Survivors Link Up To Help One Another Following Natural Disasters

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, February 10, 2025…

• There’s a growing club you don’t want to be a part of. They’re the people who’ve lost their homes and had their lives turned upside down because of natural catastrophes. But getting through these events, whether they’re fires or floods, also means you can be a source of hope for others in their moment of crisis. One group is linking these extreme weather survivors, the veterans with the newcomers.
• On Tuesday, the city of Fremont is expected to vote on a new ordinance that would make it a crime to “aid or abet” an illegal homeless encampment.

Survivors Group Supports Those Impacted By LA Fires

Extreme Weather Survivors is a nationwide non-profit that includes a community of people directly harmed by disasters like wildfires, floods, extreme heat, deadly air pollution, drought, and hurricanes. It’s a space for survivors to support and learn from one another, and to fight to keep these disasters from happening to more families and communities.

Jodi and Jeff Moreno are some of the newest members. Along with their three daughters, they lost their Altadena home of 19 years in the LA fires last month. Through the group, they were able to contact Erica Solove online. Solove survived one of Colorado’s most destructive fires on record, the Marshall Fire. Eventually Solove and her family rebuilt, and moved back to their neighborhood.

The Morenos have questions that only a veteran fire survivor like Solove can answer. Like rebuilding and safety issues. But they’re not the only victims involved with Extreme Weather Survivors. “We can emotionally connect with all of our friends who are surviving this,” said Jeff Moreno. “And be there for each other. But none of us know what the next step is. You get to talk with people who went down the road.”

Should ‘Aiding’ Or ‘Abetting’ A Homeless Camp Be Illegal?

As communities up and down California ban homeless encampments, one Bay Area city is trying to go a step further.

The East Bay city of Fremont is set to vote Tuesday on a new ordinance that would make it illegal to camp on any street or sidewalk, in any park or on any other public property. But, in an apparent California first, it also would make anyone “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” an illegal encampment guilty of a misdemeanor – and possibly subject to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

That unusual prohibition — the latest in a series of crackdowns by communities following a Supreme Court decision last summer — has alarmed activists who worry it could be used against aid workers who provide services to people living in encampments. While Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan told CalMatters that police won’t target outreach workers handing out food and clothing, the ordinance doesn’t specify what qualifies as “aiding, abetting or concealing.”