{"id":76129,"date":"2025-10-09T14:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T21:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=76129"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T00:52:05","slug":"eaton-fire-survivors-to-edison-fix-what-you-broke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=76129","title":{"rendered":"Eaton Fire Survivors to Edison: \u201cFix What You Broke\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of Survivors Collaborate on Community Response to Edison\u2019s Draft Plan<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ALTADENA, California \uff08October 9, 2025) \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Nearly a year after the Eaton Fire tore through their neighborhoods, more than 200 survivors contributed to\u00a0<\/a>Powering L.A.\u2019s Recovery Starts with Edison<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 the survivor community\u2019s response to Southern California Edison\u2019s Draft Wildfire Recovery Compensation Protocol.<\/span><\/p>\n

Presented today at a survivor-led press conference, the 51-page report draws from hundreds of firsthand accounts \u2014 from homeowners, renters, small business owners, and families who lost not only property but stability, health, and community.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report cites\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/em>\u00a0data showing that after California\u2019s five most destructive wildfires, only 38% of homes were rebuilt within five years. Two factors made the difference: insurance payments, and \u2014 when a utility was at fault \u2014 utility payments. Where those payments were fair and timely, communities recovered. Where they were delayed or inadequate, neighborhoods never came back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Survivors warned that Los Angeles now faces the same crossroads \u2014 and that Edison\u2019s current draft plan risks repeating the failures that left other towns permanently hollowed out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t about blame \u2014 it\u2019s about fairness and reasonableness. We call on Edison to honor its moral and legal duty to fix what it broke,\u201d said\u00a0Joy Chen<\/strong>, Executive Director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. \u201cEdison\u2019s draft plan would pay most Eaton Fire survivors only a fraction of what PG&E paid its Camp Fire victims \u2014 and PG&E was bankrupt. Edison is solvent, profitable, and backed by the California Wildfire Fund. For it to offer less than a bankrupt company did is indefensible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n


\nVoices from the Frontline<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Survivors spoke about the deep and lasting damage of displacement, financial hardship, and unaddressed trauma \u2014 and the urgent need for Edison to meet its responsibilities fully and fairly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNine months after the fire, for many of us, the trauma only grows,\u201d said\u00a0Zaire Calvin<\/strong>, who lost two homes and a sister in the fire. \u201cFamilies are draining retirement accounts and maxing out credit cards just to keep a roof over their heads. People are depending on their Edison payouts. We want to be sure the most vulnerable aren\u2019t pressured into inadequate offers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEdison\u2019s draft mirrors the same patterns that already failed us under insurance \u2014 narrow eligibility, arbitrary caps, and fine print that protects itself at the expense of the survivors it must make whole,\u201d said\u00a0Andrew Wessels<\/strong>, Strategy Director for EFSN. \u201cEdison is not an insurer. It\u2019s the wrongdoer. Its duty isn\u2019t defined by policy language; it\u2019s defined by the harm it caused.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Edison\u2019s proposal, children are valued at half or even a quarter of adults \u2014 even though they carry the deepest trauma and longest recovery,\u201d said\u00a0Krista Copelan<\/strong>, EFSN Discord Health & Safety Mod and Standing Structures Facebook Group Admin. \u201cRenters and smoke-damaged households are offered token sums while their homes remain toxic. And Edison relies on a firefighter map to exclude thousands of survivors \u2014 even though CAL FIRE explicitly warned it should never be used to decide who qualifies for recovery assistance. Every survivor counts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just homes that burned,\u201d said\u00a0Ursula Hyman<\/strong>, a community leader serving on four local nonprofit boards. \u201cIt was churches, schools, and the gathering places that gave this community its soul. Rebuilding must mean restoring those bonds. Edison has powered Los Angeles for generations. Now it must power our recovery \u2014 helping us rebuild not only our houses, but the communities that made them home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe Path Forward<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The survivor community\u2019s report lays out recommendations to help Edison create a fair, reasonable, and fully funded compensation program that closes the gap between insurance shortfalls and the true cost of rebuilding.<\/span><\/p>\n

It calls on Edison to:<\/span>
\n\u2022\u00a0Fix what you broke:<\/strong>\u00a0Compensate all losses from Edison\u2019s fire.<\/span>
\n\u2022\u00a0Include everyone harmed:<\/strong>\u00a0Value children, renters, and smoke-damaged homeowners equally.<\/span>
\n\u2022\u00a0Pay for housing until we are home:<\/strong>\u00a0Cover full living costs until survivors get back home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Survivors emphasized that Edison\u2019s plan is still a draft \u2014 and the company now has the chance to do what\u2019s right: build a fair, fully funded program that helps survivors rebuild and powers the L.A. recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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