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- Residential burglaries are up about 450% in the Altadena area compared with last year as thieves target homes that survived the Eaton fire, according to law enforcement data.
- Burglaries spiked in both the Palisades and Eaton fire evacuation zones in the first few days of the January firestorm. But crime is no longer surging in Pacific Palisades, LAPD figures show.
When the smoke of the Eaton fire cleared, residents whose homes were left standing believed they had escaped disaster.
But many are finding that blessing comes with a curse. They are now prime targets for opportunistic thieves who prowl their neighborhoods at night.
Jenna and Howard Morris’ home has been burglarized three times: first on the night they evacuated, then at the start of April and then again the following week.
“When we found out that our home survived, we had no idea that three months later we would be dealing with this,” Jenna Morris said.
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department launched a Looter Suppression Team for the Altadena area scorched by the Eaton fire.
Thieves have broken windows, raided their garage and ransacked their home, stealing engraved family silverware dating to the 1800s. The couple is now left with thousands of dollars in property damage on top of what was already sustained in the fire, and a gnawing anxiety that their home will be targeted again.
In the first few days of the January firestorm, burglaries spiked in both the Palisades and Eaton fire evacuation zones. Although crime is no longer surging in Pacific Palisades, it is skyrocketing in Altadena.
From Jan. 1 to April 15, the number of residential burglaries reported in the Altadena area was up about 450% compared with the same period in 2024, according to data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. More than 140 residential burglaries have been reported to the Altadena sheriff’s station so far this year.
In Pacific Palisades, on the other hand, year-over-year burglary rates remain relatively stable. There were 20 incidents reported from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2024, and 23 incidents reported during the same period this year, according to LAPD data.
The disparity in burn scar security has left many residents feeling anxious, angry and abandoned.
“Why can’t we get the same type of security that Palisades is getting?” said Altadena resident Natalie LaFourche. “It’s hard for me to accept that they don’t care about us in the same way that they care about Palisades.”
Pete Brown, communications director for Councilmember Traci Park, attributes the lack of ongoing burglaries in the Palisades to the high level of neighborhood security. The California National Guard staffs around-the-clock entry and exit checkpoints with assistance from the California Highway Patrol. The LAPD regularly patrols the community.
Checkpoints in Altadena, on the other hand, were lifted at the end of January. In response to the spike in crime, the Sheriff’s Department has more than doubled the number of deputies on patrol in the fire zone, brought in specialized anti-theft teams to assist with undercover operations, and implemented routine checks on some 600 uninhabited properties that have opted in to the free service, according to Lt. Ethan Marquez, who works at the Altadena sheriff’s station.
Still, the burglaries have continued.
LaFourche is a second-generation Altadena resident who “fought tooth and nail” to provide a home for her two children. Her house survived the fire, sustaining mostly smoke damage, but was hit by burglars in early April.
She is now working up to 14 hours a day to try to cover her mortgage, rent on a temporary place to live and the repairs necessary to eventually return home. Losing thousands of dollars worth of goods and irreplaceable memorabilia — including collector’s items from her time playing “Queenie,” the Queen of New Orleans at Disneyland — to thieves felt like a sucker punch.
“I just kind of broke down,” she said. “My knees buckled and it really hurt my feelings, because we are already going through it.”
Altadena resident Leslie Wright also feels let down by the neighborhood’s lack of security. Burglars broke into her home just one hour after she fled from the fire — when the area was under a mandatory evacuation order — and made off with her husband’s Emmy award and other valuables before they were apprehended by the Sheriff’s Department. Wright eventually got most of the items back.
“It was pretty disturbing to hear that it happened so quickly and then we couldn’t get back to our house,” she said. Wright is constantly worried about her home being broken into — a nagging feeling that never goes away.
Both women said they understand it’s harder to control access to Altadena, which has dozens of entry points, than the Palisades, which can be accessed by only a handful of roads.
Still, during the first few weeks of January, checkpoints were effectively used to close the Eaton fire evacuation zone to the public. And although they caused significant wait times to access the neighborhood, some question why they were removed so quickly.
“Why aren’t we at that level where you have to have a checkpoint to come in and out?” Wright said.
The checkpoints in Pacific Palisades were initially set to be lifted on Feb. 2. However, Mayor Karen Bass backtracked on that directive after facing fierce pushback from residents and Park over security concerns.
Altadena residents, who would see the worst damage from the Eaton fire, also experienced the most issues with evacuation alerts. Was the community at a disadvantage during the L.A. firestorm because of its government structure?
Some residents who have returned to Altadena go to bed each night worried about who may be lurking in the desolate streets.
Resident Madalyn Majors said she is grateful that she, her husband and their 2-year-old were able to move back after the fire. But she feels on edge after dark.
“When 6 p.m. hits and all the construction workers and truck drivers leave, it’s different,” she said. “It’s really peaceful and lovely until the sun goes down and then it starts getting weird.”
Resident Elena Amador-French said she is shocked by the brazenness of thieves on her street, where criminals have been captured on security cameras stealing from homes without making any attempt to disguise their appearance.
“I wouldn’t want to be living there right now,” she said. “I wouldn’t feel safe knowing that people are constantly coming in and scouting out the area. It’s like this trauma on top of the trauma that we’ve already all been through.”
Amador-French’s home was razed during the fire. She attempted to salvage some burned pieces of her grandmother’s silver she spotted in the wreckage, but when she came back to retrieve the jewelry, it was nowhere to be found.
“I didn’t even consider that someone would come digging through literal ash,” she said. “I was very angry, I felt very violated.”
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said she is angered by the increase in burglaries and confident that Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman will prosecute offenders to the extent of the law.
“Our residents have endured enough trauma and loss, and opportunists are taking advantage of an incredibly vulnerable situation,” she said in a statement to The Times. “I will continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure we direct resources where they’re needed to prioritize the safety and protection of Altadena.”
Barger advised residents to add interior and exterior cameras, lighting, fencing and “no trespassing” signs to their homes and to work with neighbors to keep an eye on one another’s properties.
Marquez said thieves will take anything they can get their hands on and have even taken to ripping up copper pipes to sell to metal recyclers.
California lawmakers are proposing tougher penalties on looting and other opportunistic crimes during disasters after more than two dozen individuals were arrested in evacuation zones after the recent deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County.
The Sheriff’s Department is now running multiple targeted operations per week with undercover agents to catch criminals in action. One such operation, on April 13, netted 15 arrests — including one suspect who had 500 pounds of scrap metal in his car, Marquez said.
Several more operations are planned in the coming days and weeks. But until Altadena begins repopulating in earnest, he fears the thieves will keep coming back.
“We shouldn’t see this,” he said. “People in the community have lost everything and now people are trying to capitalize on their losses.”
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