🚨22,500 Homes Burned in CA. Only 38% Rebuilt After 5 Years.
October 3, 2025
Dear friends,
The LA Times just published a shocking analysis: in California's most destructive wildfires between 2017 and 2020, 22,500 homes were destroyed. More than five years later, only 8,400 — just 38% — have been rebuilt.
The reasons are chillingly familiar to us:
• Insurance outcomes drive everything. Families with adequate, timely payouts were rebuilt. Those hit with underinsurance, delays, or denials often gave up.
• Costs and red tape slowed progress. Inflation, construction demand, and permitting hurdles compounded obstacles.
• Communities hollowed out. Some, like Coffey Park, returned. Others, like Berry Creek, remain nearly empty five years later.
And the article shows the impact of fast and fair payouts when utilities are at fault. After the 2018 Camp Fire, rebuilding surged each time survivors received settlement installments from PG&E, whose lines caused the blaze. When insurers and the utility industry pay survivors what they owe, survivors get back home.
Here in Los Angeles, the Eaton Fire Survivors Network has grown rapidly to meet this moment — connecting more than 8,000 Eaton survivors and 300+ from the Palisades. We welcome all survivors.
We never asked for this fight. But now that the Times has revealed the obstacles, we must be smart, systemic, and organized in dismantling them.
We don't want to be part of the 62% still without homes five years later. We want to recover stronger and faster together, and we can.
Step 1: Share the Truth — Tonight!
Insurance companies are spending millions on PR to claim they're treating us fairly. But 70% of insured Eaton and Palisades survivors report delays, denials, or underpayments (report).
That's why tonight (Friday), award-winning filmmaker Sierra Kos — President Obama's 2012 campaign filmmaker — is volunteering her time to document our stories.
📍 5–8pm | Nancy's Greek Café, Altadena
🎥 Short interviews: 2–3 minutes each. Your interviewer is me (Joy Chen!)
We're especially seeking stories on:
• Temporary Housing (ALE): Cut off early or forced month by month?
• FAIR Plan Smoke Damage: Was your claim denied?
• Secret Underpayments: Were estimates cut down without explanation?
• CDI Complaints: Filed but unresolved?
• Delays & Denials: Claims stuck past 40 days?
👉 A few spots remain. Sign up here. Or just join for dinner to connect with neighbors.
Step 2: Edison’s Draft Compensation Plan —Add Your Input
Edison has released its draft compensation plan for Eaton Fire survivors. It's woefully inadequate:
• Children valued at half a person. Kids' trauma is discounted at one-half or one-quarter of adults, even though children carry the longest impacts.
• Thousands arbitrarily excluded. Eligibility is based on a firefighter's rapid-response map, cutting out families with confirmed toxic contamination.
• Insurance tied to payouts. Families are pressured to close insurance claims and accept only partial payments, locking in the systemic delays, denials and underpayments.
Edison offered a few feedback sessions and an online form, but survivors said they left little room for meaningful input. That's why we've created a community draft response — to help Edison ensure any settlement offer is reasonable, inclusive, and informed by survivor voices.
Special thanks to Andrew Wessels, Krista Copelan, and Dan Harlow for their brilliant contributions — and to the 200+ survivors who have already contributed.
👉 Visit efsurvivors.net/edisondraft
👉 Click on your section — whether you lost your home, suffered smoke damage, or own a small business – to see how Edison's draft would impact you
👉 Add your comments through the questionnaire by this Sunday, Oct 5
👉 Share the link with friends and networks:efsurvivors.net/edisondraft
Step 3: The News Shaping Our Recovery
Why only 38% of homes have been rebuilt in CA after major fires
📖 Read the full LA Times analysis.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara under investigation
While tens of thousands of fire survivors from previous fires and ours have been blocked from recovery by systemic insurance failures, the official responsible for overseeing California's insurance system — Commissioner Ricardo Lara — has instead been spending taxpayer money on luxury safaris, limo service, and five-star resorts. KABC (SF) has the exclusive report.
His conduct is deeply disappointing, given the central role insurance plays in accelerating or stalling our recovery. Already, 70% of insured Eaton and Palisades survivors report that delays or denials are impeding our recovery. The Fair Political Practices Commission has now launched an investigation into Lara's use of public funds.
📺 Watch the KABC news clip.
The EFSN has assembled a civic coalition — including every state legislator representing the Eaton and Palisades areas — to provide Lara with a 5-action roadmap which he can use right now to stop the illegal delays and denials that are holding back the entire Los Angeles recovery. To build the public empathy and will he needs to act, we are collecting our insurance nightmares on camera.
📄 Know your insurance rights. Read the EFSN 5 Urgent Action Plan.
Steve Lopez: Survivors wavering, some ready to give up
Four-time Pulitzer finalist Steve Lopez of the LA Times profiles Eaton survivors nine months later: Kelly Etter, who lost her home and business, now anxious about the years ahead. Elisa Nixon, whose smoke-damaged house feels deeply sad to return to. Taylor Feltner, on his eighth temporary home, reliving trauma with each claim. One couple who gave up and sold their home.
Experts warn Altadena's recovery could take 5–10 years. This is just Lopez's first piece in a series that will include what Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators must do to ensure timely resolution of insurance disputes.
📖 Read Steve Lopez's column.
NPR: Edison's lines sparking fires hours before Eaton ignition
Major scoop: An NPR investigation reveals that Edison's lines faulted repeatedly across Altadena on Jan. 7, hours before the official ignition. Despite dozens of dispatches, circuits stayed live. Edison admits its equipment caused 178 fires in 2024 — up from 39 in 2014. Yet residents now face a 9% rate hike.
📖 Read NPR's investigation.
Step 4: Build Back Smarter: the Virtual Rebuilding Summit for Survivors
For survivors who lost our homes, rebuilding involves major decisions in the coming months. Right now, we are making choices about our most valuable asset which we'll live with for decades.
Every day in our Discord, the same urgent questions arise: Which contractor can I trust? Should I remediate or rebuild? How do I close the gap between insurance and the real costs?
That's why the EFSN is building the Virtual Rebuilding Summit for Survivors — a one-day, solutions-focused forum designed to give Eaton and Palisades fire survivors the answers we need right now to make the best decisions for us and our families.
Topics include:
• Financial assistance and grants — what help is out there and how to access it
• Budgeting smart — stretching your dollars and anticipating hidden costs
• Permits — what LA County and state rules mean for your rebuild
• Architects and designers — how to find the right professionals for your vision
• Choosing a trusted contractor — what to look for and what to avoid
• Rebuilding and fire-hardening — making your home safer for the future
• Alternative building methods — from prefab to other innovative approaches
• Avoiding legal pitfalls — how to protect your family and your rights
📅 Saturday, Nov 15 | 9am–5pm | Free, online
Reserve your spot: http://efsurvivors.net/rebuilding-summit
👉 Sponsors & Speakers: Recognition and speaking spots are limited. This is a rare chance to inform and support 8,500+ survivors as we make irreversible decisions about our homes. Contact Reina Pomeroy: reina.pomeroy@efsurvivors.net
Step 5: $20k Cal Assistance Grants Still Available
The CalAssist Mortgage Fund is still open, offering up to $20,000 in grants (not loans) for families whose homes were destroyed or made uninhabitable by our fires.
Details:
• Paid directly to mortgage servicers
• Grants, not loans — no repayment required
• Covers principal and interest only
• Income limits apply
👉 One-on-one help available at the Altadena Library via Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County. Book here.
Step 6: Our Schools —PUSD Webinar Recap
This week's EFSN webinar with Pasadena Unified leaders was intense. Parents, survivors, and school officials clashed over safety, budgets, and the future of our schools.
Key issues:
• Student safety: Why no interior testing for fire toxins? What's the timeline for soil cleanup?
• $30M deficit: Driven by enrollment drops, rising costs, and the end of COVID relief funds.
• Teacher transfers: Parents pressed for a moratorium on mid-year reassignments. The Board declined.
• The future: Could the financial crisis lead to a state takeover? What does this mean for programs and rebuilding schools like Eliot?
Thank you to moderators Mayka Mei (Discord PUSD Channel Mod & Altagether Neighborhood Captain) and Anna Yeager (Altadena Arts Magnet PTA President).
👉 Watch the replay.
📖 See all the audience questions from the chat
👉 Join the parent conversation in the EFSN Discord PUSD Channel
Step 7: Keep Our Hub Going
Many of you have shared how much EFSN has helped you walk each step of recovery — faster and stronger, together. And you've asked how you can help or donate. We've just set up a way!
👉 Go to efsurvivors.net and click DONATE in the upper right corner.
EFSN is fiscally sponsored by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles. We deeply appreciate donations of any amount.
Our Path Forward
The LA Times analysis shows the stakes: most families never rebuild unless insurance and utility-industry payouts flow.
Here in Los Angeles, we refuse to be part of the 62% still without homes years later.
We never asked for this fight. But now that the obstacles are clear, we can be smart, systemic, and organized in dismantling them together.
Eaton and Palisades survivors: we are stronger together. Recovery is possible if we act as one.
See you tonight at Nancy's Greek Café. Sign up for your interview with Sierra and me here.
With love and determination,
Joy Chen & the whole EFSN Team
