More than 200 employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have lost their homes in the Eaton fire, Director Laurie Leshin confirmed on social media Tuesday, Jan. 14.
The more-than-14,000-acre Eaton fire, which started Tuesday evening, Jan. 7, in Altadena has since destroyed thousands of homes, businesses and other structures.
Last week JPL announced it would be closed to employees and visitors due to the facility – which straddles the area between La Canada Flintridge, Altadena and Pasadena, being within an evacuation zone. Officials said that Deep Space Network operations had been moved off site to a back-up operations center.
Only a small number of critical personnel remained at the facility, according to JPL. On Friday, Jan. 10, JPL said mandatory telework would be in effect from Monday, Jan. 13 until Friday, Jan. 17.
Leshin said Tuesday that JPL would update its status for next week on Thursday. A Caltech and JPL Disaster Relief Fund has been created to assist those impacted. For more information, visit giving.caltech.edu.