As two wind-driven and deadly wildfires continue to rip through the Los Angeles basin, Inland Empire residents — no strangers to the devastation of wildfire — are working to help support victims of the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“Dude, how can you not?” Sunny Rozzi, co-owner of Olive Avenue Market in Redlands, said Tuesday, Jan. 14. “I grew up in this area and had experience with brush fires.”
As of Wednesday, Jan. 15, the Palisades fire, which started in Pacific Palisades, had consumed 23,713 acres and was 19% contained. Meanwhile, the Eaton fire, which is threatening the communities of Pasadena and Altadena, was at 45% containment and had burned 14,117 acres. The fires, which have claimed at least 25 lives as of Wednesday, are currently believed to have started on Jan. 7. Between the two of them, more than 12,000 structures are believed to have been damaged or destroyed. About 80,000 people have had to evacuate.
Last September, the Line fire and Airport fire destroyed more than 67,504 acres between them in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties, damaging or destroying about 160 structures and forcing more than 100,00 residents to evacuate their homes.
Had to do something
Two of Rozzi’s childhood homes were destroyed by fires after she had moved away, she said.
“Those childhood memories are gone, and that’s nothing compared to what people who are actually living (in Palisades and Eaton fire areas) are going through,” Rozzi said.
Among those suffering through losing their current homes is Rozzi’s cousin in Altadena.
Rozzi said she and her daughter knew they had to do something to help those who have been displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires. On Friday, Jan. 10, they announced Olive Avenue Market would collect donations to deliver to victims of the Los Angeles fires.
But they were unprepared for the response from the community.
“It was crazy,” Rozzi said. “The next day, Saturday, we were inundated. The (market’s) office would no longer hold anything — we could no longer get into the office.”
So donations had to be moved over to her house nearby.
“People kept bringing stuff and bringing stuff. Then it was my side yard and covering my front porch and down my driveway. We were just overwhelmed, which is a great problem to have,” Rozzi said.
Olive Avenue Market staff dropped their collections at a donation center at Santa Anita Park and another in Altadena. Rozzi said she is already planning another donation drive, in conjunction with other Redlands businesses.
Garner Holt Foundation is partnering with businesses like Olive Avenue Market to store collections that have quickly overwhelmed their stores and parking lots. Residents can also donate items to the foundation’s collection site.
Overwhelming support
Big Bear Lake residents and businesses, meanwhile, are opening their doors to those impacted by the Los Angeles fires with reduced-cost or free accommodations. Visit Big Bear — the marketing arm of the city’s tourism district — worked with Airbnb to assemble a spreadsheet of businesses offering free and reduced accommodations for those displaced by the fires. Hundreds of units were available as of Wednesday afternoon.
“It was an outpouring of love for our fellow neighbors,” Visit Big Bear CEO Travis Scott is quoted as saying in a news release issued by the organization.
The program is based on an effort put in place during the Line fire in September.
“And I’m certain Big Bear will step up to help our neighboring communities again if there’s ever another disaster,” Scott said.
There was a similar outpouring of support when Slow Bloom Coffee in Redlands announced it was collecting donations over the weekend.
“It was overwhelming. We got a couple of boxes to accept donations,” Kelley Bader, president of the Slow Bloom Coffee cooperative, said Tuesday. “We got these three boxes from Home Depot and within the first hour of the day, they were completely full.”
And it was impossible to empty them fast enough.
“An hour later, they were full again, and there’s stuff spilling out into the parking lot. I don’t know why we didn’t expect this,” Bader said.
There’s a simple reason for the response, he thinks.
“I think people generally want to do the right thing,” Bader said. “What’s left for us to do but step up and help each other?”
The coffee shop ended up taking seven full U-Haul vans “all the way full, completely packed,” Bader said, to Los Angeles donation sites.
A more off-beat fundraiser took place Tuesday night at Los Angeles night club Space Taco’s weekly pop-up in Pomona.
“My mom was directly affected by the Eaton fire,” Space Taco owner Daryl Mallick said Tuesday.
Mallick had helped her pack her evacuation bag and watered her lawn and roof.
And two of his DJs lost of their homes to the fires threatening Los Angeles County.
“We wanted to raise money for them, the ones that were directly affected, and we got the Fox Theater to max our donations,” Mallick said.
Space Taco’s Tuesday night events in Pomona, which have been happening for nine years, now attract up to 600 people to the Fox Theater’s V Lounge. Tuesday night, 100% of the proceeds from the event went to benefit the DJs who lost their homes and others affected by the fires.
More fundraisers, collections planned
There are still opportunities for Inland Empire residents to help.
On Thursday, Devereaux House, a wine bar in downtown Riverside, is holding a fundraiser from 6 to 10 p.m. along with Arcade Coffee Roaster, Gray Area hair salon and Inner Pizza pizzeria. The fundraiser will benefit Altadena pizzeria Side Pie.
“I was out in the fires when they started on Tuesday. I was working in LA. I kind of saw it happening right in front of me. Then I saw that this place, Side Pie, that kind of has a similar business model as we do, just burned down in Altadena,” Jonathan Turner, owner of Gray Area and creative director of Devereaux House, said Tuesday. “It felt like a sister project burned down.”
Shane Levario, owner of Arcade Coffee Roasters, said small businesses can’t survive long without operating funds.
“A lot of the time, you just don’t have the cash reserves,” Levario said Tuesday.
“A few days ago, I went over to Eagle Rock to help feed responders,” said Adrian Gamero, owner of Inner Pizza.
People he knew were impacted by last fall’s wildfires in the Inland Empire. Now, he said, is a chance to give back.
“I feel like there’s something like a calling, or a purpose, that I have to do something like this,” Gamero said.
And on Saturday, Jan. 18, the San Bernardino nonprofit Stronger Together Now will again be collecting donations.
“It’s a moment of collective care where everyone needs to show up and do their part,” said Janelle Martin, COO of Stronger Together Now.
The group drove three cars of donations last weekend to three different donation sites in Los Angeles County, and dropped off 150 hot meals at UCLA’s Dream Center.
“It looked more a war zone than a fire zone,” Martin said.
She sees this weekend’s fundraiser as a chance to pay back Los Angeles County groups that supported Inland Empire residents during recent natural disasters, including the 2023 winter storms that hammered the San Bernardino Mountains.
“We just had fires out here, that was in September, and we were all going through it. And support showed up for us,” Martin said. “I have the utmost faith and trust in our community to show up when they need to.”
How to help
- The Devereaux House, Arcade Coffee Roasters, Gray Area and Inner Pizza fundraiser will be held 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 at 3870 Main St. in Riverside.
- The Stronger Together Now donations drive takes place 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 18 at 330 N. D St., outside San Bernardino City Hall.
- Donations can be dropped off at Garner Holt Foundation’s Wildfire Donation Center 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at 1220 Research Drive in Redlands. See garnerholtfoundation.org for information.
- Information on Big Bear’s efforts to help Los Angeles County evacuees, See BigBear.com/la-county-evacuee-lodging/ for information on Big Bear’s efforts to help Los Angeles County evacuees.
Staff writers Madison Hart and Jessica Keating contributed to this story.