A group representing more than 8,000 Eaton fire survivors outlined a response to Southern California Edison’s draft protocol for its wildfire recovery compensation program on Thursday, saying the utility must do three things: fix what it broke, include everyone who was harmed, and pay for housing until everyone gets home.
“This is not about blame, it’s about fairness,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. “We don’t come in anger but collaboration. We’re simply asking to get back home and be restored to what we had before. We expect Edison to honor its moral and legal duty to fix what it broke.”
A five-person team pored over more than 200 responses from its members on the Discord communication app, as well as Edison’s draft protocol before crafting the network’s 51-page response.
Using firsthand accounts from homeowners, renters, small business owners and families, Chen said the response hopes to contravene one study that found only 38% of homes were rebuilt within five years after California’s five most destructive wildfires. The difference between recovery and loss of community were insurance payments, and when a utility was at fault, utility payments.
Community activist Zaire Calvin, whose sister Evelyn McClendon died in the fire, and whose family lost two homes in the blaze, said even before releasing a final protocol for its compensation program, SCE should in good faith pay for remediation of all properties in the Eaton fire footprint, including soil testing.
“Make sure that we can come back to something that’s not toxic and not polluted, which is so important,” Calvin said.
Nine months after the Eaton fire, Calvin said families are still displaced, worried, scared and scattered. Many are draining retirement accounts and maxing out credit cards to keep a roof over their heads. Marriages are faltering and children remain anxious.
Edison’s program should also consider losses apart from homes, said Ursula Hyman, one-time president of the Assistance League of Pasadena and on the board of nonprofits such as Friends in Deed in Pasadena.
“It wasn’t just homes that burned, it was churches, schools, and the gathering places that gave this community its soul,” she said. “Rebuilding must mean restoring those bonds. Edison has powered Los Angeles for generations. Now it must power our recovery.”
For Andrew Wessels, whose home on Glen Avenue still stands, but faces major reconstruction and remediation for it, the draft protocol lacks adequate compensation for renters and smoke-damaged households, and only values children at half or even a quarter of adults.
The draft mirrors the same patterns that have failed Altadenans under insurance, Wessels said.
“Narrow eligibility, arbitrary caps, and find print that protects itself at the expense of the survivors it must make whole,” he said. “Edison is not an insurer. It’s the wrongdoer. Its duty isn’t defined by policy language. It’s defined by the harm it caused.”
Whether the Eaton fire was sparked by a decommissioned electrical tower in Eaton Canyon is still officially under investigation, but attorneys suing the utility lay blame squarely on the power company. Edison has not admitted to starting the fire, but launched the compensation plan in July. Edison officials have said that in lieu of any other evidence for what ignited the fire, it’s likely its equipment played a role.
Last week, attorneys suing Edison accused the utility of stalling settlement talks while promoting the compensation program.
SCE’s draft protocol for the Eaton Fire Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program was released on Sept. 17 and proposes compensation for victims of the fire, including payments for property damage, physical injury, and fatalities. It offers a voluntary “Fast Pay” option that the company said would be a faster process than litigation.
Compensation is reduced by insurance payments, and participating in the program requires signing a settlement agreement, which includes a waiver of the right to sue.
Southern California Edison spokesperson Scott Johnson confirmed receipt of the group’s 51-page response on Thursday afternoon and said the company’s draft protocol is not final.
SCE announced the four community workshops and provided the draft protocol online on Sept.17. The community meetings took place between Sept. 25-29, while additional stakeholder meetings have occurred over the past month.
It’s the feedback received during these outreach efforts, as well as the Eaton Fire Survivors Network response that is being evaluated toward creating the final protocol, Johnson said.
“I would like to underscore that SCE is a part of the Altadena community,” he added. “We have provided power to Altadena for nearly 140 years. We’re here to listen.”
The final protocol is scheduled to be released in the fall.