The ashes of Hatim Naim’s burned home lie just a few dozen miles west of the Los Angeles areas destroyed by January’s Palisades and Eaton fires.
But because the Mountain Fire, which destroyed 182 houses and other structures in Ventura County last November, was not a federally declared major disaster, recovery for Naim and his community looks different than it does for their Los Angeles neighbors.
They can’t access the Federal Emergency Management Agency programs available to those impacted by the L.A. fires. Nor have they benefited from anything close to the hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars pouring into L.A.
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The husband and father of three said it stings not to get the same level of help.
“They have their cutoffs for where they declare their disaster, but it’s still a disaster f