Domestic workers in Los Angeles say they’re struggling to make ends meet after the houses they worked in burned down in the deadly wildfires.
The Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire in Altadena forced thousands of people to evacuate. The fires destroyed more than 12,000 structures and 27 deaths have been confirmed by officials.
Patricia, a housekeeper employed by two homes in Pacific Palisades, said she was cleaning one of the houses on Jan. 7 when everyone began to panic about the proximity of the flames. As the family began to pack their bags to evacuate, Patricia said she continued to clean.
“Good Morning America” kicked off its “SoCal Strong” (#SoCalStrong) coverage on Friday, highlighting the impacted communities and offering fundraising opportunities for victims of the fires. The coverage will continue across multiple ABC News programs and platforms.
For privacy reasons, Patricia asked ABC News to be referred by her first name only.
SoCalGas workers dig a trench to secure natural gas infrastructure of homes destroyed by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 16, 2025.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
“I sent a message to my daughter about what was happening in that moment, and she told me ‘get out of there, get out now’ but I hadn’t finished my work, so I kept cleaning while they were preparing to leave, and I went downstairs and I started vacuuming while they were packing to go and I thought, ‘I should leave too,'” Patricia said to ABC News in Spanish. “I went upstairs and told the owner ‘I need to leave, I haven’t finished cleaning, I’m sorry, but I feel as though I need to leave’ and she said ‘Yes, you can leave no problem.'”
Patricia said that as she began to flee, she saw construction workers and gardeners outside who were still working, and she told them to flee and get to safety, but they didn’t know what to do since they were on the clock. Patricia said she does not know if those workers made it out.
“The next day, I found out that the house I was in burned down completely, not just the house, but all the streets and the entire block,” she said.
Patricia said the two houses she worked for burned down, causing her to lose her two main sources of income. The hardship that Patricia now faces is an unfortunate reality for many domestic workers in Los Angeles.
According to Flor Martinez Zaragoza, founder and CEO of Celebration Nation, a non-profit organization that provides support and resources for the Indigenous and Latino community, many domestic workers now face a dire financial hardship because of their employment in areas where structures burned down.
“A lot of work is not available to them anymore, and unfortunately it’s not the best time for that because of the price on food and the way the economy is right now,” Martinez Zaragoza told ABC News.
A house, seemingly untouched by the Palisades Fire, stands amid the charred remains of other homes destroyed by the fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 15, 2025.
Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
Celebration Nation has been collaborating with Immigo, a non-profit immigration services provider that advocates for immigrant rights, by organizing donation and distribution drives on the ground for all victims of the wildfires, but a large focus of their efforts has been towards domestic workers impacted by the fires, especially those who are immigrants.
“Many domestic workers, believe it or not, a lot of them happen to be undocumented, that’s why they take on certain work that others might not want to do … a lot of times these are jobs that a lot of undocumented folks obtain to be able to feed their families and since they are undocumented, their wages are lower than others,” Martinez Zaragoza said.
As a result of their immigration status, Martinez Zaragoza also said that these workers often do not qualify for state or federal aid during disasters.
“Most undocumented families would not be able to get that $700 that the government is providing for everybody else, that’s unfortunately the case here, that’s where we step in and that’s where we provide food but also other necessities like diapers, deodorant, socks, basic essentials that they don’t have to worry about,” she said.
A spokesperson for Los Angeles County did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Martinez Zaragoza added: “We’re helping everybody, but we’re also paying attention to those that are usually afraid to seek help or just don’t know where to get those trusted resources, currently, we’re working on providing heavy duty respirator masks and eye goggles to all those domestic workers and volunteers that are picking up the debris from the fires, this specific hazard protection effort is in partnership with organization This Is About Humanity.”
Jenn Stowe, the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, told ABC News that there are over 65,000 domestic workers in LA. The NDWA is a national organization that services and advocates for domestic workers, and they work with more than 70 local and state affiliate organizations throughout the country.
According to data compiled by the NDWA, California has the largest population of domestic workers in the country with more than 350,000 workers in the state. Nationally, more than 9 in 10 domestic workers are women, and over 56% are Black, Hispanic, or AAPI. Domestic workers include roles such as housekeepers, nannies, and caretakers.
Stowe said that in LA, the NDWA has been working closely with Pilipino Workers Center, The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) to provide aid to affected workers. The executive director said that soon after the wildfires broke out, they anticipated that this demographic would be immediately impacted.
Firefighters spray the rubble of fire-ravaged homes in Altadena, Calif., Jan. 15, 2025, that were demolished by the Eaton Fire.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
“During points of crises, domestic workers are often the first to lose income, they’re often some of the last folks to receive aid, and they’re often already working in unsafe working conditions and any sort of devastation or crisis or event like this just exacerbates it,” Stowe said. “Our organizations were really worried about the challenges that they might face like getting relief down the road but also more immediately thinking about the lack of income, the lack of PPE, the lack of access to information in the language that they prefer and need.”
As a result, the NDWA has created the “We Care: Domestic Worker Relief Fund” to assist impacted domestic workers. The fund will provide basic supplies, PPE, and long-term recovery support to domestic workers and their families.
“This is something that was muscle memory for us, we learned during COVID how much the workforce was not protected,” Stowe said. “During COVID over 90% of domestic workers didn’t have a paid sick day and so we knew that we wanted to set up a fund to be able to really support workers.”
Despite the available aid, Patricia said she worries about her future and the future of other workers like her. She said it took years to build trust with the homeowners she worked for in Pacific Palisades — she worked over 30 years for one homeowner — and since she is in her 60s, she is concerned about starting over again, trying to secure employment, and building trust with new employers.
“I worry about everyone—not just myself—what are we going to do? I worry about how we will survive,” Patricia said in Spanish. “The entire areas that were lost were areas that employed so many of us, it was almost entire cities that burned down, we now have to find other work and limit our expenses.”