Topline:
More than a month and half after L.A.’s devastating fires, the recovery is just beginning. And even for the residents of burn zones whose homes survived, the road ahead is complicated.
Health concerns: Some residents are staying in their homes in the burn zones, waiting for insurance to cover cleanup and worrying about their health as debris removal continues around them.
Read on ... to learn more about how two Altadena residents are coping and for recovery resources.
On a sunny day in late January, Tamara Carroll returned to her home on Navarro Avenue in west Altadena for the first time. It survived the Eaton Fire, and she was coming back with an insurance inspector to assess the damage.
“ I don't know how I feel,” Carroll said. “I'm grateful I have a house to come back to, but it's a long journey ahead.”
Her group of girlfriends were there to support her — close friends she’s known for some 35 years.
"We come together in happiness and sadness ... all the events of life,” said friend Barri Brown. “This is one of those times where we come together and put our arms around each other.”
More than a month and half after L.A.’s devastating fires, the recovery is just beginning.
Even for residents whose homes survived, the road ahead is complicated.
Some are staying in their homes, worried about the health effects as they wait for their insurance to cover smoke and ash cleanup, and watch as debris removal continues around them. Others are staying elsewhere, and still not sure they’ll ever return for good.
For those whose homes still stand in the burn zones, homeowners insurance and personal property insurance should cover most damage, including smoke damage, said David Russell, professor of insurance and finance at Cal State Northridge. But there can be limitations.
“ In some cases, smoke damage is a tricky one because reasonable people can disagree about whether or not there's a smell of smoke or if it's damaged,” Russell said. “The policy is really about physical damage. And it's less about if you don't feel safe.”
Russell said personal property insurance may cover only the depreciated value of objects like couches and mattresses. Russell added that residents should not be afraid to ask their adjusters about additional coverage and to document everything if you disagree with the assessment.
Here are some more resources to help you navigate insurance and recovery after the fires:
Carroll didn’t evacuate the night the Eaton Fire broke out, putting out spot fires in her yard and her neighbors’ yard as she watched homes burning a couple blocks down the street.
Once the flames died down, she stayed in her house for nearly another week without power, water or gas.
“It was just cold. I had no heat, and I was sleeping in my clothes,” Carroll recalled. “I was hyper vigilant: I had my backpack. I slept in my shoes. And it just became too much on my psyche.”
She left for a hotel in Burbank, which her insurance is covering. But she’s been replaying the night of Jan. 7 in her head, and rewatching the videos she took on her phone.
“I keep replaying those moments where I see the flames and the fire.... That's the trauma,” Carroll said.
The insurance adjuster tallied the physical damage. He marked charred shingles on her roof with white chalk. Her outdoor furniture is burned. The wall between her and her neighbor's house blew over in the wind.
Inside, the house smells like smoke. The adjuster swiped the walls with tissues — a thin coat of ash covered them. The adjuster recommended a smoke and ash cleaning.
Her homeowners insurance covers only the structure itself — the adjuster told Carroll she’ll need to have another adjuster with her personal property insurance to assess her furniture, rugs and the like.
By mid-February, Carroll just got the check for exterior repairs, but still awaits the insurance payment for smoke and ash remediation inside. She’s negotiating with her adjuster for additional coverage.
Even once the repairs are done, though, she doesn’t know if she’ll permanently return to the home her parents bought in 1963.
“We're grieving,” Carroll said. “Altadena will never ever be like it was. Ever.”
A couple of blocks over, on Glenrose Avenue, Ana Martinez and her family are still working to clean up their home, which also survived the fire. Their neighbor’s house didn’t.
“We’re surviving,” Martinez said. “Trying to get back to normal. Our new normal now.”
Martinez pointed out damage to the three homes on the property: Roof shingles and wood siding are charred. The carport is gone. The window blinds are melted, the glass broken from the heat of the flames. Her trash bins are a single melted piece of green, blue and black plastic.
“It's my new art piece now,” Martinez said.
Martinez said insurance will replace only damaged shingles, not the whole roof, though she thinks that is needed. They’ll also replace the windows. Martinez and her husband, sons, nephews and other family members have done their best to clean up inside and outside their homes.
But they’re still waiting on professional smoke and ash remediation. And as debris cleanup continues around her, she worries the house will only take in more toxic ash and dirt.
In the days after the fire, researchers measured high levels of lead, heavy metals, asbestos, microplastics and other toxic pollutants in the air. Those particles can settle into soil and dust, potentially becoming re-suspended as cleanup and rebuilding efforts continue. That toxic pollution can lead to health issues, from respiratory problems to increased risks of heart disease and cancer.
All of that is making Martinez worried about her family’s health.
The Martinezes have lived in their home this whole time. She said she and her husband developed bad coughs and recently went to the doctor for lung X-rays.
“We have kids here,” Martinez said. “We want to make sure they're safe; we don't want to just do a job halfway.”
Their young granddaughter and grandson, who has heart and lung issues, recently returned to the house because insurance stopped advancing money for their stays in hotels and short-term rentals after the first couple of weeks, instead asking them to submit claims for reimbursement.
California law requires insurance to pay four months of advance payments for living expenses for people who lost their homes in a fire, but there aren’t the same benefits for those whose homes survived. Coverage for temporary housing in this case varies by policy.
In the Martinezes case, they now have to foot the bill upfront and submit claims for reimbursement.
“They said ... 'It's best if you don't stay; we recognize it's bad for your health, so go away ... and then send us the receipts,'” Martinez said. “But what if they come out and say, ‘Oh, that's not covered.’ Then what? We don't have the money to go anywhere. ... We're out of the little bit of money we have in our savings.”
Topline:
In recent years, some Southern California cities have tried a new approach to softening the blow of large rent hikes. When landlords raised rents beyond what tenants could afford, cities required them to give those tenants thousands of dollars in relocation assistance. But that strategy had one major problem. According to recent court decisions, it was illegal.
What’s new: Following legal victories by landlord groups, the cities of L.A. and Pasadena have deleted guidance about those relocation payments from their websites and officials are no longer enforcing the requirement.
The reaction: A landlord advocacy group successfully argued in court that Pasadena's requirement illegally imposed heavy costs on landlords who raised rents to levels allowed by state law. Tenant advocates said the decisions mean that renters getting pushed out of their homes by large rent hikes will now have to shoulder the cost of finding new housing entirely on their own.
Read more… to learn how these relocation payments worked, and why they’ll still be required in some other situations.
In recent years, some Southern California cities have tried a new approach to softening the blow of large rent hikes. When landlords raised rents beyond what tenants could afford, cities required them to give those tenants thousands of dollars in relocation assistance.
But that strategy had one major problem. According to recent court decisions, it was illegal.
Following legal victories by landlord groups, the cities of L.A. and Pasadena have deleted guidance about those relocation payments from their websites and officials are no longer enforcing the requirement.
Whitney Prout, who works on legal affairs for the California Apartment Association, said the landlord advocacy group successfully argued that Pasadena's requirement illegally imposed heavy costs on landlords who raised rents to levels allowed by state law.
“It was a consequence that was imposed for exercising a legal right,” Prout said. “That is effectively the same as limiting the right that exists. And you're not allowed to do that.”
A California appellate court ruled in December 2025 that Pasadena’s relocation requirement due to rent hikes was illegal. In April, the California Supreme Court declined to review the decision. A separate case brought against L.A. later used the Pasadena case as precedent to strike down a similar requirement in that city.
Tenant advocates said the decisions mean that renters getting pushed out of their homes by large rent hikes will now have to shoulder the cost of finding new housing entirely on their own.
“It was a new attempt to protect tenants that wasn't as legally tried and tested,” said Ryan Bell, a coordinator with Tenants Together and a member of the Pasadena Rental Housing Board. “The idea was to help cushion the blow of displacement. And now that doesn't exist anymore.”
Pasadena’s relocation requirement was created by Measure H, the November 2022 ballot initiative that nearly 54% of voters passed to implement rent control and eviction protections.
Pasadena landlords would have to pay relocation assistance if they increased rents by more than 5% plus the amount of the city’s current rent control cap. Today, that limit would be 7.25%. If tenants informed their landlords that they could not afford increases above that amount, they would be entitled to relocation payments.
The protection wasn’t designed for Pasadena tenants living in rent-controlled apartments. Landlords cannot legally raise rents that much in units covered by those caps.
Instead, the relocation payments were geared toward tenants living in other kinds of housing not covered by local limits, such as single-family homes, condos and apartments built after Feb. 1, 1995.
A separate state law caps annual rent increases — currently at 8% in L.A. County — in many homes not subject to local rent control caps. But not all housing is covered by that state law.
Though landlords no longer need to pay relocation fees when tenants are pushed out by large rent hikes, they still must pay tenants who are evicted through no fault of their own, such as in cases where landlords want to move a family member into the tenant’s unit.
The amount of relocation assistance Pasadena requires landlords to pay varies based on how many bedrooms the unit had, how long a tenant lived there, and the tenant’s age, parental status and disabilities. The payments range from $8,340 to $40,210.
The rules have worked similarly in the city of L.A., where relocation payments currently range from one month’s worth of rent up to $27,400. The rule requiring relocation payments due to “economic displacement” was created by the City Council in 2023 as the city began ramping down its COVID-19 pandemic tenant protections.
Santa Monica has also required relocation payments in situations where tenants can’t afford large rent hikes. The city still lists that requirement in online documents. LAist reached out to city officials to ask if they have changed their approach to enforcing the requirement in light of recent court rulings. We did not receive a response.
In guidance on tenant protections published this month, the city of L.A. dropped information about relocation payments triggered by rent hikes. Pasadena officials removed details about the rent-hike relocation rules after LAist asked if they planned to drop the requirement, which was still described in detail on the city’s website earlier this week.
Prout, the California Apartment Association legal affairs expert, said the changes will be welcome news for landlords who felt blindsided when the rules first took effect a few years ago.
Many, she said, “were very surprised to learn that — despite the fact that they were not rent controlled — if they increased the rent more than the city wanted them to, they were facing a pretty significant potential financial consequence.”
Topline:
Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a nonprofit law firm based in L.A., has created a resource to teach people in custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, or at the neighboring Desert View Annex, how to challenge their detainment.
The details: Available in English and in Spanish, the information packet walks immigrant detainees through the process of filling out their own petitions for habeas corpus.
What is “habeas corpus” and why does it matter? “Habeas corpus” means “you have the body” in Latin. In the U.S., a writ of habeas corpus refers to a judicial order that forces authorities to bring the person they’ve detained before a federal district court and justify their confinement. This provision — enshrined in the U.S. Constitution — is a safeguard against arbitrary imprisonment.
Why now: Given reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions at Adelanto, along with a surge in deaths at ICE detention facilities across the country, advocates say they’re acting out of a sense of urgency.
Go deeper: An LAist investigation recently found that more immigrants are being held in detention without bond — and the increase in denials is steepest at Adelanto.
A nonprofit law firm has created a resource to teach people who are in custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, or at the neighboring Desert View Annex, how to challenge their detainment.
Available in English and in Spanish, the information packet walks immigrant detainees through the process of filling out their own petitions for habeas corpus.
“Habeas corpus” means “you have the body” in Latin. In the U.S., this writ refers to a judicial order that forces authorities to bring the person they’ve detained before a federal district court and justify their continued confinement.
This provision — enshrined in Section 9 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution — is a safeguard against arbitrary imprisonment.
Immigrant Defenders Law Center created its resource for people who meet two criteria:
Once immigrant officials release a detainee — once they decide that the person in question is not dangerous and does not pose a flight risk — “they can't just arrest you again without proof of any change in circumstance,” said Sarah Houston, managing attorney of the law firm’s rapid response team.
An LAist investigation recently found that more immigrants are being held in detention without bond, and the increase in denials is steepest at Adelanto. Plus, given reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions at Adelanto, along with a surge in deaths at ICE detention facilities across the country, Houston said her team is acting out of a sense of urgency.
“We don't want anyone to sit in detention for months and months, when they could potentially be drafting this and getting out,” she said.
Immigrant Defenders Law Center is based in downtown L.A. Each week, their attorneys make the trek to the long-term detention facilities in Adelanto, out in the Mojave desert.
“We have a great network [of pro bono and low bono lawyers],” Houston said, “but there is no way we have enough attorneys to meet the needs of [scores of detainees].”
At the same time, she added, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California was getting inundated with petitions for habeas corpus — so much so that it made a form for detainees who opt to represent themselves. In the legal world, self-representation is referred to as “pro se.”
Meanwhile, Houston and her team kept hearing about people who’d been re-detained at Adelanto. In response, they created their resource for these “pro se” litigants.
The nonprofit’s 24-page resource contains detailed instructions on how to file a petition for habeas corpus, but it’s meant to be uncomplicated, Houston said. When creating it, the law firm’s goal was to “make it as clear as possible,” while mitigating the possibility that petitioners might make a mistake.
Before sharing the resource widely, the law firm identified one detainee for a test case. A judge decided the government was holding that person in custody illegally. Then, another detainee used the resource to secure his release and that of five others, Houston said.
Now, when her team goes to Adelanto, they take packets of the resource with them to distribute widely among detainees.
“Our clients are so intelligent and so resourceful, and they will do anything to go back to their families,” she said. “Our job is to give them as much information as possible for them to be able to draft the best habeas.”
If you have been re-detained and you have a final order of removal, attorney Sarah Houston recommends calling federal public defenders for a habeas corpus intake. Their phone number is (213) 894-4408.
Even with detailed instructions, Houston acknowledged, detainees who file habeas corpus petitions “sometimes do make mistakes.” As a result, their petition might get rejected, forcing the detainee to refile. But in Houston’s experience, courts tend to be more lenient when people are representing themselves.
“If it's a minor error, they'll just go forward with it,” she said.
Under the second Trump administration, petitions for habeas corpus have skyrocketed.
A ProPublica report found that immigrants filed more of these petitions in the first 13 months of the second Trump administration than in the past three administrations combined — including President Donald Trump’s first. In parts of California and Texas, these petitions have been especially prevalent.
Houston underscored that the resource her team created is specifically geared at people who are both detained at Adelanto and who meet the criteria she outlined.
Habeas corpus is “so complicated that you can't make a resource like this for every type of person,” she said. “We wanted to start off where we know exactly what the case law is, where it's pretty clear cut.”
The law firm is currently working on translating the resource, to ensure it’s available to immigrants who speak other languages.
Topline:
After 25 years of anticipation, the Burbank Public Library opened a time capsule monument only to find…nothing.
The backstory: They were expecting to come across a collection of memories from 2001, when the monument was last opened. But the capsule was never created. And library officials don’t know why.
Why now: The library is now working on a 2026 time capsule for future generations — and officials want to hear from you.
Go deeper: LA’s Central Library pops open its time capsule. Inside the never-before-seen contents
After 25 years of anticipation, the Burbank Public Library opened a time capsule monument only to find…nothing.
They were expecting to come across a collection of memories from 2001, when the monument was last opened. But the capsule was never created. And library officials don’t know why.
“It's a fun little mystery we got going on,” said Kathleen Zapata, marketing analyst for the Burbank Public Library. “Instead, we found the original time capsule that was placed in 1976 by the Burbank Bicentennial Committee who started off this whole time capsule project to begin with.”
In 1976, the committee built a monument in front of the Central Library for four time capsules, according to officials. The idea was to open a time capsule, and add another into the monument, every 25 years for the next century.
But wires got crossed somewhere along the way. Zapata noted the committee’s instructions were “a bit vague.”
“Potentially, the 2001 crew just thought maybe that we were supposed to open the 1976 [capsule] every 25 years to maybe admire it? I don't know,” she said.
The library is now working on a 2026 time capsule for future generations — and officials want to hear from you.
Zapata said the new time capsule should represent life in Burbank today. They’re specifically looking for small, non-perishable items that will stand the test of time (and weather).
It could include movie tickets from all three of the city's AMCs. Or a yellow Porto’s Bakery bag. Or furniture instructions from Ikea, which Burbank boasts as the largest in the U.S.
“If anyone has an item that they could even donate to the time capsule, that would be fantastic,” she said. “We're open to absolutely any ideas that folks have … we hope that the community can join us in this collective brainstorm.”
For example, the original time capsule included photos of the committee who started the program, a book of utility rates that showed what people were paying for water and electricity decades ago and a menu from a long-closed restaurant.
You can submit ideas to the library’s form here through September.
Zapata is also hoping that anyone who knows why the last capsule was skipped will come forward and cue the library in, too.
Once complete, the library will put both the 2026 and 1976 time capsules safely in storage until its new Central Library location is built.
The new branch, which Burbank got a $9.95 million grant for a few years ago, is expected to open in 2029, according to Zapata.
You can find more information about the project and share feedback here.
If you want to see the original time capsule in person before then, the items will be on display at an open house later this year. Zapata said you'll be able to find the time and date on the library's website once those details are finalized.
Topline:
A federal judge today ordered major changes to reported conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, granting a preliminary injunction that requires federal immigration officials provide people with clean drinking water and adequate medical care.
About the order: U.S. District Judge Sunshine Suzanne Sykes ruled that the detainees who brought the lawsuit “demonstrated they are likely to prevail” on their claims that conditions at the facility violate Fifth Amendment protections against inhumane conditions of confinement.
What's next: While the case will continue to work its way through the courts, the judge issued the ruling now, finding that people being detained could suffer irreparable harm without court intervention.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered major changes to reported conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, granting a preliminary injunction that requires federal immigration officials provide people with clean drinking water and adequate medical care.
U.S. District Judge Sunshine Suzanne Sykes ruled that the detainees who brought the lawsuit “demonstrated they are likely to prevail” on their claims that conditions at the facility violate Fifth Amendment protections against inhumane conditions of confinement. While the case will continue to work its way through the courts, the judge issued the ruling now, finding that people being detained could suffer irreparable harm without court intervention.
The suit came after two deaths at the facility within weeks of each other last fall: Ismael Ayala-Uribe, a 39-year-old former DACA recipient, and 56-year-old Gabriel Garcia-Aviles. Both deaths are still under federal investigation as scrutiny over the conditions inside immigrant detention centers in the Trump administration continues to mount.
In their lawsuit, lawyers for the detainees said Adelanto violated ICE detention guidelines by failing to provide clean drinking water, nutritious meals, sanitation, access to medical care and medicine, as well as medical intake screening upon arrival at the facility. They also alleged violations of rules around recreation time outside, visitation time for family, daily headcount to ensure detainees are alive, and accommodations for people with disabilities.
In response, Sykes ordered 24-hour access to clean drinking water, meals with a sufficient number of calories, and access to soap and hygiene products free of charge. The injunction also requires the facility to be cleansed daily and for mold to be identified and removed. Detainees are to be provided blankets and temperature-appropriate clothing, as well as access to recreational yard time outside for at least four hours every day.
The order prevents Adelanto, which is located about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles, from limiting family visitation during regular business hours, including removing time restrictions and physical contact, such as hugging or holding hands, with family members. It also says the facility can not cancel a visitation if a family member needs to use the restroom during the visit.
The majority of people being held in immigration detention centers in California have not been accused of committing crimes, only of civil immigration violations.
The court ordered Adelanto to perform at least two headcounts every day, once overnight and once during the day, to ensure detainees are present and not incapacitated. The court also ordered restrictions on sending detainees to isolation, barring a life safety risk to staff or if the detainee requests it.
The ruling requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other named defendants to immediately provide detainees with the condition upgrades the judge ordered.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the ruling. DHS attorney Pushkal Mishra argued in court last week the federal government couldn’t be held liable for the actions of its contractor, GEO Group, which runs Adelanto and 18 other immigration facilities around the country.
In a motion to dismiss the case, DHS argued that it should not have “to take over the daily management of a federal contract from a private contractor.”
GEO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Disability access in ICE facilities has been a recurring issue since the Trump administration took office for a second term. According to the complaint, one person described being placed in handcuffs and ankle chains for court appearances despite using a cane. Others alleged people with mobility issues were routinely assigned top bunks. The new court order requires the government to provide people with disabilities with reasonable accommodations.
The court has given the federal government 14 days to create a plan to address medical care and disability needs for detainees. The order requires all detainees to be given an intake screening upon arriving for physical or mental illnesses, ensure ongoing treatment and medication, and treat and segregate detainees to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The order also mandates that every detainee must have access to primary, secondary, and tertiary medical care and be advised of their patient rights.
Sykes ordered that the government must provide two independent monitors for the duration of the lawsuit to ensure compliance with the court orders. Detainees must also be given the opportunity to submit grievances to the monitors in English or Spanish that are contained in a lockbox only accessible to the monitors.
A report by the California attorney general this year found that six people have died in detention facilities in the state since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. Nationwide, 22 people have died this year in immigration detention.
This week, the Mexican federal government called on state attorneys general to criminally investigate cases where Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody.
