This is part one of a series on LA’s wildfire recovery
Despite the hate-filled rhetoric and daily news of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and deportations unleashed nationwide by President Donald Trump, Los Angeles’ wildfires are the latest evidence of what a vital workforce immigrants are to recovery efforts during times of disaster.
Immigrants, including those who are likely undocumented, put their fear aside and were the first to pick up shovels and equipment to clear the streets from debris and fallen trees caused by the 60-100 mph winds and the destructive Eaton Fire.
Pablo Alvarado, the director of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), lives in the city of Pasadena, which borders Altadena, the epicenter of the Eaton Fire.
The Pasadena Community Job Center, where immigrant day laborers go each day in search of work, is also just a mile away from the site of the wildfires.
“When the winds ended, we came together. There was a huge tree that was blocking the street. We had a workers’ assembly, and we asked them what they wanted to do, and it was natural because this is who we are as immigrants, you know?” explained Alvarado.
“They said, ‘Well, we know how to operate a chainsaw, we know how to cut branches. We have the skills to do this.’”
They removed that first tree, then moved to the next one, then the next one and the next one. Alvarado believes it’s the largest community operation in response to the disaster that exists in the area.
“By the end of the day, we have a name, it’s the Fire Relief Brigade. And we took a picture and posted it on social media, and all of a sudden you have, you know, first hundreds, then it became 1,000s of volunteers coming to Pasadena,” he said.
At the Pasadena Community Job Center, the volunteers were assigned to crews and routed to various streets, and in some cases even trained by the immigrant workers who wore brightly colored T-shirts.
“There’s so much devastation, it’s of biblical proportions. It’s a very, very, difficult situation,” said Alvarado, who pointed out that many of the day laborers who frequent the work center also live in the area and have also been personally impacted by the fires.
“I’ve heard so many stories,” shared Alvarado. “A majority of them are renters, they’ve come in and said, ‘You know what I have on? It’s all I possess in this life. Not only is my apartment gone, but the house that I clean is also gone.’
“That’s how interconnected we are,” Alvarado described. “It’s the socio-economic fabric that keeps this country going. Without a housekeeper, without a gardener, without a day laborer, middle-class families will find it difficult to do their jobs. So we complement each other.”
Now, he’s seeing the tables turned with people who’ve lost their homes coming to the center for supplies.
“From baby formula to diapers for children and adults, food, clothing, shoes. Every day we have about 500 cars that are coming in to to pick up donations. The center is serving about 1,000 people every day,” he said.
The workers, now in their 20th day of removing outside debris, are expected to assist in the clearing of areas inside the fire zone at the site of buildings and houses that have smoke damage as soon as proper protective clothing equipment arrives.
“We know that the disaster has been colossal, and I think that no one expects any government, whether it’s local or state government, to be prepared for such a catastrophe,” said Alvarado. “When that happens, you know, that’s when people come in, that’s when humble people can lend a hand.”
Next week: We cover precautions needed for workers at the site of the fires and how immigrants who’ve lost their personal property in the wildfires are contending with the loss of immigration documents and their fear of deportation and family separations.