Cali fire survivors’ homes getting ravaged by thieves

Burglary rates showed the striking contrast in wildfire-ravaged neighborhoods with and without checkpoints: “I wouldn’t want to be living there right now.”

Months after wildfires decimated tens of thousands of acres of land across the counties of Los Angeles and San Diego, the fallout had proven dramatically different for two neighborhoods thanks to the decisions of local officials. Whereas the Pacific Palisades faced no considerable change in burglaries following the fires, Altadena residents were living with a 450% spike after checkpoints had been lifted at the end of January.

Reporting on the figures provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Times detailed that over 140 residential burglaries had been reported to the Altadena sheriff’s station in the period between Jan. 1 and April 15 as thieves targeted the homes of survivors.

“I wouldn’t want to be living there right now,” resident Elena Amador-French told the newspaper. “I wouldn’t feel safe knowing that people are constantly coming in and scouting out the area. It’s like this trauma on top of the trauma that we’ve already all been through.”

Having lost her home in the fire, Amador-French discovered her grandmother’s jewelry had seemingly been stolen after having spotted it among the wreckage, “I didn’t even consider that someone would come digging through literal ash. I was very angry, I felt very violated.”

Compared to the level of crime in Altadena, the Pacific Palisades reported only 23 incidents in 2025, compared to 20 between the same dates of Jan. 1 to March 31 in 2024. The marked difference had many arguing about the disparity in security, as pushback had led Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) to continue checkpoints for the Palisades. As such, the area remained under the watch of the California National Guard with assistance from the California Highway Patrol.

“Why can’t we get the same type of security that Palisades is getting?” asked local Natalie LaFourche. “It’s hard for me to accept that they don’t care about us in the same way that they care about Palisades.”

Altadena was not without law enforcement as LASD Lt. Ethan Marquez detailed to the Times that specialized anti-theft teams had been brought in and the number of deputies on patrol had doubled. As a result, 15 arrests were made on April 13 alone during one of the department’s targeted operations, with one of the suspects reported to have 500 pounds of scrap metal in his car, seemingly to pawn off to a metal recycler.

“We shouldn’t see this. People in the community have lost everything, and now people are trying to capitalize on their losses,” said the lieutenant.

In a statement to the newspaper, L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed confidence that District Attorney Nathan Hochman would prosecute those breaking the law. “Our residents have endured enough trauma and loss, and opportunists are taking advantage of an incredibly vulnerable situation.”

“I will continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure we direct resources where they’re needed to prioritize the safety and protection of Altadena,” she added.

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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