Nearly a year after the devastating Eaton Fire swept through Altadena and its surrounding communities, the scars—both visible and invisible—remain etched across the region. The inferno, which erupted on January 7, 2025, under the force of historically powerful winds, killed 19 people and destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures, including approximately 6,000 homes. As 2025 draws to a close, residents are only beginning to see the first signs of financial compensation from Southern California Edison (SCE), the utility at the center of multiple lawsuits alleging its equipment sparked the blaze.
On December 19, 2025, SCE announced it had begun making payments to those impacted by the fire through its Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program. Launched on October 29, the initiative was designed to offer “fair resolutions and fast payments to eligible individuals and businesses,” according to the company. As of mid-December, more than 1,500 claims had been filed by over 3,200 claimants and household members, with 27 offers extended and the first payment—covering a smoke and ash claim—made. While the company declined to disclose the specific amount, SCE spokesman David Eisenhauer confirmed the payment, noting, “it was not appropriate to share specific amounts.”
Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, SCE’s parent company, expressed gratitude to the community and first responders, stating, “We are grateful to community partners—neighbors, local organizations and first responders—for their tireless efforts to support recovery. We committed to helping quickly, too, delivering offers within 90 days and payments within 30 days. Today, we’re making good on that promise in a fraction of the time, providing much-needed payments when the community needs it most.”
The compensation program, funded by the state’s $21 billion Wildfire Fund and SCE’s customer-funded insurance (which covers the first $1 billion of claims), aims to process claims within 90 days of completion and pay out within 30 days after all conditions are met. Participation is voluntary, and claims can be submitted until November 30, 2026. According to SCE, the average time to complete a claim form is about 90 minutes, and resources are available online, by phone, and in person to assist applicants.
Yet for many survivors, the arrival of compensation has done little to address the ongoing housing crisis. According to research by the nonprofit Department of Angels, eight in ten Eaton Fire families remain displaced, with most running out of housing funds. At a news conference in Altadena on December 17, a coalition of survivor groups—including the Eaton Fire Survivors Network and the Altadena Town Council—called on SCE to advance temporary housing support immediately and to separate emergency housing aid from compensation settlements.
“We are not here in anger. We are here in love for our community,” 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 and other advocates argue that SCE’s current program, while offering up to 42 months of housing support for those who lost single-family homes, remains insufficient: it requires families to permanently waive their legal rights to access assistance and excludes renters, smoke-damaged households, and other vulnerable groups. “The plan requires families to permanently waive their legal rights in order to access housing assistance,” said Andrew Wessels, strategy director for the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. “That is not a path to recovery.”
Gabriela Ornelas, spokeswoman for SCE, responded by emphasizing the company’s commitment to recovery: “We understand people and businesses impacted by the Eaton Fire are eager to move forward. Our Wildfire Recovery Compensation Plan offers a way to help them do that. The program provides fair resolution, fast payments and it can be used for interim housing. We do encourage people to submit a claim, reach out for any information, and they are also welcome to set up a meeting with our team to get their questions answered, if they have any.” Ornelas also noted that SCE increased rental calculations by 17% for monthly fair rental value, and that the program provides 42 months of housing support for those who lost their homes.
Still, for many, the assistance is too little, too late. The fire’s destruction slashed the local housing supply, causing rents to double or even triple. According to the Department of Angels, most survivors remain in temporary or unstable housing nearly a year after the fire, unable to afford the new market rents. More than one in three families are expected to be forced to move again within months as their remaining housing funds run out. Gabriel Gonzalez, an Eaton Fire survivor and owner of American Pipe Dream Plumbing Company, shared his experience: “When my rental burned, I lost everything, including $80,000 in plumbing tools and my entire livelihood. I’ve been living in my car since the fire. Keeping people housed while claims move forward is what makes recovery possible.”
The emotional toll of the disaster has been profound. Freddy Sayegh, a lifelong Altadena resident, described the past year as “the longest and toughest year of my life.” His family lost multiple homes and commercial properties, and the displacement fractured the tight-knit fabric of their lives. “Watching the devastation across the community hitting so many people all at once, all sharing the same type of trauma, has been something to see, and it’s a very slow process,” Sayegh told NPR. He and his sister founded the Altadena Coalition to provide supplies, shelter, and support. In the early months, Sayegh identified about 1,600 residents sleeping in their cars, many too traumatized or vulnerable to seek shelter elsewhere. The coalition organized an interim housing symposium, bringing together state, federal, and local agencies to coordinate aid.
Survivors have found themselves caught in a web of complex paperwork and bureaucracy, struggling to access assistance from agencies like FEMA and the SBA. Sayegh recounted how the coalition began sitting with seniors and other vulnerable residents, helping them fill out forms for aid rather than simply explaining the process. “Explaining to someone took a lot longer than actually just sitting there and doing it for them,” he said.
As the holidays approached, the sense of loss deepened. Sayegh described how families who had celebrated together for decades now found themselves scattered, unable to gather in the homes where memories were made. The coalition hosted a Christmas party to offer some semblance of normalcy, but, as Sayegh put it, “the holidays have really been difficult for them because it really shows what they lost.”
State Senator Sasha Renee Perez of Pasadena joined survivors in demanding that emergency housing relief be kept entirely separate from compensation settlements. “There should be no strings attached to providing much-needed emergency housing to Eaton Fire survivors who are still displaced and suffering trauma,” she said. “Survivors should never be forced to choose between having a safe place to live and preserving their legal rights.”
As SCE faces ongoing lawsuits over the cause of the fire, the slow pace of recovery and the inadequacy of current relief efforts remain sore points for many. For Altadena and its neighbors, the journey to rebuild is far from over. But amid the trauma and displacement, community leaders like Sayegh are determined to keep hope alive: “We got to keep the hope for them.”
