FEMA centers open amid anxiety over recovery from the Eaton, Palisades fires

Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times on Jan 14, 2025

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Jared Robbins walked up to a row of FEMA trailers in Pasadena with a sheet of paper where he had written some of the most pressing questions about his situation after his Altadena home was burned by the Eaton fire less than a week ago.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency opened two disaster recovery centers Tuesday to assist people like Robbins and others whose homes were destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires and were looking for help to put their lives back together.

The FEMA disaster centers — one in Pasadena and another in West L.A. — will remain open for the foreseeable future as others seek assistance.

The federal agency arrived to try to supplement the state and local assistance offered to the roughly 20,000 people who fled their homes as the Eaton fire barreled down on Altadena and parts of Pasadena early Wednesday morning. The flames, fanned by strong Santa Ana winds, destroyed roughly 5,000 structures and altered the lives of thousands of people.

It is uncertain how much funding FEMA may spend on the disaster. President Biden declared a major disaster in response to the firestorms and pledged the federal government's full support, but President-elect Donald Trump will take over next week and has denigrated California's leaders for their handling of the crisis.

Robbins, a 45-year-old sound engineer for film and television, left his home with his wife and two daughters while strong winds whipped through the region last week. He returned days later to find his home was gone.

He joined the roughly 33,000 people who applied for federal assistance and whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires.

"We were denied," Robbins said outside the disaster recovery center at the Pasadena City College Foothill campus on Tuesday.

He planned to ask a FEMA representative to explain what was missing from his initial application and help him reapply for money to rebuild. He also had medical questions about his mother and whether he could qualify for a small business loan.

Robbins and his family rented a home in Altadena for several years before they purchased a house last year. Now that home is gone.

"The next thing is finding permanent housing and making sure that we're somewhat taken care of," Robbins said, referring to the process of building. "I mean, we just have an overwhelming sense that we want to rebuild."

He waited in line with others who wanted to know what federal assistance was available.

Denials are not the end of the process for fire victims seeking federal assistance, FEMA spokesperson Nicole Wilson said. Sometimes an application lacks some basic information. FEMA is not able to duplicate benefits, and sometimes that means that the federal agency requires a determination letter from an insurance company.

"We need to know what your insurance will do, because what they don't cover we'll try to supplement," Wilson said.

FEMA officials will also provide people with step-by-step help to apply for assistance or upload documents. The disaster center will also offer food, clothing, baby formula, diapers and breast-feeding equipment, Wilson said, along with assistance to recover important documents destroyed in the fire, like driver's licenses.

Still, the arrival of FEMA has not eliminated the uncertainty most fire victims feel about the future.

Sonja Jackson waited outside the disaster recovery center with her 3-year-old granddaughter, Amirah, and her 9-year-old son, Aaden, looking for any type of help after their initial application for assistance was denied.

The Eaton fire destroyed Jackson's home, her mother's home and her daughter's home in a matter of hours. The family cat, Marshmallow, is also missing.

"We all left with the clothes on our back," Jackson, 45, said. "We thought we'd be able to come back in the morning. We didn't think the fires were gonna do what they did."

Jackson, a nurse, now finds herself along with eight or nine family members crammed into her aunt's home in Pasadena.

She's looking for temporary housing while she and her family get back on their feet. Her insurance provider, Allstate, will cover only a two-night stay at a hotel, Jackson said. Her insurance plan will also cover only $20,000 for her personal items lost in the fire.

"Which does nothing," Jackson said of the insurance payout. "I lost appliances, clothes — mine, my granddaughter's. So, what do you do with that money? It will get us an inch, but what happens after that inch?"

She wonders whether she should have paid more attention to her insurance policy, but she said she realizes that nobody could have seen this coming.

"It's not the easiest time right now, but we're doing our best, and we're trying to keep our heads up," she said.

The FEMA offices are at the UCLA Research Park West, 10850 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, and at the Pasadena City College Community Education Center, 3035 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Both offices are open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.