Two weeks on from the start of the wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, Los Angeles is still dealing with and processing the tragedy that has taken at least 28 lives and destroyed thousands of homes across the city.
However, there has been an overwhelming level of support from residents, who are donating money and clothes, sheltering people who lost their homes and providing support for first responders.
Deadline has launched a two-part podcast series, L.A. Fires Aftermath: The Path Forward, to try and help give people an idea of what else they can do.
Annette Bening, the Nyad star who is chair of the Entertainment Community Fund; her colleague Keith McNutt, who is the fund’s Western Region Director; Anne Lee, who co-founded the nonprofit CORE with Sean Penn; and Lindsey Horvath, who is the Los Angeles County Supervisor for the third district, which is the area encapsulating the Palisades fire, joined Deadline’s Peter White to talk about next steps.
Listen to the podcast above.
The group stressed that the recovery will take some time.
“When there is an emergency, as of course there is now in Los Angeles, we really focus on what we can do to help people in our business get through this moment,” said Bening. “We have emergency financial assistance, that is for the nuts and bolts of rent, food, health insurance, bills, etc. We also offer a whole range of other services that people could possibly need in terms of all the logistics that they’ve got going on dealing with needing legal assistance, needing mental health counseling.”
McNutt added, “There’s also like an immediacy to the need that we might not be thinking of. Several people said, ‘One thing I really need is a suitcase because all these wonderful people are donating clothes and shoes and diapers, but I have nowhere to put it.’ They also don’t have a place to put furniture. This week might not be the easiest time for people to accept that generosity, but please keep that generosity in your heart for three months, six months, even a year.”
CORE recently teamed with the CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the talent agency, and the Los Angeles Unified School District Education Foundation to launch the SoCal Fire Fund.
Lee said, “It [allows] us to essentially invest in immediate medium term and long term support over the next few years for residents who have been affected and not just families and homeowners and such, but folks that lost their businesses as well as community infrastructure.”
Horvath is on the front lines as her district consists of 2 million people from the Ventura County line to Santa Monica and Hollywood.
“The entirety of the Palisades fire is in my district and my heart is with everyone who has been impacted those who have lost their homes, who have lost their community centers, who have lost their livelihoods,” she said. “We are standing in solidarity with our community members to make sure that you have the support that you need in this time of crisis.”
Now, her and her team are helping to make it safe to bring in utility companies, clear debris and get started on general cleanup so the county can go into Phase 2, which would allow people to return to the area.
“I appreciate the generosity that has come forward is so moving at a time where people feel so fragile to see the community want to strengthen them is incredibly heartening,” she said. “We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with one another and make sure that support is being provided.”
But she admitted that there’s no real timeline for recovery.
“I know for people who are living in this state of anxiety, that doesn’t help,” she said. “But what I can tell you is we are working around the clock with our utility partners on doing some of those actions that I mentioned just to allow people to come back and see their properties. We’re hoping that the search and rescue effort will actually be able to conclude this week in the Palisades area. That also helps us move quicker in terms of addressing some of the other needs that are on the ground.”
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