January’s wildfires caused catastrophic damage, destroying nearly 48,000 acres of land, including homes, businesses and landmarks.

The Eaton and Palisades fires are now ranked as the second and third most destructive wildfires in state history, with an estimated economic loss of $250 billion.

On this week’s “In Focus SoCal,” host Tanya McRae sits down with Rep. Judy Chu, who represents California’s 28th district.

It includes the unincorporated community of Altadena that was impacted by the Eaton fire. 

Rep. Chu said that disaster aid needs to be given “without conditions,” referencing President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold federal disaster aid for California unless state leaders change their approach to its management of water.

“In our nation’s history, we have given disaster aid and we’ve done it without conditions,” said Chu. 

“We need to have a disaster supplement. We need to make sure that there is money to help people rebuild. That’s why I had leader Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of our Democratic caucus, come out here from New York to view the damage himself so that he can help us fight for that disaster supplemental, as we’ve done for every major disaster in this country,” said Chu. 

McRae also sits down with Dr. Nichole Quick, Deputy Director for the Health Protection Bureau at the LA County Department of Public Health to discuss air quality in the aftermath of the wildfires and how people can protect themselves. 

“There can be potential cancer-causing agents that show up in here. There can be heavy metals that are in the debris and so we really want people to take precautions to not to get that either inhaled or on their body,” said Dr. Quick. 

Send us your thoughts to InFocusSoCal@charter.com and watch at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. on Sundays.