Rosa Ramirez sat alone in the living room of her two-bedroom apartment in Altadena, sitting on the sofa, staring at the smoke-stained ceiling.
At the corner of the room, boxes and bags were stuffed with clothes, towels and blankets that were not contaminated by the smoke from the Eton fire and sat next to a fish tank with discolored water.
“I’m slowly going through something to see what needs to be thrown away,” she said. “The kids’ mattresses have to be replaced, and some of the furniture will eventually have to go, but not yet.”
Rosa Ramirez and her 17-year-old daughter showed off the damage they suffered in Altadena on Monday.
Until a week ago, Ramirez and her family stayed in the hotel, and the January hell forced them to evacuate and bounced from the city to the city. But the money dried up, and the high cost of rent elsewhere led them to go back to the burn area and an apartment building that an insurance company deemed “uninhabitable”.
Ramirez’s family is just about a dozen, and they say they have lived in buildings, some have been around for nearly two months without gasoline service, prompting them to use a portable stove to cook with cooking and heat water to take a shower. At least part of the building has no motivation, while others say they have experienced shortages. Some of these units require smoke remedies, and at least two apartments have holes in the ceiling during fire work, they said.
Families of these families, including children and the elderly, say more painfully, that apartment buildings are surrounded by burnt houses, demolished carports and burnt vehicles, fearing that they will expose them to cancerous substances such as asbestos and lead.
“The people who live here are people who don’t have anywhere; they don’t have the money to come for hotels or cars,” said Brenda Lopez, 24. “We’re here because we have to [out] Stubborn. ”
Residents said they repeatedly asked the management company Regency Management Inc. – to repair the apartment. Instead, they believe repairs have been delayed, tenants retaliated by power shutdowns, and the company blocked gas companies from opening services and threatened to charge rents again, with residents saying rents ranging from $1,700 to $2,400.
Residents gathered in an apartment building, and several residents said they lived in Altadena with few utilities.
Regent’s legal counsel Jesse Carrillo disputes the allegations.
“We have been working with all relevant agencies and insurers to restore services,” he said. “As you can imagine, all agencies are currently facing a wide range of requirements, which lead to delays in response time.”
Carrillo said no one in the management team shut down power or demanded rent since the fire.
“If residents choose to move out, we accelerate all deposits and payments paid this month,” Carillo said. “While some residents occupy the units, we did not charge rent and did not ask for it.”
Carrillo said damage to the wires caused some residents to turn off power and had to replace a new switchgear panel before power was restored. He said he hopes this will be done soon.
He said the gas company needs to be liquidated from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Los Angeles County Department of Construction and Safety before gas services are restored. He said the company is awaiting final approval from county officials.
The view from the apartment’s balcony was one of the destruction after the Eaton fire.
Tenants also condemned the debris surrounding its two-story beige and brown stucco building and called on county officials to remove it.
To raise awareness of living conditions, residents set up a group tenant committee 403 this week and plan to hold a press conference Thursday at 5 p.m. to talk about the problems they face in the apartment building. They feared being kicked out during the renovation and they suggested fixing three units at a time.
Assisting the group is the National Day Labor Organization network, NDLON, which recently began working with residents to help address their concerns. The group hopes that doing so, it can also shed light on other properties with similar problems in the combustion zone.
Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the advocacy group, said about 60 people live in the complex, which has 47 units. He said the families do not have the credit history or proof of income needed to rent elsewhere. Some people have jobs nearby and are staying in hotels by FEMA, which are too far away.
Out of necessity, some families returned to live in the burning area, Alvarado said he hopes state and local officials find and prioritize the property where dangerous debris are cleared.
“The authorities’ priority should be to clean up where people come back,” he said. “We don’t want families to be ousted.”
Residents sort on items in the Altadena apartment building, where residents live in spotted utilities, or at all.
Colonel Eric Swenson of the U.S. Corps of Engineers said there were places where people appeared to live in the county, among the priorities. He said single-family homes burning around the apartment building will put the area on the list.
According to the encirclement of the apartment building Damaged house map of county. According to one, several batches remove debris Fragment removal diagram.
Svenson urged residents with health problems to engage with local public health officials and demanded patience as his crew worked at incisive speeds to remove debris from thousands of properties in the county. He reminded the owners that the deadline for registration debris removal is the end of this month. People can log in County website register.
Carrillo said the management company has filed an application to remove carport debris to the county.
“We are waiting at the moment [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s] “The removal of electric vehicles/electric vehicles from the property. This removal is crucial due to the potential fire hazards caused by electric vehicle batteries and must be done before further work begins,” he said.
He said the application is in final review stage.
Brenda Lopez said she and other tenants noticed that their management company was responding faster after the National Day labor organization was involved. The group has been forcing the company to do more, she said.
“The people who live here are people who don’t have anywhere; they don’t have the money to stay in hotels or cars. We’re here because we have to, not [out] Stubborn. ”
– Brenda Lopez
Brenda Lopez said the people living in the Altadena apartment building are mainly low-income families with some special children.
Lopez said the residents of the building are mainly hardworking low-income families, some of whom are children with special needs. She said some people (including herself) work in the service industry, manufacturing or construction industry, and some share apartments.
“We hardly did that, we are a family [six],” she said.
Lopez left Las Vegas for Altadena, and he said she moved in with her family after the New Year. She slept in the living room with her 5-year-old daughter Mileydis and shared the two-bedroom one-room apartment with her parents, siblings.
She said the family evacuated at around 3 a.m. after the fire broke out on the evening of January 7. No choice, return to the apartment two weeks later after evacuation. Lopez said there was tap water and power. She said the neighbors across the courtyard had no electricity.
Lopez said a few families lived in the complex at the time, but now at least 12 have moved back, and she said more and more people are considering returning.
Carrillo said misunderstandings and misinformation led to misunderstandings between the company and the tenant.
Mattresses and other waste items piled up outside the apartment building, and residents lived in Altadena.
Last month, when residents began asking questions about the cleanup, the management team posted a copy of the letter to FEMA in Homewell Insurance Services, the company’s insurance company, claiming that the building is “uninhabitable” and that it will take 60 to 90 days to allow any tenant to occupy the unit.
The letter was followed by a notice issued on the apartment door on March 7, which said cleaning work for the four units will begin on March 12. Some tenants said this did not happen. Others say yes.
Carrillo said at least 42 units had been cleaned and cleaned by a licensed environmental company as of Wednesday, and plans to repair three units on Friday.
He said at least one unit was affected by the fire, and two people could be exposed to the flames and the rest of the smoke was damaged.
He said the FEMA letter is an example of poor communication happening in buildings. He said the letter was intended to help residents who had lost federal agency assistance.
“We give to anyone who may be in a position or dilemma for FEMA to cut funds unless [the tenant] He said it could prove that they are not currently in the unit.
In another example, a tenant said a Southern California Gas employee told them that there were no plans to restore services on the building because the building was planned to be demolished.
Children play in the complex, surrounded by burnt houses.
“We have no plans to remove the property,” Carillo said. “Our only goal is to fully restore the property so that our tenants can return home safely.”
Ramirez sat in her living room and said that all she wanted was to get back to normal. For a moment, she stood up and strolled to the kitchen, passing her daughter’s turtle, who survived the burning carport burning. Outside, her daughter talks to a friend.
On the kitchen counter, Ramirez also uses stainless steel pans on portable electric stoves that heat bath water. She leaned against the refrigerator and cried quietly.
“It’s sad, live like this,” she said.
When her daughter walked in, she noticed she was crying.
“€estásBien, mom?she asked. “How are you, mom?”
Ramirez nodded with a smile.
