Red Cross Closes Eaton Fire Shelter After Residents Were Relocated

Less than two weeks after transferring occupants from an emergency shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center to a new location in Duarte, the Red Cross closed that location.

The Red Cross moved the occupants to the shelter on Feb. 15 from Pasadena. The nonprofit took control of the Pasadena shelter days after the City used a portion of the convention center to house reportedly more than 1,000 people.

“Pamela Park shelter closed on Feb. 26, 2025. According to the American Red Cross, all individuals who were sheltered there transition into a housing accommodation, in collaboration with LAHSA,” Helen Chavez, spokesperson for Supervisor Kathryn Barger told Pasadena Now on Thursday. “Eaton fire survivors that were staying at the Double Tree hotel all moved to the Westin and Hilton hotel properties, leaving no one at the Double Tree hotel.”

Chavez said currently, the American Red Cross is working with 211LA to do care coordination for the 24 families that remain in those hotels, and is helping identify longer term housing solutions.

Representatives with the Red Cross have not responded to several phone calls and email regarding this story.

The governor’s page which lists emergency shelters, has zero people in the shelter as of Feb. 28 and a strikethrough on the shelter listing.

The City established the Convention Center shelter 90 minutes after the Eaton Fire broke out on Jan. 7. The City ceded control of the Convention Center shelter to the Red Cross a short time later.

The fire was driven by hurricane level winds and left 17 people dead, more than 9,000 structures destroyed, scorched more than 14,000 acres and displaced thousands of people, making it the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive fire in the state’s history.

Originally, the Pasadena shelter was due to close one month later in the first week of February.

Local elected officials and residents expressed concerns that some of the people in the Convention Center could fall through the cracks after the City’s evacuation center closed.

However, City officials granted the Red Cross an extension as the nonprofit searched for a suitable location in Altadena, where the majority of the victims of the fire lived.

The center provided comprehensive support services at the facility including a wide variety of free food services, free shelter accommodations, with the Humane Society providing on-site boarding for small pets.

Mental health services were also available to those affected by the fire.