Survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires gathered for a press conference and then wrote post cards to Governor Gavin Newsom objecting to a bailout of utilities on July 24, 2026 in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)
State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez first heard the rumors in late July. Constituents were calling to ask: Was Gov. Gavin Newsom holding secret, closed-door discussions to pass a wildfire liability bill?
The timing was crucial. With weeks left in the legislative session, and no firm information on what was in the governor’s proposal, a wide-ranging group of Altadena fire survivors gathered.
“When we found out that the governor was working with the utilities on changes that would affect not only how the utilities were held accountable, but also how wildfire survivors would be compensated—and survivors weren’t at the table—we knew we had to move quickly,” said Shamica Gaskins, a lawyer, writer, fire survivor and activist with Dena Rise Up. “It was imperative that we get the word out and demand a seat at the table.”
The survivors sounded the alarm, said Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network (EFSN), which held a press conference in July to launch DearNewsom.org, a postcard writing campaign.
That Altadenans succeeded in shaping major points in the proposal is one of the wins Eaton fire survivors are counting when Pérez and the Dena Rise Up coalition gather at Loma Alta Park gym on Sunday.
Being together has been a strength fire survivors have honed since the Eaton fire decimated their town, killing 19 in the immediate aftermath and leaving thousands to manage rebuilding their lives.
Call it collective action, or people power, Altadenans who descended on Sacramento to lobby for a slate of wildfire bills are “everyday people who believed we could turn our grief and determination into real resources for our community,” Gaskins said. “This victory belongs to the community, and it is a reminder of what we can accomplish when we organize together.”
For Pérez, seeing more than 250 Altadenans at the state capital in two weeks, in a space more often populated by the like of paid lobbyists, was powerful.
“I think that the people of Altadena did a tremendous job organizing,” Perez said. “They honestly showcased a masterclass on how it’s done, diverse community groups coming together creating a single ask and working together in partnership to communicate that to various members of the Legislature.”
Outside the Pasadena Job Center Kailen Timbadia, 18, speaks to the press about lescaping the fire with a disabled mother and loosing their family home before heading on a charter bus with other Eaton fire survivors to Sacramento to demand a rescue plan for Altadena and Pasadena’s recovery on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Aurora Barboza writes a postcard do the Governor. Survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires gathered for a press conference and then wrote post cards to Governor Gavin Newsom objecting to a bailout of utilities on July 24, 2026 in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)
Joy Chen, Executive Director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network speaks. Survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires gathered for a press conference and then wrote post cards to Governor Gavin Newsom objecting to a bailout of utilities on July 24, 2026 in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)
Brian Gardner and Karine Ceyhan lost their home in the fire. Survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires gathered for a press conference and then wrote post cards to Governor Gavin Newsom objecting to a bailout of utilities on July 24, 2026 in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)
Pastor Anthony McFarland speaks. Survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires gathered for a press conference and then wrote post cards to Governor Gavin Newsom objecting to a bailout of utilities on July 24, 2026 in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)
Outside the Pasadena Job Center Juan Ruiz says goodbye to his wife Esther and daughters Naomi, 14, and Monahmi, 13, before they depart of a charter bus with other Eaton fire survivors to Sacramento to demand a rescue plan for Altadena and Pasadena’s recovery on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Shimica Gaskins speaks during the Altadena For Accountability press conference at 425 E. Las Flores in Altadena on Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Connor Terry, Contributing Photographer)
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed four bills into law on Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Altadena. The new legislation expands mortgage protections, strengthens insurance coverage, and sets first-in-the-nation standards for testing and remediating wildfire contamination. Front row, from left, Jane Lawton Potelle of Eaton Fire Residents United; Supervisor Kathryn Barger; Newsom; Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena; Nic Arnzen, chair of the Altadena Town Council, and state Sen. Sasha Renee Perez. (Courtesy, The Office of the California Governor)
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Outside the Pasadena Job Center Kailen Timbadia, 18, speaks to the press about lescaping the fire with a disabled mother and loosing their family home before heading on a charter bus with other Eaton fire survivors to Sacramento to demand a rescue plan for Altadena and Pasadena’s recovery on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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People Power on wheels
Even before Newsom’s last-minute proposal, Chen said fire survivors were already flying in small groups to Sacramento to lobby for wildfire legislation.
On May 18, the first busload of fire survivors, an all-ages, and backgrounds crowd of about 50 constituents, got a baptism by fire in media training and lobbying from organizers from Dena Rise Up, CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and NDLON, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Kai Timbadia, 18, fresh off his high school graduation, joined that first bus mission, finding himself one of the youngest Altadenans on the trip. The 384 mile drive made an extended family of survivors, he said.
“When a group shares collaboration, collectivization, and trauma, shyness doesn’t last long,” he added. “Within the last hour of our bus ride, the entire bus was singing and sharing their hopes for our rebuilding community.”
In Sacramento, the political newbies organized themselves into lobby groups and started strategizing how to approach different senate members. Timbadia was asked to speak about losing his family home, the displacement post-fire, and his having to serves as caretaker for his mother and sister, who are disabled. It would be his first time sharing his family’s story publicly.
“I worked on my paper late into the night, trying to capture the experience Altadena families had as a whole, using my family’s one story as a vignette of the larger community struggles,” Timbadia said. “The next day, speaking out from the Governor’s Press Room, I thought I would be nervous again. I wasn’t. I was surrounded by people I’d known less than 24 hours ago, yet I felt like I’d known them for months. The outpouring of support I felt in the room made speaking at the podium feel much easier.”
On the bus ride back home, Timbadia said it was hard to imagine everyone had only met 24 hours before.
“Everyone was mixed up, laughing, talking, watching the Knicks’ playoff game,” he remembered. “I always like to say that in those 36 hours, Altadena grew for me. Strangers were now friends.”
In response to DearNewsom.org, more than 4,700 Americans and organizations representing 3.5 million people signed the postcard campaign. Members of ESFN, Dena Rise Up, Eaton Fire Collaborative, Altadena Rising, My Tribe Rise, Beautiful Altadena, the NAACP, Project Passion, POP! or Pasadenans Organizing for Progress called legislators, posted their thoughts to social media.
But it was the bus ride of Aug. 24-25 that took people power to the next level. Their assignment: convince lawmakers not to cave to utilities’ demand to limit payouts, pain-and-suffering claims, and attorney fees.
Part of that collective organizing allowed Gaskins to stay behind so she could spend time with her two children before school started, a mindful choice fire survivors say is vital to their recovery. She helped set up meetings at the Capitol with key decision-makers and monitored events and posts online.
Once in Sacramento, the group discovered a group presenting themselves as speaking for fire survivors and shaping the narrative. Wildfire Victims First was funded by the three major investor-owned utilities and while its roster included local chambers, business associations, and local government groups, they weren’t actually representing the people who lived through the fires.
“There was so much confusion and, frankly, deception around what was happening that we knew we had to drop everything and make sure our community—the people who had experienced some of the most horrific losses imaginable—was there and had a voice,” Gaskins said.
On Aug. 24, about 50 survivors then found out Newsom was holding an end of session gathering at the Governor’s Mansion and decided to join the festivities outside.
Holding signs (“No utility bailout!” and “Stand with Real Fire Survivors!”) the Altadena contingent happily welcomed legislators as they arrived. The media called it a protest.
It was, Chen said, “the pinnacle and highlight of our 21 months of survivors’ advocacy, this welcome party we hosted in front of the People’s Mansion.”
The group also impressed Sacramento regulars with their success working with what Chen called their “remarkable, strange-bedfellows coalition” of real fire survivors, Consumer Watchdog and insurance companies.
They also called on more creative powers. The Altadena artist known as Keni Arts, 75, completed six paintings during the two-day trip: depicting the Capitol, and fire survivors in lobbying-mode around town. He also painted the scene when sign-toting survivors greeted lawmakers rolling up to the Governor’s Mansion.
“I saw firsthand by visiting legislator’s offices how direct contact can make a big difference,” he said. “I experienced the strength of community as we worked together for the good of all Altadena and future disaster victims.”
His watercolors, shared online and later in a thank you card sent to legislators, turned art into testimony and gentle persuasion.
The Altadena contingent were back home when the whirlwind 2026 legislative session ended. Late-night negotiations led to an early-morning publication on Saturday, Aug. 29 of a 96-page proposal Newsom himself called inadequate.
On Sept. 1, the bill, criticized in a letter by Southern California Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric, died in the Assembly without a vote. What it would and would not have changed, was tabled for a new Legislation and governor.
Savoring the wins
Here are what Gaskins said Eaton fire survivors earned together: they stopped a utility bailout, won $15 million for the CARE Fund, passed important policies to protect Altadena from speculative development, and established science-based standards for remediation so that insurance companies can’t keep playing games and children and families can safely return to their homes.
“We have to celebrate because none of this would have happened without Altadena,” she said. “These victories came from people who were grieving, rebuilding, working, raising families—and still finding the courage to organize and demand something better. That’s extraordinary.”
The $15 million Community Aid for Rebuilding and Equity (CARE) Fund will help struggling homeowners with rebuilding costs and to build affordable housing for displaced Altadena tenants, Pérez said. The California Community Foundation will administer it.
And while further challenges remain on the horizon, Pérez, Chen, Gaskins and other community leaders recognize joy is part of healing.
“We have spent nearly two years fighting, grieving, rebuilding, and carrying an enormous amount of uncertainty,” Gaskins said. “We cannot make struggle the only way we know how to be together. We deserve moments of joy. We deserve to see each other, laugh together, dance, and remember that we are more than what happened to us.
Joy doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten what we’ve lost or that the work is finished. It means we’re still here. And right now, we need that more than ever.”
For 18-year-old Timbadia, activism Altadena-style has taught him that effecting change often feels impossible when done in isolation.
“In community, the weight isn’t yours to carry alone, and what felt impossible suddenly comes within reach,” he said.
For Gaskins, it’s part of being an Altadenan.
“If you live in Altadena, even before the fire, there is an inherent spirit of not giving up,” she said. “There is a refusal to simply accept the status quo and a belief that we can demand something better. On the days when it felt like too much, I drew from the collective strength of my community. I wasn’t doing this alone. The courage and determination I saw in other survivors reminded me to keep going, too.”