Action Altadena will host a Fire Recovery Resource Fair this Saturday, April 12, to provide essential information and connect fire victims with service providers who can assist in their recovery process. The event, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will bring together contractors, architects, lawyers, and government agencies in one location to help residents affected by the Eaton fire.
“The goals are to provide information and resources to people to assist their recovery from the fire,” said Greg Brumley, Emergency Services Manager at Golden Coast Construction and Restoration. “So bringing fire victims and service providers together in one location, we think we can help people make those connections.”
The fair will feature booths staffed by various service providers including builders, architects, designers, surveyors, and law firms. Representatives from federal agencies including Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers will also attend. Organizers have reached out to nonprofits like the American Red Cross and Samaritans Purse, though their participation hasn’t been confirmed.
A series of presentations will take place midway through the event, likely between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. These brief presentations will be “five or 10 minutes maximum per person to kind of share some basic information, maybe ask a couple questions, answer a couple questions of people that are there,” according to Brumley.
The talks will feature Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, community leaders from the Altadena Town Council, and legal experts discussing pending litigation related to the fire. More in-depth conversations can take place one-on-one at vendor booths following the presentations.
Action Altadena formed as a coalition of service providers to create a centralized resource for fire recovery. The group has established a website at actionaltadena.com that functions as an online directory.
“I think that the underlying motivation in forming Action Altadena was recognizing a need to create a place where service providers, consumers, fire victims, could find one another easily and do so in one place,” Brumley explained.
The website serves as “an online directory that the public can go to and can find listings of general contractors, designers, architects, surveyors, appraisers, realtors, lenders, everybody kind of listed in one website.” Each listing includes a brief description of the business and services offered, with hyperlinks to individual business websites.
The primary audience for the event is fire victims seeking recovery assistance, though Brumley noted it may also provide employment opportunities. “So some of the businesses that are there will undoubtedly need to hire more help,” he said. “I think it’s a good place for people who are looking for employment opportunities and career opportunities to perhaps meet people that will definitely need to be adding to their staff in the months to come.”
Currently planned as a one-time event, organizers might consider hosting additional fairs if this one proves successful. “If we enjoy tremendous success, we may do it again, but at this time our plan is just to on Saturday and we don’t have any firm plans to do any additional rebuild fares,” Brumley said. “If it’s well attended and everyone’s happy with it, we may end up trying to do it again and a few weeks.”
The fair still has space available for additional vendors. Service providers interested in participating can register their business and reserve a booth through the Action Altadena website.
“We would love to have as many vendors as we can get, come and participate in the fair so that the people that come from the community will have a good selection of vendors to meet and bingle with,” Brumley said. He encourages service providers “that want to expose their business to community members that are looking to rebuild” to “go to ActionAltadena.com and register their business as well as register for the fair and reserve a booth.”
The event is intended as “a free resource both to vendors and the community,” providing a service directory for those affected by the Eaton fire.
