Sheriff’s Deputies and Firefighters Pick Up Hammers in Altadena Habitat Rebuild

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and county firefighters are joining San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity volunteers Tuesday morning at an Altadena work site to help build a home and accessory dwelling unit for a family affected by the Eaton Fire.

The 10 a.m. build day brings members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles County Fire Department onto an active SGV Habitat rebuilding corridor in West Altadena, where the nonprofit has been raising walls on East Pine Street since last October. Organizers have not publicly identified the specific street address for Tuesday’s build or the family receiving the home.

The event was publicly announced through IAFF Local 1014, the union representing more than 3,200 county firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, pilots, wildland firefighters, forestry and hazmat personnel.

In its May 21 Friday Update newsletter, the union told members the joint build is “a great opportunity to come together in service of our community and support families rebuilding and recovering.”

The Eaton Fire ignited January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon and burned through Altadena over the following days. CAL FIRE records show the blaze destroyed more than 9,000 structures and was contained on January 31, 2025. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has confirmed 19 civilian deaths from the fire.

SGV Habitat, a Monrovia-based affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International founded in 1990, has committed to rebuild at least 25 homes in the Altadena burn scar with $4.55 million in grant funding from the Altadena Build Back Foundation, according to the organization’s website. The nonprofit says it has been contacted by more than 800 families seeking rebuilding help.

As of late May, SGV Habitat had completed or begun construction on 10 homes in the burn area. Its first finished rebuild — a residence on East Pine Street for Kenneth and Carol Wood, an Altadena couple in their 80s who had lived in the community more than 40 years — was handed over on March 27.

“This is not just about rebuilding homes — it’s about restoring hope, stability, and a future,” Bryan Wong, SGV Habitat’s chief executive officer, said in a statement on the organization’s Rebuild Altadena page.

Tuesday’s joint build is not the first time county deputies have worked alongside Habitat in Altadena. In November, Altadena Sheriff’s Station Capt. Ethan Marquez and Lt. Alex Kim of the department’s Special Enforcement Bureau joined a build with USC alumni volunteers. In a social media post at the time, the Sheriff’s Department said the partnership “is a reminder that LASD stands with Altadena families not only during emergencies, but throughout recovery and rebuilding.”

Earlier this year, the Altadena station launched a Construction Check Program aimed at deterring theft of building materials from rebuild sites across the unincorporated community, which falls under the sheriff’s jurisdiction because Altadena has consistently chosen to remain under county administration rather than incorporate as a city.

In May, Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) named SGV Habitat the 2026 Nonprofit of the Year for the 41st Assembly District at a ceremony in Sacramento.

Information on SGV Habitat’s volunteer program is available at sgvhabitat.org.

The nonprofit says nine homes beyond the Wood residence remain under construction, with applications from uninsured and under-insured Altadena homeowners still being accepted.