At the Collaboratory, Eaton fire survivors find aid, hope

The first thing you see when you walk into the Collaboratory in Altadena is a wall of devastation.

- BY AUGUST BROWN

A floor-to-ceiling map of every lot lost to the Eaton fire in January — 9,413 structures. Each marked with a red dot on a grid of streets that have looked like a charred moonscape for 11 months.The wall is a harrowing depiction of loss in the Eaton fire. But one turn to the right, and hope kicks back in.

This flagship effort of the disaster-relief collective Eaton Fire Collaborative, which opened in October, houses dozens of nonprofits onsite with aid and resources for almost any challenge of the recovery effort. It was built to be a one-stop first step toward handling the personal grief, immediate needs and grinding bureaucracy that fire survivors still face in Altadena.

As government and charitable attention have drifted from Altadena over the last year, it’s one of the few new lifelines in the area for fire survivors still rebuilding their lives.

"None of us have experienced this before," said Michelle White, an Altadena native and the founder of the community activist nonprofit Neighborhood Survants, which spearheaded the Collaboratory. "People were saying, 'I don’t know where housing is. I don’t know where to find my deed. I need help with mental health services, rebuilding, insurance.' What we're trying to help with is to say, 'Come inside here. Tell me where you are and how we can help you.' We're going to make every chance possible that we can."