(The Center Square) – More than 18 months after thousands of people lost their homes in Southern California’s Eaton Fire, Altadena residents gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento to get the state’s top politician to give them money to rebuild their homes.
The protest and press conference, which took place on Wednesday morning, was the second appearance in recent days held by the Dena RiseUP Coalition, a group of Altadena and Pasadena survivors of the Eaton Fire. They’re demanding state politicians allocate $25 million for California’s Community Aid for Rebuilding Equity Fund, nicknamed the CARE Fund. Altadena is an unincorporated community next to the city of Pasadena, and they’re both in Los Angeles County.
The survivors held a press conference Tuesday in Pasadena before boarding buses for the approximately six-hour trip to Sacramento, as previously reported by The Center Square.
The CARE Fund allocation would be designed to help finance rebuilding efforts by residents who received little to no payout from homeowners insurance companies after the Eaton Fire.
The crowd of about 100 protesters spoke in front of the Governor’s Mansion, a historical state park closed to the public, Wednesday morning, but Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, weren’t there. The couple hosted a press conference of their own during that time in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Hayward to announce investments in community schools, a type of alternative school.
The Newsoms don’t live at the downtown Sacramento mansion and instead reside at a Kentfield, Marin County, home in the Bay Area. The Governor’s Office is at the Capitol Annex Swing Space.
The governor’s absence at the mansion didn’t stop speakers from stressing the need for help.
“The CARE Fund is a fund that was designed with the very community members that you see here today,” Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, said at the press conference. “It is gap financing for those who lack enough insurance coverage to rebuild their homes. It’s an investment into affordable housing for our tenants who we know want to come back to Altadena.”
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention, the January 2025 Eaton Fire destroyed 9,419 structures, including homes and businesses. More than 1,000 other buildings were damaged, and 19 people were killed, CalFire reported.
Families who survived the fire have had to pay rent in short-term housing while they wait for homeowners insurance companies to make payments, protest organizers said at the Wednesday press conference. Survivors noted this has separated families, caused children to give up their pets and even kept families from raising their children in their own multi-generational homes.
A report from the Los Angeles County Fire Department released in 2025 shows the results of the department’s investigation into the Eaton Fire. That report identifies “an electrical event” caused by transmission towers owned by Southern California Edison in Eaton Canyon as the cause.
“Monday was my first day of eighth grade, but instead, I chose to come up to Sacramento to support my community and fight for what’s right,” Monahmi Ruiz, 13, said at the press conference. “I lost my beloved home and school in the Eaton Fire, along with everything my family has ever owned. But this wasn’t just my childhood home, it was my mom’s childhood home, too.”
Over 52 years, three generations of Monahmi’s family called their Altadena house home, she said. After the fire, the family moved into a rental, which had pet restrictions – forcing Ruiz to give up her two dogs. The insurance payout her family received was not enough to rebuild their house, and they have moved five times in 18 months, she said.
“You can rebuild a house, but you can’t rebuild 52 years of memories,” Monahmi added. “That is why I’m here for the second time – to ask Gov. Newsom to keep his promise to Altadena and help fire survivors rebuild and to hold Southern California Edison accountable.”
According to previous reporting by The Center Square, Southern California Edison has paid roughly $314 million to survivors of the Eaton fire, part of a larger $750 million commitment to help residents of the area rebuild their homes. A Los Angeles County Permitting Dashboard shows that 155 homes have been rebuilt in the area, which protesters at Wednesday’s press conference said was roughly 1% of homes burned in the fire.
“Still people in charge who are not helping those of us who have struggled all their lives to live in America,” Harley Wyatt, 93, told the crowd at the press conference. “Many of us put ourselves out to come here for this fight. And what do we get? A governor with a locked house.”
