LA Fire Stuff People Should Know from Lex Roman
I no longer live in LA but responding to crises there is second nature to me and I’m following what’s happening closely.
Here's my advice whether you live there or not. I'm gonna skip the basic sh*t. Few things that aren't that obvious.
—Compiled by your former civic bullshit explainer, Lex Roman
If you want to help AND you are LOCAL
Go on social media and follow community organizations and nonprofits and wait until they make a call for help. Follow their instructions. Do not go unannounced. Volunteering is often not actually that helpful if you just showed up today.
It's best if you can link up with one organization instead of bouncing around.
Mutual Aid LA started this spreadsheet of volunteer opportunities https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eaSXTYlLY_spJ-_w43ac55qu6X4YtgApgRGfads3cM4/htmlview
Great point Kelly Lynne D'Angelo made on Bluesky: there's a lot of help right now and there will be NO HELP next month. Pace yourself and consider chipping in Feb, Mar, etc when everyone else has gone back to work.
Get to know your neighbors better and find out who needs physical assistance to evacuate or relocate so you can either help or direct others to.
If you want to help AND you are NOT LOCAL
Cash assistance is the name of the game, baby! Give to people DIRECTLY. Do not bother donating to the Red Cross, for the love of god. Nonprofits are extremely slow to distribute much needed funds. GOFUNDMES ALL DAY👏 👏 👏
Boosting GoFundMe's on social media or in group chats is great too!
If you lost your house or need recovery funding
Recommend getting in touch with city, county AND state reps to check into all recovery programs you might be eligible for in the coming weeks. Check their websites, get on their email lists. They do not always publicize that stuff and they can also help if you get stuck in bureaucracy re: insurance or unemployment or documents. Especially state reps, they often have a hard to find contact for you.
There's lots of funds starting up so if you are a union member or have an affiliation of any kind, check with those orgs too (for example, Motion Picture health insurance sent out a note about replacing glasses for free)
Tips for dealing with home and renters insurance https://x.com/markduplass/status/1878164554984673495?s=46
Get free replacement copies of birth, death, marriage certs from LA County Recorder https://www.lavote.gov
Get help
Giant resource list from Mutual Aid LA https://mutualaidla.org/
Entertainment industry relief funds https://deadline.com/2025/01/los-angeles-fires-donations-how-to-help-1236251986/
Mental health providers offering free services https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1MxHHQh774ARyH1xM1wCIrrW3VjWyelN8dk5qw9LDOb8/htmlview?urp=gmail_link
People to donate to
Displaced Black Families GoFundMes (donate to families directly) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pK5omSsD4KGhjEHCVgcVw-rd4FZP9haoijEx1mSAm5c/htmlview
Renters with GoFundMes https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vKz-UTzE6gbd4PdxJnVEslD6kq4r0kJMIRaebdQBzzU/htmlview
South Bay Mutual Aid Club (collecting donations for undocumented workers who are now out of work and otherwise serving anyone in need) https://hcb.hackclub.com/donations/start/sbmacc
All the GoFundMes https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/wildfire-relief/california
Good organizations to follow
Mutual Aid LA
LA Tenants Union
People's City Council
Polo's Pantry
Youth Justice Coalition
Black Lives Matter—LA (the LA-based chapter)
LACAN (LA Community Action Network)
Trusted news sources
Liz Kelly Nelson and I put together this list of indie creators who tell the story behind the story: https://projectc.substack.com/p/creator-journalism-in-action-covering

Help LA track landlords illegally gouging rent
Landlords are jacking up prices—it’s illegal during a state of emergency. You can report incidents on this spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/2/d/1RXWxLqTyWvAuq8A0PgaBuWeEn_G6qTLyTZ8lzfNEaNw/htmlview#