The Brief

Since the game’s launch about a decade ago, you might be among the hundreds of millions of people who’ve taken to the streets to catch an elusive Detective Pikachu, a Snorlax, a Mewtwo or some other rare Pokémon.

At Arizona State University’s branch in downtown L.A., students are learning how to use the technology behind Pokémon Go, in concert with other tools, to create 3D models that document the aftermath of L.A. County’s recent wildfires.

The Eaton and Palisades fires wrought incalculable loss. Some people lost loved ones. Thousands lost their homes and places of worship. And many lost priceless mementos.

Which means the ASU initiative has two purposes: Its models can be used by wildfire survivors to make their insurance claims, and “on a public information level, [they allow us to] fully grasp the destruction and what it means for these communities,” said Ashley Buschhorn, a graduate student in the school’s Narrative and Emerging Media program.

Using personal experience to guide the project

The project is led by program director Nonny de la Peña, who’s largely considered a pioneer in virtual and augmented reality.

Professor Nonny de la Peña speaks to students in the Masters in Narrative and Emerging Media program at Arizona State University Center Broadway in Los Angeles, CA on March 27, 2025.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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During the pandemic, de la Peña stored all her work materials in her home studio — including her computers, storage drives and other essentials. She also put up photos of her children to brighten up the place. Two years ago, the battery of her electric bicycle exploded and burned that studio to the ground. In an instant, everything was gone.

But when de la Peña sifted through the rubble, she found that a few things had survived: an old love letter from her husband, charred but still legible; and, “bizarrely,” a card addressed to her son. It was signed by Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. “The Force will be with you always,” it read.

As news of the 2025 fires’ devastation made headlines, de la Peña recalled an ongoing fight she’d had with her insurance company after her studio burned down. At one point, the company tried to deny a sofa she listed in her claim. But de la Peña had a photo of its remains, so she was able to get compensated.

Because of this experience, de la Peña knew that having records of the aftermath would “be important in ways that people can't imagine.”

She also knew that having a record could bring closure, once fire victims began “to piece together memories and process what's happened to them.”

Before officials lifted the evacuation orders, de la Peña and her students headed out to the affected areas.

Sifting through the rubble  

Clad in hazmat gear, the team flashed their press passes to get past police lines in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. As they made their way through the streets, they avoided debris and were careful not to step on protruding nails.

The four-camera rig used to capture images converted into 3D scenes using a technique called "Gaussian splatting."

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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The team members carried a rig with four cameras: one at the top of the pole, one at the bottom, and two on the sides. Buschhorn explained that the rig is meant to help capture images of the same place from different angles, simultaneously.

The images they captured were fed to their phones, then organized using artificial intelligence. De la Peña and her students stitched thousands of these images together to create the 3D models.

The process relies on two software companies in particular, Polycam and Snaniverse, she said. Snaniverse is owned by Niantic Inc. — the same company that created Pokémon GO.

That may “seem kind of odd,” de la Peña added, “but it all stems from the idea that the world isn't flat, so we shouldn't be representing it flat.”

The team captured images of intersections, landmarks, homes, cars, and many small objects, including dolls, bicycles and figurines that residents used to decorate their yards and gardens.

Nonny de la Peña, director of the Narrative and Emerging Media program at Arizona State University's Los Angeles Campus.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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Ashley Buschhorn, a graduate student in the Narrative and Emerging Media program at ASU in Los Angeles, teaches fellow students how to use a four-camera-rig to create 3D scenes using a technique called "Guassian splatting."

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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For de la Peña, it was especially tough to walk through the affected areas, where at least 30 of her friends have lost their homes. This includes her son’s cello teacher, whose home her family visited every weekend for six years. It also includes the home of a friend who threw de la Peña a baby shower, along with the house in Altadena where, just over a year ago, de la Peña kissed her late friend goodbye.

When they first started creating the 3D models, de la Peña added, a lot of people still could not enter the area, “so we could provide them imagery of their homes when nobody else could.”

Training to go in the field 

Buschhorn, the graduate student, has gained enough experience to teach others how to use the camera equipment and software.

In late March, she walked fellow students through best practices for capturing quality images, under de la Peña’s supervision. They also gave students guidance on how to avoid disasters when they’re out in the field.

Ashley Buschhorn, a graduate student in the Narrative and Emerging Media program at ASU in Los Angeles, teaches fellow students.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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“Make sure all your batteries are charged [and] SD cards are cleared,” Buschhorn warned. “Always bring a hard drive and computer with you. ... These files start to get large pretty quickly.”

During that day’s lesson, de la Peña briefly interjected to emphasize the importance of getting images from every angle.

“If you wanted to paint [a] table red,” she said, by way of example, “you'd have to get the paint everywhere.”

The software, Buschhorn added, is “trying to identify the different textures, the lighting, the color — and all of those form together to then create your 3D model.”

Buschhorn moved from Austin to Los Angeles for undergrad.

“To see the place that I have grown and developed so much in the past couple years hurting so much” was devastating, they said.

She was glad to have the skills to create a record of the wildfires’ impact, to help communities as they rebuild.

A high-profile defense attorney for Nick Reiner, who is accused of killing his famous parents in their Brentwood home, has stepped down from the case and arraignment has been pushed to next month.

Reiner, 32, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday morning in Los Angeles County Superior Court in connection with the deaths of his parents, Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, last month.

Instead, Nick Reiner’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, revealed in court that he was withdrawing from the case.

The L.A. County Public Defender’s Office is expected to take over Reiner’s defense.

Reiner, the youngest of the famous couple’s four children, two counts of murder and special-circumstance allegations — multiple murders and use of a deadly weapon — that would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said his office has not yet determined whether it would seek death or life without the possibility of parole. Such decisions are usually made after a preliminary hearing where a judge hears evidence from prosecutors.

Hochman has said he would consider the family’s wishes when making his decision.

Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 68, were found dead Dec. 14 after police were called to their home on South Chadbourne Avenue.

Detectives with the Police Department’s elite Robbery Homicide Division, Homicide Special Section began an investigation and identified Reiner as the suspect, according to police.

The younger Reiner was located and arrested in Exposition Park near USC at approximately 9:15 p.m., according to police. He remains in jail on a no-bail status.

His arraignment in now set for Feb. 23.

A year after the deadly Los Angeles County fires, California’s property insurance market remains problematic; survivors are suing insurers over delayed or denied claims; and most of the state’s policyholders are likely to see their premiums rise.

Seven in 10 L.A. fire survivors have yet to return home, some in part because of insurance claim delays, according to a new survey released this week by Department of Angels, a nonprofit group that was formed after the fires.

The survey also found that 4 in 10 insurance policyholders have experienced insurability issues, such as huge premium increases and dropped coverage, although state law mandates a one-year moratorium on insurers canceling or not renewing customers’ policies after the governor declares a state of emergency. Those with homes that did not burn down but are still standing are especially likely to have seen big increases in their premiums, according to the survey of 2,443 adults from Nov. 18 to Dec. 2, 2025.

Insurance premiums for everyone, not just fire survivors, were already expected to rise under new rules by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. The commissioner, under pressure to improve availability of insurance in the state, last January implemented a plan that aims for quicker rate reviews and allows insurers to use catastrophe modeling and reinsurance costs in setting their rates. The plan took effect just days before the L.A. fires.

Now the response to the fires could also lead to even higher insurance premiums across the board, said Amy Bach, executive director of consumer advocacy group United Policyholders.

“I advocate for disaster survivors, but also for the entire community of policyholders,” Bach said. “For every ‘Eliminate the List’ bill, for every improvement we make to prevent post-disaster trauma around under-insurance, there’s a cost.” She said such actions will have ramifications for both insurance affordability and availability.

“Eliminate the List,” which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last year, requires insurance companies to pay 60% of personal property coverage limits, up to $350,000, to policyholders who experience a total loss without requiring them to submit a detailed inventory for at least 100 days.

Still, Bach knows that such mandates are necessary to improve survivors’ experiences after a fire, and lawmakers are introducing new bills to address their concerns. Her own group released a survey in November, reporting policyholder complaints that included insurer communication delays, claims payment delays and being assigned multiple claims adjusters.

The Department of Angels survey found that customers of State Farm and the last-resort FAIR Plan — the two largest insurers in California — were the most dissatisfied with their insurers’ response. California’s insurance department is investigating State Farm’s response to the fires, and has taken legal action against the FAIR Plan over its response as well, especially to smoke-damage claims. Those insurers, along with other companies, are also facing policyholder lawsuits.

“Our customer feedback reflects a different experience than what is being reported,” said Tom Hartmann, a State Farm spokesperson, in an email. “We’re supporting more than 13,500 customers affected by the wildfires, more than any other carrier, and have already paid over $5 billion to help them recover.”

Sam Strgacich, left, and his wife Rossana Valverde, right, examine soot damage at their home in Pasadena on April 26, 2025.

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Joel Angel Juarez

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CalMatters

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“We’ve paid almost $200,000 out of pocket to repair our home because of the FAIR Plan’s blanket denials of our remediation,” said Angela Giacchetti, a spokesperson for the Department of Angels who worked on the survey. She’s also a fire survivor whose Altadena home did not burn down but was badly damaged.

“While we are unable to comment on individual policyholders' claims, the California FAIR Plan does not direct where policyholders reside,” said Hilary McLean, a spokesperson for the plan. “The FAIR Plan evaluates every claim on its own merits and pays all covered claims up to the individual policy limits.”

The FAIR Plan said in a press release this week that it has handled about 5,400 claims and paid almost $3.5 billion to policyholders. It also said it “has taken steps to enhance its ability to serve policyholders” by securing a line of credit and reinsurance, helped by a $750 million catastrophe bond made possible by a new law allowing the FAIR Plan to get bond financing through the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.

The American Property Casualty Insurance Association says insurance companies have paid $22.4 billion of the expected $40 billion in total claims from the L.A. fires.

The Department of Angels survey also found 79% of survivors are facing financial hardships, with more Black, Asian and Latino survivors falling behind on their rent or mortgage payments. In addition, 40% of those surveyed said they were very dissatisfied with the local, state and federal response to their needs.

Newsom said Tuesday that he is working with state lawmakers, the banking industry and others on new loans for rebuilding, and that the state will expand eligibility for the CalAssist Mortgage Fund. The governor’s office did not respond to CalMatters’ questions about whether he plans to propose any aid for renters who survived the fires, and about what else he is doing to continue to press the federal government for long-term disaster funding.

“This report says exactly what we’ve been hearing,” said Michael Soller, spokesperson for the insurance department. “Wildfire survivors want action and they want results.” He said the issues in the survey are top priorities for the department, and among other things pointed to a task force on smoke damage that the department has convened.

A bill sponsored by Lara and introduced by newly appointed Senate Insurance Committee Chair Steve Padilla, the Democrat from San Diego, late Tuesday would require insurance companies to submit to the state their disaster-recovery plans related to handling claims; double penalties for violations of fair claims practices during an emergency; expand upfront claims payments; give policyholders status updates within five days whenever their adjuster is replaced; and more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

By the end of January, students will have returned to two of the three public school campuses burned in the Palisades Fire one year prior, though their classrooms are temporary.

Palisades Charter High School students are scheduled to return to their campus Jan. 27. They’ve been in a refurbished Santa Monica department store since April.

“ I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for the constant support that has been shown for our school and for our families, our teachers, all of our administrators and staff,” said Principal Pamela Magee at a press conference Tuesday with Los Angeles Unified leaders. Pali High is an independent charter high school located on district property.

In June, the LAUSD Board approved a $604 million plan to rebuild the high school, as well as two burned district elementary schools— Marquez and Palisades.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the three campuses’ new buildings will open in 2028— shaving two years off of the original 5-year timeline.

“ These projects will come in on time or ahead of schedule,” Carvalho said. “These projects will come in at or below budget, and these projects will honor the resilience, the determination, the courage and yes, the suffering and the sacrifice of the community of the Palisades.”

About the costs and the design

The district plans to use money from the $9 billion bond voters approved in 2024 to help pay for the rebuild, but also anticipates some reimbursement from its insurer and FEMA.

District-contracted architects are finalizing their designs and plan to submit to the state for approval in the spring, said Chief Facilities Executive Krisztina Tokes. She said the plan is to rebuild with future environmental risks in mind.

“ From the earliest design stages, wildfire resiliency has been treated as a core requirement and not an add-on,” Tokes said. For example, using fire-resistant concrete blocks, installing enhanced air filtration systems and planting shade trees where they won’t hang over buildings.

Environmental testing preceded students’ return to the fire-impacted campuses. Director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety Carlos Torres said the district continues to monitor air quality through its network of sensors and is developing a plan for periodic testing.

“We just can't just walk away,” Torres said.

Enrollment is down at all three schools compared to before the fires, but district leaders say they are confident families will return to the rebuilt campuses.

“I find it hard to believe that this community won't come back to its former glory,” said Board Member Nick Melvoin, who represents the Palisades. “We gave a lot of thought in an accelerated timeline to rebuilding for the next century.”

Marquez Charter Elementary

What’s the damage? The campus is a “total loss.” More than three dozen classrooms, administration buildings, the school’s auditorium and playground burned down.

How much has LAUSD budgeted to rebuild? $202.6 million

Where are the students? Students returned in September to portables covering about one-third of the campus. There’s also two playgrounds, a garden, library and shaded lunch area. Enrollment has dropped 60% compared to before the fire from 310 to 127 students.

What’s next? District-contracted architects are finalizing their designs and plan to submit to the state for approval in the spring.

Palisades Charter Elementary School teacher Ms. Davison talks with her students in their new classroom on the campus of Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet last year.

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Brian van der Brug

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Palisades Charter Elementary

What’s the damage? About 70% of the campus was destroyed including 17 classrooms, the multipurpose room and play equipment.

How much has LAUSD budgeted to rebuild? $135 million

Where are the students? Students continue to share a campus with Brentwood Science Magnet. Enrollment has dropped 25% compared to before the fire from 410 to 307 students.

What’s next? District-contracted architects are finalizing their designs and plan to submit to the state for approval in the spring.

Palisades Charter High School, pictured in December 2025, is scheduled to reopen to students Jan. 27, 2026.

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Kayla Bartkowski

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Palisades Charter High School

What’s the damage? About 30% of the campus was destroyed including 21 classrooms, storage facilities and the track and field.

How much has LAUSD budgeted to rebuild? $266 million

Where are the students? Students started the school year in a renovated Sears building in downtown Santa Monica. Enrollment has dropped 14% compared to before the fire, from 2,900 to 2,500 students.

What’s next? Classes will resume at the main campus Tues. Jan. 27 in a combination of surviving buildings and 30 new portable classrooms.