Latest news with #AftertheFireUSA
CBS News
05-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Los Angeles wildfire survivors look to rebuild fire-resilient homes to increase insurability
Following the deadly Eaton and Palisades fires that destroyed thousands of structures and left survivors without homes, now communities are looking to build back better and harder. California already has strict building codes for properties in fire-prone areas, but experts told KCAL News that even though fire danger can't be stopped, resident can build their homes, so they are less likely to burn. J. Lopez's home in Altadena has survived two wildfires. He is urging neighbors who are in the process of rebuilding to make sure they are hardening their new homes. KCAL News J. Lopez is a retired Los Angeles County fire captain and a homeowner in Altadena. His hillside home has escaped two major wildfires, including the Station and Eaton fires. "This is a precious possession for me; this house is valuable for the family, we want to preserve it," Lopez said. To preserve his most expensive asset, Lopez remodeled it to be fire-ready. He gave a tour to members of the non-profit After the Fire USA and Eaton Fire survivors, pointing out the steps he took to harden it. "It's important to work as a team, so one home by itself is the start, but if more property owners do the work, the resiliency of a community increases tremendously," Lopez said about why he thought it was important to share his home with others. Lopez estimates he spent between $70,000 and $80,000 on improvements, such as closing the eaves around his roofline, sealing all cracks like the space around his garage to keep embers out, and switching out all vents for ones with smaller openings. "So, the embers get in and bounce around and become even smaller and fall apart and by being baffled, you don't have flames getting in either," Lopez said. Lopez also has a 5-foot clearance around his home, cutting back tree limbs and removing bushes. Even his entryway mats are fire-resistant metal, not fabric. He also added a brand-new roof with thicker insulation to promote better cooling and heating. Cement boards instead of wood ones sit on top of the fascia around his roof line and Lopez put stainless-steel mesh around his property, in case a fire starts at a bordering home. Lopez did such a good job of making his home fire-ready, he was given an award by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. Even better, he was able to get off the FAIR Plan insurance. "My home is gone and a rental property that I built with my own two hands, eviscerated," said Io Wright, one of Lopez's neighbors in Altadena. After seeing Lopez's home, Wright said that making a home fire-ready is doable and achievable. He said there are practical steps residents can take when they are building from the ground up, but also retrofitting. Jennifer Gray Thompson, founder of After the Fire USA, said this kind of construction needs to be the new normal and a neighborhood-wide effort. "If there are 10 homes that do it, it's much easier for the insurance companies to come in and say we have seen what you've done here, and we will insure you," Gray Thompson said. "We have to build back here very insurable, very resilient and there is an opportunity to be a model of insurability and to go way beyond what has ever been done in any other mega fire community before." Some of the improvements Lopez made on his home cost less than $10 each. Even if residents only replace their old vents, that is making progress.
CBS News
07-03-2025
- General
- CBS News
Nonprofit created by former wildfire survivors helps support Palisades, Eaton survivors through recovery process
A shared experience is helping to heal the hearts and minds of some of those who lost their homes to the wildfires, and it's also giving them the tools to rebuild. The nonprofit organization, After the Fire USA, connects fire victims to those who have walked this extremely hard path before them. It was born out of the destructive wildfires in the Bay Area back in 2017. Jennifer Gray Thompson, the founder, believes that the best people to help what she calls "fire survivors" begin to heal and rebuild is those who know exactly what it feels like to lose everything. "What we do is that we are a fire survivor-based organization. We look at all recovery through the lens of fire survivors," Thompson said. "We advocate for them, we educate along with them, and we convene with them to share best practices from previous fires." This is After the Fire's second delegation to LA since the fires destroyed thousands of homes. At a meeting, fire survivors from the Palisades Fire sat down with people who lost their homes in fires across the U.S. Reina Pomeroy lost her home in a wildfire in Colorado in 2021. She met with After the Fire survivors in the weeks after the fire. "They shared their stories and gave us the first glimmer of hope amongst the rubble and told us, you too will get through this," Pomeroy said. Earlier in the week, the organization also met with survivors from the Eaton Fire. "This is really a double disaster. These fires are sisters, they are not twins, and what they need is sort of a shared destiny together," Thompson said. "We believe that when that is done you will have the strongest bond between two communities possibly in the U.S." After the Fire has helped residents from both fire areas mobilize and form what they call "block captains." "This is a system that actually empowers fire survivors and communities to really drive their recovery, drive the narrative," Thompson said. "It also really helps public policy makers because it flattens the space between what survivors need and want and what policies need to change to remove barriers or make the process better." Emily Kane Miller is a block captain of her street that was wiped out by the Palisades Fire. "I am from an area called Las Casas Loop," Kane Miller said. "One hundred and eighty-six homes were on my loop before the fire and all but six burned down, total loss." As block captain, Kane Miller serves as a point person and an aggregator of information. "There are folks who have a lot of questions in our neighborhood and our goal is to receive all the info from government and nonprofits and other resources to disseminate that to all our community members who may have questions," Kane Miller said. One of the most common questions asked by survivors is how long it will take to get back to normal. "We lost our home in December of 2021, and we got home December of 2023," Pomeroy said. "So just shy of our two-year anniversary." After the Fire is still recruiting block captains from the Palisades and Eaton fire areas and fire survivors who want to join its megafire response collective.
