When the Eaton Fire forced Anne Marie Molina and her family to evacuate their Pasadena home, they had no idea how much it would cost simply to get their lives back.
asserted
it → force → lives
Anne Marie and her husband, Carlos, had rented the same home for seven years, raising five children there.
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Marie → rent → children
But when the fires came, they couldn’t find temporary housing large enough for everyone.
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they → come → everyone
Their family was separated.
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family → separate → ?
Without renters’ insurance, they found themselves paying for both their regular home and temporary accommodations, draining their savings and maxing out credit cards just to get by.
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themselves → find → cards
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Sign → sign → California
That’s why I believe we need to rethink what meaningful disaster recovery looks like.
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recovery → ’ → what
Even after returning to their damaged home, the expenses continued.
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expenses → return → home
Furniture needed replacing.
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Furniture → need → ?
Air filters became essential to protect their children from lingering dust and allergens.
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filters → become → dust
Nearly 21 months after the devastating January 2025 wildfires, Anne Marie’s experience illustrates a reality LA cannot afford to overlook: Surviving a disaster and recovering from one are two very different things.
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Surviving → illustrate → one
I am executive director of the Jewish Free Loan Association (JFLA), and what has stayed with me most is how quickly people’s lives changed and how overwhelming the financial consequences became.
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consequences → stay → me
These were families and small business owners who, just days earlier, were paying their bills, raising their children and running their businesses.
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who → pay → businesses
Suddenly, they were facing expenses they could never have anticipated.
uncertain
they → face → expenses
I remember thinking about how difficult it must be to ask for financial assistance when you’ve always been the person taking care of yourself and your family.
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you → remember → yourself
Many people who came to us had never imagined they would need an emergency loan.
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they → come → loan
We tend to measure disasters in acres burned, structures destroyed and lives lost.
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We → tend → acres
These figures matter enormously.
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figures → matter → ?
But they don’t capture the financial aftermath that can quietly unravel a family’s stability long after the headlines fade.
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headlines → capture → stability
A home doesn’t have to burn down to become uninhabitable.
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home → have → ?
A business doesn’t have to be destroyed to lose its customers.
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business → have → customers
And a family doesn’t have to lose everything to find itself facing impossible financial decisions.
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itself → have → decisions
Consider Sissy Keresztes-Fischer, who owns Creo Arthouse, an art gallery and home décor store in Malibu’s Country Mart.
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who → consider → Mart
Her business survived the Palisades Fire physically intact.
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business → survive → Fire
Yet mandatory evacuations and the prolonged closure of Pacific Coast Highway contributed to nearly 90% in lost revenues over the following six months.
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evacuations → prolong → months
What surprised me most was how many different financial challenges could arise from a single disaster, including for people whose homes or businesses had not been destroyed.
uncertain
homes → surprise → people
It became clear that a disaster can create a financial crisis even for people who appeared financially secure before it happened.
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it → become → people
Following the wildfires, JFLA provided 117 zero-interest, zero-fee loans totaling $1.97 million to affected individuals, families and businesses.
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JFLA → follow → individuals
These loans helped cover everything from temporary housing and basic necessities to expenses required to keep small businesses operating.
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loans → help → businesses
But the numbers that stay with me most aren’t the dollars distributed.
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that → stay → me
They’re the ones that reveal how long recovery actually takes.
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recovery → ’re → long
In Oct. 2025, we surveyed wildfire borrowers about their ongoing recovery.
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we → survey → recovery
Ninety-five percent were still experiencing some form of recovery, with 14% reporting that their situation had actually worsened.
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situation → experience → recovery
Nearly three-quarters were still recovering financially, while 59% reported ongoing emotional or mental strain.
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% → recover → strain
These findings represent a small group of borrowers, but they underscore what we were hearing firsthand: Recovery doesn’t follow a predictable timeline, and the financial and emotional consequences are deeply intertwined.
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consequences → represent → timeline
But recovery cannot be treated as a short-term project with an expiration date.
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recovery → treat → date
It requires sustained attention to the financial realities survivors face months and years later.
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survivors → require → realities
No single nonprofit, government program or charitable initiative can meet every need.
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nonprofit → meet → need
Lasting recovery depends on a community willing to remain engaged after the urgency fades.
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urgency → last → community
LA demonstrated extraordinary generosity in the days and weeks following the fires.
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LA → demonstrate → fires
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
