Los Angeles, California – Six months after one of the worst wildfire disasters in California history, many victims of the Pacific Palisades, Eaton, and Altadena fires remain without financial assistance—despite a $100 million benefit concert organized to support them. The fundraising event, FireAid, attracted tens of millions of viewers, featured performances from major global artists, and generated massive goodwill. But according to investigative journalists and affected residents, the money has yet to reach those who lost everything.
The fires, which erupted in January, burned over 40,000 acres and destroyed more than 16,000 structures. Estimated damages range as high as $131 billion. The scale of loss was staggering, and FireAid emerged as a high-profile effort to provide relief. Hosted simultaneously at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum, the concert was one of the most ambitious disaster fundraisers in recent memory. But the outcome has left residents disillusioned.
Investigative journalist Sue Pascoe, who lost her home in the Palisades fire, began looking into the distribution of FireAid funds after receiving inquiries from readers who were unable to find any information on how to apply for assistance. Her reporting revealed that the Annenberg Foundation, the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit charged with distributing the funds, allocated money not to individuals, but to a list of nonprofit organizations—many of which have no direct financial assistance programs for wildfire victims…