Eaton Fire survivors head to Sacramento seeking $25 million in rebuilding support

A group of Eaton Fire survivors loaded onto buses this morning and are heading to Sacramento to ask state leaders for funding as the community continues its rebuilding efforts.

For many, it's deeply personal, as mortgage payments for burned-up lots still must be paid.

Tuesday's Sacramento-bound group will be seeking $25 million for the Community Aid for Rebuilding Equity Fund, money for rebuilding, and to help keep people from being permanently displaced from the communities they call home.

"People are disenfranchised here in Pasadena and don't have a voice. I thought it's time for me to do something, even the little I can," Eaton Fire survivor Essick Allen said.

Allen lost his Pasadena home in the Eaton Fire.  More than a year and a half later, he and his family are still trying to rebuild, a process he says has been painfully slow.  

In the meantime, they're still paying the mortgage on the home they lost while also paying rent somewhere else, and now the landlord isn't renewing their lease.

So, while they're trying to rebuild one home, his family is now facing another move.

That's the kind of financial pressure this group says is happening to families across the Eaton Fire burn area.

"Altadena is suffering. You have people living outside. You got people living outside of their homes, in trailers, on their lots," Florence Annang, Dena Rise Up Coalition, said.

With a goal of $25 million for the CARE Fund, advocates also say it's about making sure recovery includes the people who lived in the area before the fire.  

Because their fear is that families could survive the Eaton Fire, make it through the long recovery process, and still lose their place in this community simply because they can't afford to come back.