{"id":168953,"date":"2025-08-23T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168953\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T10:50:11","slug":"months-later-slow-steady-progress-for-l-a-wildfire-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168953\/","title":{"rendered":"Months later, slow, steady progress for L.A. wildfire victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

As cleanup from the devastation of the deadly L.A. wildfires continues, residents are methodically trying to rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Newsom criticizes Trump administration<\/p>\n

California Gov Gavin Newsom encouraged activists to draw inspiration from the actions of historic social leaders.<\/p>\n

Chien Yu recently offered to take his 12-year-old son Hudson for a haircut.\u00a0It seemed like a harmless suggestion, but the shaggy-haired boy\u2019s answer reminded Yu that his two sons are still processing the trauma they\u2019ve endured this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last time\u00a0they all got haircuts together, Hudson reminded him, was the same day his school and their home of six years burned to the ground.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I forgot. I was blown away, he remembered,” Yu said. “So I just dropped it and went without them.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Pasadena, California, firefighter, Yu, long ago developed skills to block out such tragedies. But the wildfire that tore through Los Angeles and their Altadena neighborhood early this year literally struck close to home.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s so much more personal now,” the 46-year-old said, adding that his firehouse has conducted more mental health check-ins since then. “Our tough journey is far from over.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tedious road to rebuilding<\/p>\n

The path to recovery will be a long one for the Yu family and the thousands of others who lost homes, schools, workplaces, and livelihoods during the three-week fires that scorched more than 37,000 acres, or 57.8 square miles of California coastline. The fires caused between an estimated $95 billion and $164 billion in financial losses<\/a>. More than 30 people died.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Yus, like many, are just starting the process of rebuilding.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers <\/a>has finished clearing the debris from the family’s lot ahead of schedule, but is still chipping away at the more than 9,000 lots in the Eaton and Palisades fire burn zones.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County has approved 238 rebuilding permits as of August\u00a022, out of 1,523 received<\/a>, the majority coming from Altadena, the area hardest hit by the wildfires, according to a county dashboard. Most property owners in Altadena \u2013 including the Yus \u2013 haven\u2019t submitted applications yet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘A new reality’: <\/strong>Price tag for LA fires pegged at $65 billion, report says<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the pace of permitting has been too slow, President Donald Trump said in an Aug. 22 conversation with reporters at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor\u2019s incompetent, the governor\u2019s incompetent,\u201d Trump said, referring to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. \u201cThey want to build the houses and they\u2019re unable to get permits from the mayor and from the governor, and that\u2019s a terrible thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Yus are making progress, though. They are working to share costs with their neighbors in Altadena, a diverse, working-class community<\/a>: buying wood and other supplies in bulk, jointly hiring contractors, and benefitting from a retired architect on their block who has offered to help design their new home.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family also hopes to benefit from the county and state\u2019s decision to temporarily suspend or waive certain regulations<\/a> to expedite the rebuilding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It gives us hope that this won\u2019t be a long, drawn-out process,” said Yu\u2019s wife, Kim, also 46, a volunteer Altadena town council member. “We’re still trying to have each other\u2019s backs.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meeting financial needs \u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim Yu, along with council colleagues Nic Antzen and Milissa Marona, helped create the Altadena Eaton Fire Recovery Fund (AEFRF) <\/a>in partnership with GoFundMe, whose CEO and fellow Altadena resident, Tim Cadogan, lost his home in the wildfire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fund aimed to provide one-time grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 to support recovery and rebuilding efforts for Altadena residents. It netted nearly $300,000, and 300 people have applied, averaging to about $1,000 each, Marona said.<\/p>\n

“The money will go right in their hands,” Marona said. “The need is so outstanding.”<\/p>\n

The Yu’s launched their own GoFundMe campaign, which raised more than $250,000 to cover costs that insurance won’t.<\/p>\n

There are other funds as well, including one from Southern California Edison, which has acknowledged that its transmission lines may have started the fires.<\/p>\n

Still, the federal funding that many hoped would help with reconstruction hasn\u2019t materialized.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘There’s so much uncertainty’: <\/strong>Los Angeles is grappling with \u2018collective grief and frustration’ amid protests<\/a><\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom marked the wildfires’ six-month anniversary<\/a> on July 7, calling again on the Trump Administration to provide federal funding for the state\u2019s recovery. Congress left for its summer recess that month without making progress on Newsom’s February request for\u202f$40 billion<\/a> to help rebuild homes, schools, and hospitals, as well as provide economic development grants and small business loans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Newsom said that fire funding should be a nonpartisan issue, reiterating, “we\u2019re all in this together.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chien Yu agreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping this is not an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ occurrence,” he said. “That would be the saddest part of it all \u2013 if politics got in the way.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Being strong for family, community<\/p>\n

Amid the rebuilding, Kim and Chien Yu say finding routine and stability for their sons, Hudson and Atticus, 8, has been a priority during a period of makeshift arrangements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to keep things light, yet focused. Atticus seems pretty fine, but you can tell he\u2019s still affected by it,\u201d Kim Yu said. \u201cHe\u2019s a very independent child, but it\u2019s harder for him to be alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Hudson, he likes to reminisce and points things out as he\u2019s coming to terms with what happened,\u201d she added.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim Yu, whose full-time job is as a fire safety specialist at Cal Tech, said she and her husband have to be strong not only for their family, but also for their community.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Honestly, when I ran (for town council) last year, I never imagined I\u2019d be put in a position like this,” she said. “These few months have been really hard, but we have no other choice. There are times when I feel like I\u2019m failing, and I rely on my husband and my family to give me grace.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chien Yu agrees, adding they are digging deep to maintain resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wish is that while the kids remember our house burned down, they will have the capacity to make new, happier memories,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As cleanup from the devastation of the deadly L.A. wildfires continues, residents are methodically trying to rebuild their…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2696,2701,691,1582,276,2809,2693,2697,3534,8750,2488,12507,2487,2961,224,5337,28639,2698,2702,942,50,450,950,5677,645,2490,646,5609],"class_list":{"0":"post-168953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-accidents","9":"tag-accidents-u0026-disasters","10":"tag-ai","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-california-wildfires","14":"tag-disaster","15":"tag-disasters","16":"tag-emergency","17":"tag-emergency-services","18":"tag-enabled","19":"tag-gofundme","20":"tag-highlights","21":"tag-la","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-losangeles","24":"tag-n4n-news","25":"tag-natural","26":"tag-natural-disaster","27":"tag-neutral","28":"tag-news","29":"tag-overall","30":"tag-overall-neutral","31":"tag-services","32":"tag-story","33":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","34":"tag-u0026","35":"tag-wildfires"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115077698416043130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}