LOS ANGELES — As the Eaton Fire swallowed neighborhoods in the Altadena area, it also consumed the livelihoods of countless migrant workers who helped maintain those neighborhoods.
What You Need To Know
- Dozens of migrant workers have come together to lead volunteer efforts helping the victims of the Eaton Fire
- Many of the volunteer migrant workers have lost several jobs as the homes they worked at were lost
- The workers included landscappers, nannies and housekeepers
- Los Angeles has a significant number of landscapers, with California ranking as one of the states with the highest employment for groundskeeping, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Sixty-year-old César Saucedo has spent the past decade carefully tending to lawns in the area but is now using those same skills to instead clear the destruction left in his community's streets, as a volunteer with the Pasadena Community Job Center. The organization's headquarters turned into an information hub, where dozens of migrant day laborers were joined by volunteers from across Southern California to clear debris and remove fallen tree branches.
"Those people helped me when I needed work to survive in this country, and now that they need help, I am ready to give that back," Saucedo said.
As most of his employers evacuated, he said many asked him to check on their properties. That's when he realized the flames didn’t care how hard he had worked on those gardens — and destroyed much of the work he had done.
"It was a big impact, feelings of sadness and pain and even desperation seeing everything in ruins," Saucedo said.
So far, the six homes he worked at are now just rubble, leaving him heartbroken for his employers and also for himself.
On paper, Saucedo will not be counted as one of the fire’s victims, but every charred lawn is a reminder of the uncertainty he faces.
"I am going to save as much as I can to make rent, but I know I’ll have to tell my landlord I am short this month," Saucedo said.
Not being able to apply for unemployment due to his immigration status, he knows the next couple of months will be difficult, as he says getting these jobs doesn't come easy. It is why he has advocated for the Excluded Workers Program bill for the past couple of years — which, if passed, would provide unemployment benefits to non-citizen workers. That bill has died, but workers hope the states take it up again as thousands find themselves unemployed as a result of the fires.
LA also has a significant number of landscapers, with California ranking as one of the states with the highest employment for groundskeeping, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute released a study on the impacts wildfires have on Latino communities. Their data showed Latino people are disproportionately employed in outdoor jobs such as agriculture, construction and landscaping, and have a higher exposure to wildfire smoke, which poses significant health risks. The study highlighting residents of majority Latino neighborhoods are nearly three times as likely to be employed in these industries, compared to residents of majority-white neighborhoods.
It's also not just those who worked outdoors. These homes have been a safety net for 59-year-old Nancy Palacios, who has worked as a housekeeper in the Altadena area for over a decade.
Three of the homes she cleans were lost to the fires — and with them, she says, took 70% of her monthly income.
"I don’t know what I’ll do. I have no idea how I’ll be able to pay my bill," Palacios said.
She feels the weight of having a family that relies on her to put food on the table.
"There's thousands of us in this situation who simply have no other income or state aid to fall on," Palacios said.
There were approximately 325,000 domestic workers in California in 2018, according to a UCLA Labor Center study. It also found that around 77% of domestic workers are typically low-wages.
That's the case for Palacios, who — despite not having anything to fall on — felt called to help clear the streets volunteering, along with Saucedo.
"These challenging times bring us together in a way," Palacios said as she held back tears.