What happens when wildfire survivors stop waiting for a recovery system to save them and start working to change the system themselves? Kim Marshall joins Eaton Fire survivors, advocates and community organizers on a bus trip to Sacramento, where residents bring their stories directly to California lawmakers. Eaton Fire Residents United’s Jane explains how neighbors turned hundreds of independent contamination tests into data that helped shape AB 1642 and AB 1795, two bills aimed at establishing scientific standards for testing and remediation of smoke-damaged homes and connecting those standards to insurance recovery. Along the way, young survivors, renters, underinsured homeowners and first-time activists share what it means to lose not only a house, but a school, a business, a neighborhood and generations of memories. Their journey offers a firsthand look at grassroots advocacy and the determination to make recovery safer and more equitable for the communities facing the next disaster. Learn more about EFRU’s contamination research and recovery resources, follow the legislation, and find out how their work could help make recovery safer when — not if — you are affected by a climate disaster. .

Resources:

• Eaton Fire Residents United (EFRU)

• AB 1642, Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act

• AB 1795, Smoke Damage Recovery Act

• Altadena Brick by Brick

• Bust a Move Home Relocation Initiative

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Produced by NOVA