For years, Chris Holden has been a part of the Pasadena community. He grew up in the area, graduated from Pasadena High School, served as a City Council member and mayor and, until recently, represented the northern San Gabriel Valley in the California State Assembly.
On Monday, in the wake of the Eaton fire that devastated his community, Holden started a new role as CEO of L.A. Fire Justice. The organization’s lawyers are representing victims of the Eaton fire who claim that Southern California Edison’s equipment caused the blaze that killed at least 17 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures.
The organization, which includes attorneys Doug Boxer and Mikal Watts and consumer advocate Erin Brockovitch, says it has represented more than 20,000 clients impacted by wildfires in Northern California and Hawaii. Their team represented clients in the Tubbs and Camp fires in Northern California, which were ignited by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment, among other fires.
Now, L.A. Fire Justice has an office space in Pasadena, and they’ve brought on community leaders, like Holden and Pastor B.J. King, who leads the Loveland Life Center in Altadena, to help the organization understand residents’ needs and earn their trust. As residents are figuring out where to turn next, Holden said it’s comforting to have community leaders around to listen and provide any resources that they can to help.
“There’s a willingness to understand what the impact and the need is and means to people,” Holden said, “because they are actually going through it themselves and now they’re working to help their neighbors.”
‘This is our community.’
Growing up, Holden went to the Rose Bowl and saw wildfires burning in a canyon area near NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but they had never spread beyond the mountain area.
The Eaton fire burned through the homes of Holden’s classmates, families he attended church with and the community he represented while serving in the state Assembly from 2012 to 2024.
When the fire broke out, he and his wife weren’t sure whether they should evacuate their Pasadena home. Evacuation orders weren’t in place for their neighborhood, but winds propelled the fire quickly, and at times sporadically, through Altadena and Pasadena, burning down homes, businesses and schools.
Holden and his wife tried to fall asleep, but they couldn’t ignore the stench of smoke wafting through their home. They decided to leave and stayed in a hotel for a few days before returning to find the community he previously served in ruins.
“It feels like a part of your family has been impacted and injured,” Holden said. “It’s not like you’re watching something on TV and saying ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe what happened in that city to those people in that community.’ This is our community.”
While he was no longer in office, Holden wanted to find a way to help the community move forward. He planned distribution drives with Hope the Mission and Community Bible Church that passed out diapers, water, blankets, pillows and other supplies to around 350 cars. At other donation drives that Holden visited, he met volunteers who had lost everything in the fires throwing on aprons and passing out supplies and food to community members who were grieving the same loss.
“Especially in a world where there’s a lot of mean-spirited rhetoric flying all over the place,” Holden said, “to see people from their core and from their heart serving and giving back to other people, that was inspiring.”
Seeing the community’s efforts to aid one another, Holden wanted to find more ways that he could help in the years of rebuilding efforts still to come.
A friend connected him with Doug Boxer, an attorney with L.A. Fire Justice, and they bonded over their parents’ background in politics. (Boxer’s mother, former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Holden’s father Nate Holden, a former state senator and Los Angeles City Council member, had known each other through their careers.) Over time, Holden met with the rest of the L.A. Fire Justice team and decided it was the right way to help his community.
Earlier this month, L.A. Fire Justice announced a lawsuit against SCE on behalf of Altadena residents Walt Butler, Luis Gonzalez and Denise Diaz Gonzalez, who lost their homes in the Eaton fire. The residents are part of more than a dozen wildfire victims that have sued the utility so far.
At a news conference at the site of his burnt home, Butler, a community leader, store owner and local track star, told reporters that he ran from his home in his underwear as the Eaton fire grew. When he returned, he found his home, collection of classic cars and a lifetime of memories destroyed in the blaze.
“I don’t mean to be a wimp,” he said through tears, “but my whole life was there. All of my awards, my cars, everything.”
Allegations contained in L.A. Fire Justice’s lawsuit are based in part on photos, videos and witness accounts. Using photogrammetry technology, the organization created a 3D model that they say shows the Eaton fire began below and around SCE transmission lines, a transmission tower and other equipment owned by the utility.
In his new role, Holden wants to help residents like Butler, Gonzalez and Diaz Gonzalez. Over the coming days, Holden has meetings scheduled with clergy leaders, community activists and labor organizations who represent people affected by the wildfires.
Holden hopes he can hear the concerns of community members, guide them to resources and use his relationship with policymakers to share the issues Pasadena and Altadena residents are facing.
During his time in the state assembly, Holden authored Assembly Bill 1054, which created a fund to help residents receive the aid they needed after PG&E was found liable and faced bankruptcy. His experience working to help families after Northern California wildfires will also help him take on the rebuilding process in his own city, he said.