Nearly a year after the deadly Eaton fire in Southern California, the first payment from the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program has been made.
In October, Southern California Edison launched the program, which offers to reimburse victims for their losses and provides additional sums for pain and suffering.
SCE did not reveal how much was paid, but the program says it provides 42 months of housing support, covering individuals who lost their single-family homes.
“We are committed to helping the Altadena community. We know that housing has been a concern,” Gabriela Ornelas, a spokesperson with SCE, tells Realtor.com® “The funds from the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program can be used for interim housing. There is no obligation to accept it, but it could be helpful for what they’re needing to move forward.”
Ornelas says the program has received 1,551 claims, extended 27 offers, and made one payment as of Dec. 15.
“It offers fair resolutions and fast payments,” Ornelas says. “We are encouraging people to seek information and file a claim if that’s a good option.”
But there’s a catch. SoCal Edison states, “as part of accepting an offer and signing a settlement agreement, you agree not to purse legal action related to the matter.”
Critics of the program take issue with the fact that claimants must give up their ability to sue the utility company at a later time.
Andrew Wessels, the strategy director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, said, “To receive this money, households must permanently waive legal rights. When a parent doesn’t know where his kid is going to sleep the next month, that’s not a free choice, that’s coercion.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that Edison told investors it expects all victim compensation and settlement costs to be reimbursed via $1 billion in customer-funded insurance and a $21 billion state wildfire fund.
Yet, there are growing concerns that the wildfire fund could be completely depleted if SCE is indeed found responsible for the blaze.
If that happens, any additional wildfire damage claims would be paid by Edison customers, according to legislation passed in September.
Survivors speak out
Nearly a year after the Eaton fire in Altadena, CA, killed 19 people and destroyed or damaged more than 6,700 homes, a coalition of Eaton fire survivors and community groups are urging Southern California Edison to provide further financial assistance for housing.
On Tuesday, the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, the Eaton Fire Collaborative Leadership Council, the Clergy Community Coalition, and the Altadena Town Council asked SCE for emergency assistance of up to $200,000 for each family.
According to the coalition, insurance coverage that had been paying for housing is running out for many Altadena residents.
They also said that thousands of other residents had no insurance at all.
“We are not here in anger. We are here in love for our community, in grief for the suffering within our community, and in shared resolve to help Edison fix what it broke,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. “When a company’s fire destroys or contaminates homes, that company has a responsibility to keep families housed until they can get back home.”
Chen continued, “Edison’s fire did not just destroy or contaminate thousands of homes. It also destroyed affordability overnight. Rents doubled and tripled across the region. Insurance coverage that was meant to last three years is being depleted in just one. As that happens, families are facing eviction, overcrowding, or living in their cars long before recovery is possible.”
Eaton fire survivor Matt Craig, managing editor of Eaton Fire Survivors Network, tells Realtor.com®, “The local governments have done nothing to curb predatory price gouging.”
Eighty percent of Eaton fire families remain displaced, and 61% will lose housing coverage within months, according to research from the nonprofit Department of Angels.
Edison’s reported role in the fire
SCE is facing several lawsuits asserting that deteriorated, unused power lines ignited the fire.
Although the official investigation into the cause of the fire has not been released, Craig tells Realtor.com he believes SCE bears financial responsibility for the blaze. “The evidence supporting their involvement in the fire is hard to dispute,” he says.
Several Eaton fire survivors spoke out at the coalition’s press conference.
Delivery driver Damon Blount, who lost his home of more than 26 years, said through tears, “On January 7, 2025, I lost everything that I owned. Everything was destroyed: my home, my personal work truck, every possession I’ve worked decades to build, in an amount of hours it was gone, but it took me a lifetime to build. That home wasn’t just a shelter, it was our future, it was our peace, it was our retirement plan.”
Wessels said his family has lived in 12 different places since the fire. “My Altadena home is still standing, but it’s not safe,” he says. “It’s blanketed in lead dust, as much as 20 times the EPA limits.”
Altadena renter and plumber Gabriel Gonzalez said he lost $80,000 worth of tools in the fire, which insurance did not cover, and he lost his business as a result.
He has now been living in his car for most of the last year, and says up to $200,000 in housing relief would drastically impact his life, and give him everything he’d need to get back on his feet and restart his dream.
Blount said, “We are not statistics, we are not claim numbers, we are people, working families, who did everything right. You cannot undo the fire, Southern California Edison, but you can decide today where the thousands of displaced people of Altadena and Pasadena are met with justice and just not ignored.”