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We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of our local community. We are   providing food and shelter to those in need during the Pacific Palisades, California Wildfire. We are committed to making a positive impact on the lives of those around us. By supporting Opulent Philanthropy Inc., you are supporting your community and helping to build a brighter future for all.

Palisades/ Altadena, California Wildfire Disaster Relief Fund: We have provided shelter and over a million meals during these disasters.
Every contribution, big or small, will bring much-needed assistance to families struggling in the aftermath of this disaster.
Here's how your donation can help:
$50 can provide a care package with essential supplies for a family in need.
$250 can help ensure a family displaced by the fire has access to food and shelter
$1,000 can help ensure a family displaced by the fire has long term access to food and shelter.
We also accept DAF, Stock and Cryptocurrency on our website www.opulentusa.org/california  

Reminder: Employees submit match request for monetary donations. If your employer requires an Employer Identification Number (EIN) 45-3088713 

Employees typically submit their donations for matching through their company’s Human Resources (HR) department or a designated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department. Some companies may have specific forms or online platforms for requesting a match, so it’s best to check the employee handbook or company’s internal website for detailed instructions.
 

More than 30,000 people have been asked to evacuate as a fast-moving fire has spread near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood near Los Angeles. Video footage shows many evacuees were forced to abandon their cars while trying to flee the seaside neighborhood sandwiched between Santa Monica and Malibu. The Palisades Fire has grown to at least 1,261 acres, the Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said at a news conference. The City of Los Angeles has declared an emergency. and officials warned that the worst is yet to come tonight, due to a dangerous windstorm.  

Personnel in place: Over 250 firefighters are on scene fighting the Palisades Fire, Crowley said Tuesday. This includes 46 engines, three trucks, five helicopters and six paramedic ambulances, among other resources. California had “pre-positioned hundreds of assets and personnel on Sunday in anticipation of this wind event,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news briefing Tuesday, listing a range of resources brought down from different parts of the state. Newsom also expressed his gratitude to President Joe Biden, who is in LA currently, for federal assistance. California also received a Fire Management Grant Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Tuesday, Newsom announced on X.

Abandoned vehicles: People faced traffic gridlock as they tried to flee the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, video from CNN affiliate KABC shows. Multiple people told KABC they left their cars trying to get out of the area. If evacuees have to abandon a vehicle, “get it as far off the road as you can so that emergency vehicles get by,” McDonnell said. Power cutoff: Southern California Edison, which supplies power to 5 million homes and businesses, has begun preemptively shutting off power to some customers in order to prevent its electric system from becoming a possible source of fire ignition. About 8,600 customers fall under the current Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), which the utility describes as “a tool of last resort” amid heightened fire conditions. The shutoffs stretch across Los Angeles, Riverside and Ventura Counties. The utility is considering shutoffs for more than 400,000 additional residents as extreme winds gust through parts of Southern California. The Palisades Fire has jumped across the Pacific Coast Highway, where cars were packed attempting to leave earlier in the day, and has burned two lifeguard towers on the beach, Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Sheila Kelliher told CNN. Speaking with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she said the whipping winds through the steep canyon makes fighting the fire “very challenging” and that firefighters have to move their command post due to the encroaching fire.

Altadena, California

Houses on Harriet Street in Altadena, California, are “systematically being destroyed” one by one by the fast-moving Eaton Fire, CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported Wednesday from the streets of the engulfed neighborhood.

“We’ve seen dozens of homes were destroyed,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper, adding that there are also “a lot of secondary explosions” from the insides of residences and vehicles.

Cooper said it’s a matter of misfortune where flying embers land and start more fires, saying that some houses just across the street from burned-down neighborhoods could still make it through unscathed if embers don’t land on them.

“It is just a surreal scene in Altadena,” Cooper said.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific Palisades, where winds are still gusting, CNN national correspondent Nick Watt said, “there is smoke and flames just every which way you look.”

He said both of the community’s grocery stores have burned down as well as the theater, library, many schools and restaurants as well as plenty of homes.

“Because of the value of the property here, Jake, this could end up being one of the most expensive, one of the costliest wildfires that we have ever, ever seen,” Watt told Tapper Wednesday afternoon while standing in the neighborhood’s rubble. Dispatching from Altadena, California, in east Los Angeles County, Cooper showed a block where conditions were getting progressively worse, to the point the sky was almost completely black, and burning trees helped flames reach high into the air – an apocalyptic view. While the winds had died down since he arrived in the area 30 minutes earlier, embers were flying sporadically across the street, almost hitting Cooper. He described house fires spreading to other homes and cars, explosions all along the street and firefighters doing their best to move debris and save homes despite running out of water, all in less than an hour.

“The fire captain was telling me that they watch for the attics … Once you see smoke billowing out of the attic and the attic is on fire, that house might be a lost cause,” he said.

While the situation in Alta Dena is dangerous, Cooper assured viewers that they are able to leave quickly if things worsen and are taking precautions to be safe.

“The Nelsons’ house is gone. Joseph’s house is gone. Luella’s house is gone.”

Crystal Dedeaux and her 81-year-old mother Virginia peer from the car window and watch what is left of their west Altadena neighborhood roll by as if in a film reel. Street after street, they survey which homes are in ruins and which – by some apparent miracle – stand unscathed amid miles of devastation.

“Oh my God, Nina’s house made it, Mom,” Crystal says, leaning forward to catch a glimpse. She speaks softly, almost whispering. “Some of the houses made it.”

Wreckage stretches for miles in every direction in this part of middle-class Altadena at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where the deadly Eaton Fire ignited January 7 and quickly grew into one of California’s most destructive ever.

Just four days later, much of the community of about 42,000 known for its eclectic, creative spirit resembles a war zone. Armored vehicles and National Guard personnel block the entrances to still-smoldering neighborhoods, some pioneered decades ago by Black residents redlined out of areas nearby. Charred carcasses of cars flank the sidewalks, their rims melted into pools of silver.

Crystal and Virginia are among a lucky few — along with a cat-loving stage prop designer and a “Forest”-dwelling contractor — who have managed to get back so soon, even as others across Southern California’s evacuation zones may not be allowed to return for weeks, or longer. Each fled in a chaotic scramble last week as the winds and embers picked up. They all now wonder if the Altadena they knew can be restored.

From the car, the daughter and mother crane their necks to take in entire streets where not a single home remains standing. Only solitary chimneys and askew mailboxes survive to distinguish one property from another. Authorities estimate the Eaton Fire has damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 homes and businesses, along with three schools attended by Dedeaux children. The Altadena cemetery, where Virginia’s mother is buried, is also partially scorched.

With no apparent rhyme or reason, some things have been spared. A pristine, cherry-red Plymouth Belvedere sits shining on the curb in front of the charred remains of a house. Some brightly colored homes and fruit trees sit untouched like little gems amid a sea of gray ash. A gaggle of peacocks – a familiar sight here – wanders through downed power lines, their magnificent fan tails burned away and jagged feathers sticking out at odd angles.

“That’s our house on the left right here,” Crystal says, leaning forward in the back seat.

Rounding the corner onto their street, it briefly appears as if the homes there may have been spared. Squat blue and white houses sit serenely on either side of the Dedeaux property, windswept but relatively untouched as the evening light washes over them.

But the space in between looks as if a bomb was dropped from the sky. The one-story home’s canary yellow walls have collapsed inward and blackened. Only the chimney and a patch of the back wall stand, scaffolded by a leaning tower of the washer and dryer.

“That was our house,” Crystal says, her voice trembling as she rushes to unbuckle her seatbelt.