The Brief

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has allocated $2.7 billion in response to the L.A. wildfires, but some survivors say the agency’s support has fallen short of expectations.

According to an LAist analysis of FEMA data, the agency has covered a smaller portion of damage costs in response to the L.A. fires than was seen at this point after other recent natural disasters.

Assistance to eligible survivors has covered an average of about 7% of the damage costs FEMA assessed to their properties so far, less than one third of the proportion covered after the California fires in 2017 or 2018, or the 2023 Hawaii fires.

Eligible survivors of the L.A. fires have gotten an average of around $4,100 in direct FEMA assistance so far — average damage costs assessed by the agency are over $55,000 for those same survivors.

Experts who spoke to LAist cautioned against comparing disasters, but the complicated application process for receiving FEMA assistance has slowed the response here and frustrated some L.A. residents who are trying to decide whether to rebuild or relocate, often requiring them to make multiple appeals after claims that were denied for procedural reasons.

When Furmencio Quiroz’s Altadena home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, he expected FEMA to help with some of the rebuilding costs not covered by his family’s insurance. After six months and multiple appeals of his application, Quiroz says he thinks the rebuilding process has gone slower than government officials promised.

" It feels like time is flying, and we're nowhere," Quiroz told LAist.

Rebuilding the family home

Quiroz grew up in the Altadena house before living there with his wife and six children, together with his parents and his brother’s family.

Then the Eaton Fire destroyed everything, Quiroz said.

"At first you're like, wow, like you can't even process it." Quiroz said about losing his family’s home. "Then you just start thinking about every little memory you had."

He said his father is a retired construction worker, and while they had insurance on the house they had never filed a claim until the fire. His father would always take care of any repairs himself.

But the insurance they had wasn’t nearly enough to cover the costs of rebuilding, Quiroz said.

After initially receiving a few thousand dollars from FEMA for essential items and temporary housing, Quiroz said his family applied for help with rebuilding costs.

According to FEMA policy, survivors who apply through the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) can receive up to $43,600 for housing assistance and another $43,600 to go toward other needs like child care, medical expenses, transportation or replacing damaged personal property.

Quiroz thought he would be eligible for housing assistance, but FEMA denied his family’s application. He said FEMA told him he was not eligible because he had already received an insurance payment.

"I've appealed the case about three times, because we're underinsured," Quiroz said. Even getting the maximum insurance payment under his policy still covered less than half of the expected rebuilding costs, he added.

FEMA can not duplicate benefits from insurance or other programs that are provided to applicants for the same purpose, according to federal law, but FEMA updated its policy in 2024 to expand eligibility for survivors whose insurance did not cover the cost of damages to their homes or property.

Quiroz said that on top of the costs of rebuilding he also has to find a permanent place where his family can afford to stay while making mortgage payments on the house that burned down.

In the meantime, he has been commuting from an Airbnb in Pomona to his job as a mechanic in Downey. He said he can’t seem to get straightforward answers about FEMA’s process or why he was denied assistance.

He's been going to a disaster recovery center in Altadena and calling FEMA, but he said he has gotten "a different answer every time" he has asked for clarification.

FEMA representatives did not respond to LAist's request for comment.

Navigating a bureaucratic "labyrinth" 

To get assistance, disaster survivors like Quiroz often have to navigate a complicated process that is fragmented across many agencies and programs, according to Chris Currie, director of homeland security and justice at the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, a non-partisan federal watchdog agency that examines how federal funds are spent.

"None of those programs were ever really designed to work together in concert, which makes for a very frustrating recovery process for survivors," Currie told LAist.

The GAO reports to congress and federal agencies, and keeps a list of programs across the federal government that they assess to be high risk, or most in need of reform.

Delivery of federal disaster assistance was recently added to that list, joining issues like federal oversight of food safety and contract management at the Department of Defense.

"I don't think anyone at FEMA tried to design these programs to be difficult and time consuming," Currie said. But rules put in place over the years to avoid fraud and abuse have inadvertently created a complex "labyrinth" for survivors to navigate, he added.

The GAO has pointed to the need to simplify the process for years, but Currie said that hasn’t translated to system-wide progress that's needed.

The Trump administration created the FEMA Review Council in January, and Currie is optimistic this could spark more significant reform.

"I think everyone is waiting for the results of this FEMA Council to come out, to provide the framework and the instructions on what specifically is gonna change," Currie said.

President Donald Trump threatened to "phase out" the agency last month, but the administration’s stance toward the agency has since softened, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem telling NBC News on Sunday that the president now wants to see the agency "remade."

FEMA’s response to other recent disasters

LAist analyzed public data to see how FEMA’s response to the L.A. wildfires compares with other natural disasters in recent years and found some notable differences.

According to monthly FEMA reports and estimates of total damage costs, overall financial support allocated by the agency in response to the fires has covered a much smaller portion of damage costs than seen six months after hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

Currie said there could be a number of reasons for differences in FEMA funding provided after natural disasters, like the types or concentration of damage.

"The scale of the destruction in Helene dwarfs [the L.A. fires], but the concentration of damage in L.A. was horrific. " Currie said. "So the cost you're going to see just to deploy across a massive geographic region in Helene is gonna be way, way higher than L.A."

The largest amount of money from FEMA goes to state and local governments in what the agency calls public assistance for things like repairing public buildings and debris cleanup, Currie told LAist.

Currie said debris cleanup is a key first step toward recovery, and that FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and leaders at state and local levels worked very quickly to clear debris compared to other large-scale natural disasters.

LAist also looked into differences in direct assistance to individuals and found that so far FEMA has covered a much smaller portion of assessed damage costs after the L.A. fires than were covered after the 2024 hurricanes, though the agency assessed that damage costs for L.A. fire survivors were higher.

This gap affects survivors like Quiroz who believe they should be eligible for more assistance and have experienced denial letters or process delays.

Currie told LAist that applications are often denied by FEMA initially for technical reasons, but they may still be eligible when they have completed more of the process.

"It can just be a very long, difficult process that requires a lot of back and forth between a survivor and FEMA or other government agencies," Currie said.

Quiroz, who has missed work from his job and is currently waiting to hear back from FEMA, said his family still plans on rebuilding but isn’t counting on more support from the agency.

"We had hope . . that they were gonna help us out," Quiroz said, "but it seems like it's not gonna be that way."

Long term recovery

Local agencies and organizations have been working to cover some of the gap in support left after insurance and FEMA assistance.

Jorge Anaya, an emergency management coordinator at the L.A. County Office of Emergency Management, told LAist that the county previously provided assistance to disaster victims of up to $18,000 through the Household Relief Grant program and has kept a comprehensive list of other existing resources for residents.

 "As we approach long-term recovery, there is existing aid," Anaya said, "However, it starts becoming a whole-of-community response, not just a whole-of-government response."

He said the county has partnered with the L.A. Region Community Recovery Organization, or LARCRO, to help people get continued assistance.

"It’s important for us to recognize that FEMA is in no way meant to make people whole with their funding," said Jenni Campbell, the executive director of LARCRO. "The community is responsible for recovery in the long term."

LARCRO is a nonprofit that was organized after the Woolsey Fire in 2018. Campbell said they work closely with FEMA and lead the recovery arm of Emergency Network Los Angeles, or ENLA, which includes other nonprofits involved in disaster response like American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and 211 LA County.

She told LAist that direct assistance from FEMA is just one part of what FEMA refers to as "the sequence of delivery," which also includes insurance, loans from the Small Business Administration and long term recovery groups.

LARCRO and ENLA have been organizing long term recovery groups to support the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena areas, bringing together nonprofit organizations, disaster case managers and community leaders to support survivors who won’t be able to recover on their own.

Those groups will soon start holding weekly meetings, but Campbell said community organizations like hers have been involved in supporting survivors since the beginning of the recovery process.

Quiroz told LAist he has gotten support from local churches to help buy food and from 211 LA County, which provided his family with Airbnbs like the one they're staying in now.

Campbell said LARCRO has connected with more than 5,000 people affected by the fires to coordinate disaster case management, and that disaster victims can learn more on their website.

Olympics organizers have released a first look at plans for a celebration of arts and culture across Los Angeles during the summer of 2028.

Known as the "Cultural Olympiad," the programming will include a poster series by local artists, film screenings across the city and a calendar of events, including live performances and art installations at different institutions. The city of L.A. will also put on its own events, including culture festivals in each council district, in the lead up to the Games.

Arts programming is a long Olympic tradition — starting in 1912 as artistic competitions and eventually evolving into festivals.

When Los Angeles last hosted the Olympics in 1984, the city hosted a weeks-long spectacle that included more than 400 performances and launched with the unveiling of a sculpture by artist Robert Graham topped with two statues depicting the naked female and male form, each without a head. The statues still stand at the entrance to the Coliseum today.

A closeup of the statues by artist Robert Graham atop the Olympic Gateway Arch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

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David Madison

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The 1984 festival is credited with transforming the city's arts scene. After the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion put on opera productions in the summer of 1984, local patrons launched L.A. Opera, which had its first season in 1986.

“That moment — when this city chose to present itself to the world not only through sport but through the full force of its artistic imagination — gave rise to an institution that has, for four decades, reflected the scale, diversity and ambition of Los Angeles itself," Christopher Koelsch, president of L.A. Opera said in a statement provided by LA28.

L.A.'s artistic contributions in 1984 in turn transformed the Olympics. John Williams composed the "Olympic Fanfare" for the Opening Ceremony, which is still associated with the Games today.

The legacy of 1984 means expectations for the 2028 Olympiad are high — but most details on what's in store are still to come. Some in Los Angeles have criticized LA28, saying that planning is lagging.

Another big question is funding. The city of L.A.'s initial plan for cultural programming estimates a budget of $15 million, which would cover local festivals in each council district. But the city also painted a vision for what it could do with $45 million in funding, including a seven-week arts festival across the city.

Documents from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs says full funding will depend on external partnerships, including LA28. LA28 told LAist that the Cultural Olympiad will be funded through private fundraising but didn't provide further details.

The first event associated with the Olympiad will launch in July 2027, when winners of the local artist poster contest are announced.

Some Los Angeles County residents are worried about how surveillance data is being used and stored as the Sheriff’s Department tries to address fears about cooperation with civil immigration enforcement.

The department has 480 high-speed cameras that can be used to track vehicles and their activity around the region, according to officials.

The L.A. County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission held a virtual forum Wednesday focused on surveillance technologies in the county, specifically around the department's use of Automated License Plate Readers, otherwise known as ALPRs.

The public was invited to share their concerns about unchecked use of the technology and ask experts questions about how the data is collected and shared.

A vast majority of the attendees — 91% — reported that they or someone they know has changed behavior or plans due to concerns about ICE or immigration enforcement. Most attendees said their top concern was who the surveillance data is shared with, and about a third said they were most concerned with how the information is being used.

Hans Johnson, chair of the commission, said there is a sense of a new, chilling reality taking hold in immigrant communities.

“ The fear that everyday activities like traveling to work, taking children to school, seeking medical care or gathering in public spaces could expose people to tracking, data sharing and hunting that threatens their safety and constitutional freedoms,” Johnson said during the forum.

Sheriff officials said it’s difficult to engage with county communities if they believe the department is involved in civil immigration enforcement.

Ernest Bille, a department commander, said officials need to ease those fears so people feel comfortable connecting with local law enforcement, including for Amber Alerts or reporting a crime, so that the Sheriff’s Department can more effectively serve L.A. County.

Sheriff cameras in the county

The Sheriff’s Department only contracts with Motorola Vigilant for its Automated License Plate Readers, Bille said. The cameras can capture license plate numbers, dates, times and geographic locations, as well as images of the vehicle and license plate.

“ It is important to note that our current ALPR system does not capture any personal identifying information whatsoever, and it is stored in the database for authorized law enforcement use,” he said.

Of the 480 Motorola Vigilant cameras operated by the Sheriff’s Department around the county, 42 are mobile, meaning they’re attached to the top of a patrol car while roaming the region. The more than 430 others are fixed, powered and solar cameras.

Bille added that there may still be Flock cameras in L.A. County, specifically from cities that’ve contracted directly with the controversial surveillance company.

In South Pasadena, for example, the city council recently moved to not renew a contract with Flock Safety following public outcry after reports that some local law enforcement agencies in Southern California illegally shared license plate reader data with federal immigration agents.

Flock did install cameras in burn areas after last year’s Eaton Fire to deter crime and looting, especially in Altadena, Bille said. He added that L.A. County contracted with Flock and made the cameras available to the department, but they’re currently deactivated.

When asked, Bille said he didn’t know how long the cameras have been out of commission in those areas.

How are they used?

The data collected from the department’s cameras can be used in a number of ways, including criminal investigations and recovering stolen vehicles. According to officials, they’ve been used successfully to locate missing people and for life-saving efforts.

Bille said the data is mostly used as an investigatory lead, and it’s not standalone evidence. If an investigator wants to get a license plate from the system, for example, they would have to have a legitimate law enforcement purpose for doing so.

“ It cannot be used for personal or non-work-related purposes, and it absolutely cannot be used for civil immigration enforcement,” he said.

The data is stored for two years in most cases, which was revised down from the department’s five-year policy.

After two years, the records are archived. After five years, the data is permanently deleted.

But there are some exceptions, including ongoing investigations, prosecutions or legal proceedings like appeals.

How is the data shared?

The Sheriff’s Department doesn’t share data from Automated License Plate Readers with any federal agencies, officials said.

The data can only be shared with other public agencies under an inter-agency agreement that includes compliance with privacy protections and applicable laws.

“ We have no inter-agency agreement with any federal agencies,” Bille said. Officials later noted that federal agencies do not qualify as a public entity for this purpose under California law.

The data cannot be sold or used for commercial, personal and non-work related purposes. It cannot be shared for civil immigration enforcement unless required by law or under a judicial warrant, according to officials.

How to get involved

There are internal audits of the sheriff’s Automated License Plate Reader system at least once a year, according to the department.

Semi-annual reports of the system will also be provided to the Office of Inspector General, the Civilian Oversight Commission and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Another report will be published on the department’s public transparency page.

Dara Williams, chief deputy of the county’s Office of the Inspector General, said the department wants to engage with the people they serve and have residents feel comfortable coming forward to report crimes.

“ It’s important to them to be sure that their policies don't overly share with the federal government because the Sheriff's Department does not like the consequences of what oversharing with the federal government would bring to them,” Williams said.

The commission is encouraging the public to join its upcoming monthly meetings to share thoughts on department policies and procedures:

• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 21
  
  • St. Anne's Conference Center, 155 N. Occidental Blvd., Los Angeles
    
    • Register for webinar here
    • Sign up for emailed agendas here

When I went to the Natural Products Expo West earlier this year, a conference that highlights innovations in food and drink, I learned two things. One is that I could get my 10,000 steps by walking the Anaheim Convention Center. And two, that tea is really popular right now. As I walked around, I was given dozens of samples for teas from various flavors and brands, many of which were unknown to me.

Later, when I got home, I realized I had far more tea than I could drink. I have a pet peeve about waste, so I went to the one person I knew who could help……my mother, Jacqueline Richie.

Ryan's mom, Jacqueline Ritchie.

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Courtesy Ryan Ritchie

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My mom drinks multiple cups of tea a day, and has a wooden sign in the dining room that reads “A cup of tea and all is fine.”

While I have a background as a a food writer, I’m not a massive tea drinker, so I figured getting her perspective would help. It would also give me a good reason to spend quality time with my mother and get to know her better, perhaps through a different lens.

So we set up multiple afternoons and evenings to get through them all.

Ryan Ritchie on his tea drinking journey with his mother

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Courtesy Ryan Ritchie

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For the first session, I brought three teas for us to try: Lord Bergamot Full Leaf Black Tea by Steven Smith Teamaker, Moroccan Mint by Numi and Sapphire Bay by Bigelow.

First the bergamot tea. “This one is really good,” she said. "It has bergamot oil from Italy, not like some cheapo off brand. The bergamot is not overpowering. Some cheap teas hit you like 'ooh.'”

Next was the Moroccan mint. “It’s, uh, minty,” my mother said, “and I’m tasting the cinnamon and vanilla. Cinnamon can be overpowering, but this one is a faint, light taste. It lingers at the bottom of the cup as the water decreases. They did a good job of blending. A perfect combination.”

Two thoughts occurred: One, my mother knows way more about tea than I imagined. Two, she seems to have a strong palate, a term I’d never think to use when describing her. Most of the meals we had growing up were store-bought items she could heat up in the oven.

We ended our session with the Sapphire Bay tea. It was, unexpectedly, a majestic purple-blue, apparently from butterfly pea flower. My mom, a black tea lover, surprised herself — and me — by liking it.

The blue-purple hue of Bigelow's Sapphire Bay is only slightly stronger than the tea's floral taste.

Her adventurous palate was news to me. Could there be more adventure to a woman who wears holiday-themed sweaters?

For the next session, we started with Dandelion Masala by Yaygit. “I have no idea what dandelion tastes like,” she said, warily.

Apparently the dandelion root was blended with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and clove as "an ode to chai," as it says on the website. Her verdict after she sipped it? She approved of its "earthy, sweet taste. This is a nice afternoon or after-dinner tea as a palate cleanser.”

“Palate cleanser?” "Earthy"? I’d never heard my mother use those terms. She described another tea we had later as “robust” and “malty.” Had my mom been the Anthony Bourdain of tea for decades and I was just now realizing it?

What I don’t know about my mother could fill volumes of encyclopedias. But, to be fair, I’ve never inquired about things like her first boyfriend or why her bathrooms don’t have hand towels. Perhaps I don’t want to know the answers to these questions. Perhaps I’ve always assumed my mom doesn’t have an adventurous side, that she’s happy baking desserts for my dad and reading on the couch.

But now she’s drinking dandelion tea like a pro.

We ramped up the new discoveries next time with Magiktea’s Palo Azul. What is Palo Azul exactly? I didn't know, and I eat nutritional yeast with my salads. Neither did my mom.

Turns out it is, according to a Google search, a medicinal shrub found in the Southwestern United States and Mexico.

And the tea it makes is also blue (clearly a color of the moment), but with a florescent sheen. It came not as a packet of tea leaves, but as two wooden sticks she poured hot water over.

“It looks like wood pulp,” she said. “All I can say is it’s interesting. I guess the more you drink it the more you’d get used to it. The first sip was not what I expected — not that that's bad. Maybe we should have used alkaline water as they recommend on the packet?”

I would have bet good money that my mother would have hated any tea that looked like wood pulp, but I was wrong. What else had I been wrong about?

Another session, we wanted to end with a nightcap and turned to Pure Chamomile from Twinings.

“It’s chamomile, alright,” she said. “It’s soothing and good if you’re sick or want to take a two hour nap and forget about everything. I prefer my chamomile mixed with something else. It’s not like I hate it, but it’s not my cup of tea.”

Hmmm. What is “everything” my mom wants to forget, exactly? She’s a retiree who gardens, practices yoga and enjoys time with her two grandchildren. Also, her use of “It’s not my cup of tea?” My mom is Anthony Bourdain and Jerry Seinfeld.

23 cups of tea later, (ginger, Lady Grey, wild berries to name a few) over a few sessions, we finally finished our tea time with mother sessions. And it did, in fact, bring us closer together. We don’t normally schedule much time to see each other… but she texted me a few days later with another idea.

“When is our next tea time?😀Maybe next time we can sample chocolates! 🍫I'll do the eating. You do the writing! 😂”

It sounded great, but I had to remind her I had two housesitting gigs that would keep me busy for three weeks.

“Okay,” her text read. “So you're gone until the 16th? I'm going to miss my tea buddy.🙉.”

Me too, mom. Me too.

The California State University Board of Trustees voted on Wednesday to approve three new bachelor’s degree types, including one for people interested in becoming teachers.

The new degree types could be achieved with fewer credits than what’s typically required for Bachelor of Science and Arts degrees. They were designed to be flexible for adults, people returning to higher education and those who have a job while in school.

It’s the first time in 30 years that the university system is introducing new bachelor’s degrees.

At a committee meeting earlier in the week, Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Nathan Evans said the new degree types aren’t meant to replace traditional bachelor's degrees.

“They will provide more options for more nimble innovative program designs for a broader set of new learners,” Evans said during a presentation at the May 5 committee meeting.

Evans cited lowering rates of high school graduation in California, more competition and changing technology, including AI, as challenges facing higher education.

“Additional undergraduate degree frameworks … can better align with particular career goals, reduce the time required for students to earn a degree or … to offer more immediate access to economic and social mobility,” he said.

The degree types

One of the new degree types is a Bachelor of Education. CSU campuses could design programs through the degree to “complement other pathways to the teaching and education profession,” according to a CSU news release. California has had persistent issues with teacher staffing, a result of teacher turnover and the expense of getting certification, among other issues.

Another one of the new degree types is a Bachelor of Professional Studies, which would include courses of study that are interdisciplinary and focused on management, communication and leadership. CSU said in its news release that this degree type is flexible and would allow people to “integrate prior college coursework, professional certifications, military training and work experience.”

In board documents about the new degree types, CSU officials said universities across the country offer such programs, including Syracuse University. The private university in central New York offers several programs ranging from cybersecurity to project management as a Bachelor of Professional Studies.

The Bachelor of Applied Studies is focused on “students with backgrounds in applied, technical or vocational fields.” Programs offered through this degree type at other universities in the country cited by CSU, like the University of Pennsylvania, include data analytics, communication and physical and life sciences.

When do these new programs start?

CSU campuses are not required to offer programs through the new degree types; the new policy instead allows each individual campus to “begin to envision and design” such programs, the university system said in a statement. Those that choose to do so have flexibility in determining the number of credits required to achieve the degree.