MySafeLA: Do You Have Enough Wildfire Insurance?
As most of you know, if you’ve been affected by the January fires, the deadline for requesting aid from FEMA has been pushed forward to Monday, March 31, 2025. Related to that, if you apply for support from FEMA, you may also be qualified to obtain support from the Small Business Administration. There may be some misunderstandings about one vs the other in the general public, but one does not preclude applying for the other.
If you create a fundraising online account, such as from “Go Fund Me” that may disqualify you from federal financial support. The issue will relate to how specific you are in your fundraising efforts. Therefore, if you are implementing or planning to implement personal fundraising, please be generic. Don’t ask for funding to rebuild, purchase clothing, or a new vehicle. Simply state that you’ve been affected — and how — and ask for “funding to support our recovery outside of any other options.”
To listen to the podcasts, you can either reach them via our website: www.wildfirela.org/podcasts/ or via the podcast specific page: https://rebuildla.buzzsprout.com or better still, subscribe via your favorite podcast streaming service. Rebuild:LA is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Deezer and other streaming services.
Our podcast Rebuild:LA is gaining a lot of traction and is growing every few days. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, we invite you to do so. As an overview, we’ve had some pretty remarkable guests on the show, and we have many more lined up. Some examples you may be interested in include:
— Rebuild:LA Episode 004: Do You Have Enough Wildfire Insurance with Real Estate Broker Pat Hanley
Real Estate Broker and community resilience expert Pat Hanley talks about issues homeowners may face after the smoke clears. What happens when you lose your home to wildfire? Do you have enough insurance? Can you even get enough insurance in California in 2025? What about your mortgage? Do you still need to pay for a house that no longer exists? And if you still have a home, what can you do to lower your risks and your insurance payments.
— Rebuild:LA Episode 005: Stories from the Firestorms of January with Greg Doyle
Greg Doyle has been shooting photographs of wildfires for the last 12 years. His work has been featured in fire magazines and websites, including www.wildfirela.org. Cameron Barrett talks with Greg about his days covering the fires, how he stays safe, when he puts the camera down to help people, and what he hopes the future holds for Los Angeles.
— Rebuild:LA Episode 009 - A Particularly Dangerous Situation with Rich Thompson from the NWS
Rich Thompson is an incident meteorologist (IMET) with the National Weather Service, which means he predicts weather during disasters to help first responders during the active phase of an incident. He was on the ground during the Palisades Fire and describes the conditions in early January as a "once in a career" weather event.
— Rebuild:LA Episode 011: Can We Out-Think Wildfires with the NFPA's Michele Steinberg
The National Fire Protection Association has been creating fire code in America since the late 1800's. We have the NFPA to thank for fire sprinklers in apartment buildings and fire doors in high rise buildings. In the 1980's, the NFPA realized that wildfires were igniting in unusual places in North America, and they decided to do something about it. They wanted to "out-think wildfires." Firewise USA was born. And it's why their Wildfire Division Director, Michele Steinberg, toured surviving homes in the Palisades and Eaton burn scars. Cameron Barrett had a wide-ranging discussion with Steinberg, and found out some reasons why there are still houses standing in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
— RebuildLA Episode 014: Disasters Are Going to Keep Happening with Bright Harbor's Joel Wish
Monday, March 31, 2025 is an important deadline if you’ve been affected by the Eaton or Palisades fires. That’s when you have to register for FEMA benefits if you’ve had losses. It’s also the deadline to register for SBA loans from the Federal Government. These are the kinds of details Joel Wish and his disaster recovery experts make sure their clients don’t miss. He’s the founder and CEO of Bright Harbor, a disaster recovery company based in Austin, Texas. He started the company two years ago, and it’s busier than ever. That’s because disasters are coming more frequently and more destructive than ever before. Host Cameron Barrett sat down with Wish to find out more about what survivors of the Eaton and Palisades Fires need to be managing right now as we enter the recovery phase of the most destructive fires in California history.
COMING SOON
MySafe:LA is working on a wide array of activities related to wildfire - and a number of initiatives directly related to the aftermath of the January wildfires. We’ve been attending a number of HOA and Neighborhood Council meetings and presenting information related to the upcoming CAL FIRE Very High Fire Severity Zone maps, the issues of past wildfire practices no longer in effect, and infrastructure overall. We have been sharing our progress developing a new wildfire protection plan for anyone living in an at-risk area in the City of Los Angeles, and we’ve been working on looking at important issues residents should be aware of before the next incident where evacuation orders may be issued.
We’ll also have an important new homeowner wildfire mitigation solution announcement to make on March 13, 2025. Stand by for that! It’s something we’re very excited about.
Until then, stay safe and hold your family, friends, and pets close!
Best regards,
Victoria
Victoria Garcia | Community Outreach
MySafe:LA
The Safe Community Project
Fire Safety and Community Resilience
5301 Beethoven Street | Suite 228 | Los Angeles, CA | 90066
578 Washington Blvd. | Mailstop 1017 | Marina Del Rey, CA | 90292
213.634.0100 (office)
818.601.8341 (direct)
