Wednesday, February 11, 2026

After Incident, County Supervisors Order Review of Street Parking for Altadena Fire Survivors’ Trailers

Parking citations issued to a family living outside their damaged home prompt a broader policy evaluation

Thirteen months after the Eaton Fire, Derrick and Shirley Collins are still living in a rented trailer on the street outside their damaged home. Last week, L.A. County parking enforcement officers told them to move it or lose it.

Now the county is reconsidering.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger directing county departments to evaluate whether fire survivors could temporarily park recreational vehicles and mobile homes on certain public rights-of-way in the Altadena area. The departments have 21 days to report back with options, eligibility requirements, time limits and safety standards, according to a county statement.

The motion followed the Collins family’s experience, reported by KABC-TV and CBS LA: two parking citations in a single week for the fifth-wheel trailer they have been renting and parking on El Sereno Avenue since the fire swept through their neighborhood in January 2025.

“Families who lost their homes are doing everything they can to stay close to their neighborhoods and their support systems while they rebuild,” Barger, who represents Altadena as part of L.A. County’s 5th District, said in a written statement. “We have a responsibility to find compassionate, practical solutions that meet survivors where they are and eliminate additional burdens.”

The Collins family has lived on El Sereno Avenue since the 1960s, according to CBS LA. When the Eaton Fire broke out on Jan. 7, 2025, their son Jo Collins and neighbors managed to save some homes on the block, but the Collins house was damaged and deemed unlivable. Soot from a neighboring home that was fully engulfed poured into the attic vents, contaminating the insulation.

“The house to the south of us was completely engulfed, and the vents to our attic are on the south side, so all the soot rolled into the attic and, just all of our insulation, it just looks like black tar,” Jo Collins told CBS LA.

For 13 months, the family said, the trailer drew no complaints. Then came the citations — on a Tuesday and a Thursday — with fines and instructions to remove the vehicle from the road, according to CBS LA.

“They’re trying to make us move but I keep saying, ‘Where do you want us to go?'” Derrick Collins told KABC-TV.

Under the county’s existing recovery plan, fire survivors may park an RV on their own property. But street parking is not included, according to a statement the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department provided to CBS LA. The department cited existing county and state parking regulations, traffic safety, equitable access to shared street parking and maintaining accessible sidewalks. The statement said the Altadena station had received complaints from residents about unauthorized RV parking.

The problem, county officials acknowledged in the motion, is that some survivors cannot get trailers onto their own lots. Site limitations, safety issues and restricted access have prevented some residents from placing temporary housing on their own parcels, the motion stated. As a result, some have parked elsewhere and received citations.

Moving the trailer onto his lawn, Derrick Collins told CBS LA, would require tearing down fences and repositioning storage pods — an added expense he had not anticipated. His home renovation and insurance funds have been stalled since late last year because of a legal dispute with a contractor, CBS LA reported.

“I feel like this is just an extra expense and I’ll have to pull something out of my hat,” Collins said, according to CBS LA. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

The Collins family is not alone. Dozens of RVs have appeared on Altadena streets since the fire, which killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures across more than 14,000 acres, according to CBS LA and Cal Fire.

Nic Arnzen, an Altadena Town Council member who visited the Collins family, told CBS LA that neither the council nor the Sheriff’s Station had directed enforcement against fire survivors’ vehicles.

“They certainly wouldn’t be looking for fire victims and try to make their lives harder,” Arnzen said, according to CBS LA. “Now, what they’re doing could inadvertently do that.”

An L.A. County Parking Enforcement lieutenant subsequently told the Collins family they had two weeks to address the situation, CBS LA reported. The Altadena Town Council is also working to connect the family with nonprofit organizations that could help cover the cost of relocating the trailer onto their property, according to the Sheriff’s Department statement.

Barger’s motion directs the Department of Public Works to coordinate with the departments of Regional Planning, Public Health and Fire, and to consult with the Sheriff’s Department and County Counsel. The resulting report must include potential temporary housing options, along with safeguards intended to prevent long-term habitation and protect public access, infrastructure and community safety, according to the county statement.

The vote came on the same day the Board approved a separate Barger-Horvath motion to create a rebuild authority for fire-affected areas of Altadena and unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains.