A Resilient Tomorrow, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and LA Voice — represent a cross-section of the communities reshaped by the fire, from longtime Altadena homeowners tracking contamination data to immigrant day laborers who were among the first volunteers to clear debris from Pasadena streets. Eaton Fire Residents United and LA Voice are both based in the Altadena-Pasadena area; NDLON, a national network of more than 70 worker organizations headquartered in Los Angeles, mobilized volunteer brigades through the Pasadena Community Job Center in the days after the fire.

The fire, which began the evening of January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, killed 19 people and burned 14,021 acres before it was fully contained on January 31. It became the second most destructive wildfire in California history and the fifth deadliest, according to Cal Fire records.

The $2.5 billion package — legislation authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) and Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), drawn from the state’s Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties and passed unanimously by both chambers — was described at the time as a down payment on recovery. It funded emergency response, debris removal, sheltering, post-fire hazard assessments and school rebuilding assistance for impacted districts including Pasadena Unified.

But the scale of what remains undone in Altadena is stark. More than 6,000 households lost homes in the fire. As of late March, only about half had submitted applications to rebuild. Approximately 2,000 building permits had been issued, and roughly 1,025 homes were under construction, according to data released by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office.

“The fact that only half of wildfire survivors have submitted applications makes clear that significant barriers remain, especially financial ones,” Barger said in a statement.

The primary obstacle, according to county officials, is not permitting — LA County reduced its review timeline to 31 business days — but insurance. A survey by the Department of Angels, a disaster relief organization, found that 47 percent of fire survivors reported delays in receiving insurance claim payments. As of early May, nearly 29,500 households that may be eligible for federal disaster assistance were still navigating insurance claims, and nearly 1,000 households continued to receive federal temporary housing assistance, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

On the federal side, FEMA has obligated only $37 million of more than $732 million in Public Assistance funding approved at the regional level for the LA wildfires. The remainder awaits final sign-off from the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, Newsom formally requested a 12-month extension of the FEMA Individuals and Households Program through July 2027.

The governor’s May revision proposal, previewed Wednesday, would create a fund designed to cover loan-loss guarantees and interest-rate buydowns to encourage lenders to offer construction loans to homeowners who cannot bridge the gap between their insurance payouts and the cost of rebuilding. A nonprofit survey found that gap averages more than $600,000 per household, according to the Associated Press. The state has separately provided mortgage relief to more than 1,000 wildfire survivors under CalAssist, a program that offers grants of up to $100,000 to cover 12 months of mortgage payments.

“We have been on the ground in L.A. since Day One of recovery from these fires, and we aren’t turning our backs now,” Newsom said in a statement.

Each of the organizing groups has played a distinct role in the recovery. Eaton Fire Residents United has focused on contamination testing in Altadena; its data shows that all 234 homes it tested for lead came back positive, with professional remediation recommended in every case. Of 10 homes retested after remediation, six were still found to be unsafe to inhabit, according to data published on the group’s website. LA Voice, a multi-racial, multi-faith organization, has organized with 16 displaced member or partner congregations in Altadena, Pasadena, Sylmar and Palisades through its Just Restoration campaign.

Statewide, insurance companies have distributed $22.4 billion in claims from the January 2025 fires, according to the California Department of Insurance, alongside $6 billion in committed federal, state, local and private donations.

For the organizers, the question is not whether money has been spent, but whether enough of it has reached the people standing in the rubble.

Need to Know: The press conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday in Altadena. A specific venue was not confirmed at the time of publication. Organizers include Eaton Fire Residents United (efru.la), A Resilient Tomorrow, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (ndlon.org) and LA Voice (lavoice.org). Speakers will include wildfire survivors and recovery leaders affected by the Eaton Fire, according to organizers. For general Eaton Fire recovery resources, visit recovery.lacounty.gov/eaton-fire.