As the fire risk recedes, Los Angeles begins to rebuild life after the tragedy

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At the Pasadena City College Disaster Resource Center, the long, methodical work of rebuilding life is underway.

The residents who lost everything – most in The burning of Ethan which burned neighborhoods only about a mile from downtown—arrived glassy-eyed and smelling of smoke, some in cars crammed with belongings, others on foot.

There is a group of tables in the center of the room and others at the edges. Shocked newcomers tour this circle of services, considering what each has to offer.

On a recent morning, the center was bustling but not frenetic. Fire victims swayed and explained their needs to a masked receptionist who then directed them accordingly. Some didn’t even have identification, so they first stopped at a California Department of Motor Vehicles counter to register for a new license. Behind the counter was an eye chart.

Other stations offered insurance advice and helped people sign up for disaster relief. Others provided guidance to people looking for contractors. Edna helped people whose jobs were destroyed. A table staffed by the county’s animal control agency offered tips on how to find lost pets, while the county assessor advised visitors how it affects their property taxes.

Assessments are based on land and improvements, the clerk explained, so if a house has been demolished, then the property must be reassessed. Residents can request a reassessment for “misfortune and distress.”

There doesn’t seem to be much doubt about that.

This morning, several residents were dismayed to learn that their requests for FEMA assistance had been denied. It turned out to be a bug in the FEMA system. The staff heard the complaints and rushed to fix it. Anyone who gets rejected should move on, they said. The application may simply need more information.

This center and another located across town in the former Westfield Mall and operated by UCLA (soon to become UCLA Research Park) answer thousands of questions about thousands of tragedies. They are rebuilding the foundations for people and families that looked solid just two weeks ago and now look terribly fragile.

Still, there are reasons for hope. In Pasadena, for example, the “medical help” desk was unstaffed on Fridays and the center accepted patients as soon as they arrived.

In every disaster, there comes a point when rescue turns into recovery, when adrenaline is replaced by a constant commitment to work. What is not often mentioned is that between the two times there is a short period of stabilization in which lives must be settled before the work that lies ahead can really begin. In this hiatus, medical crises have largely subsided, and the future still seems too broad to consider in its entirety.

This is the moment Los Angeles is experiencing today.

Those who arrive at the center tell harrowing stories of escape and loss, and often little else. Among the visitors this morning were Jackie and David Jacobs. They have lived in Altadena for more than 30 years and two weeks ago saw their house evaporate. They arrived at the center with only the clothes on their backs, which were donated.

Still, they remained focused and positive. “In life,” reflects David Jacobs, “there are trials.”

Moose Fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades They share some characteristics and differ in others. Both exploded on January 7, the Palisades one in the morning and the Eaton one later that night. Both they devastated neighborhoods with similar ferocity, battering firefighters with winds reaching 100 miles per hour, sending embers across dark streets and great distances.

Their devastation and the inability of firefighters to control them should remind critics that these fires were not local failures. These two fires broke out in different jurisdictions with different fire departments and yet suffered similar fates.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has received a lot of criticism for your response and some may be well deserved. But the Altadena fires occurred outside of the city of Los Angeles, so the fact that Low water pressure will also frustrate Altadena firefighters It’s proof that this isn’t Los Angeles’ failure, but rather a systemic weakness: hydrants are designed to put out house fires, not wildfires, and they can’t withstand the stress of fast-moving fires on this scale.

These fires were just too big, the winds too strong, the landscape is too dry. Climate change has exacerbated these problems and will continue to do so. The destruction It’s not Delta’s sense of smell. neither for repairs to the Santa Ynez Reservoir nor for the misleading claims of budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department ( the budget eventually increasednot reduced).

When stability resumes, we can only hope sanity comes with it.

If Altadena and Palisade arose under similar circumstances, they fought under different circumstances, including the politics surrounding them.

In Bass’s case, the profile of her work and the critics who accompanied it brought politics to the fore. Defeated mayoral candidate Rick Caruso appeared on The Bill Maher Show to say he would “fully fund” the fire department, a claim that is as nonsensical as selfish. What is full funding? And how was he going to stop these fires?

No questions were asked, much less answered.

Unfortunately, it’s a reminder that the crash is no deterrent to bigotry, but the different political temperature surrounding these two communities also shows it doesn’t have to be. While the Palisades fire has drawn politics at every level, even appearing in President Trump’s somber, mournful inauguration speech, leaders in Altadena (a an impersonal community without its own municipal government ) agreed to put politics aside.

For example, there is the long-standing question of whether Altadena would be more beneficial than nexara to neighboring Pasadenaan idea that briefly surfaced in discussions about the response to the fire. Instead of debating whether this would have mitigated the disaster or somehow calmed the wind, the leaders of the two districts deliberately sidelined it.

Speaking to reporters at the FEMA center, an Altadena City Council member insisted that annexation talks should be put on hold for now. Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo agreed.

“This is not the time for political discussions,” he insisted.

Behind him, the real work of restoration continued step by step. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Pasadena City College Disaster Resource Center had served approximately 2,500 families.

Jacobs was among them. They found temporary housing and thought about the work that awaits them. Faith, they said, would keep them going.

This opinion piece was originally published by CalMatters.