AI tools are helping survivors of deadly California wildfires with insurance problems

ALTADENA, Calif. -- On Jan. 7, the night the Eaton Fire erupted in Southern California, a simple WhatsApp chat for country club pickleball became a lifeline for residents of Altadena - coordinating evacuations and sharing critical updates as flames raced toward their homes.

Today, that chat has evolved into the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, now on the instant messaging and social platform Discord, supporting more than 2,500 displaced residents with recovery resources and digital tools.

"We've collected more than 400 firsthand accounts of delays, denials and underpayments from insurance companies," said Joy Chen, a former deputy mayor of Los Angeles and now the network's executive director. "Certain tactics have revealed themselves. One of them is constantly rotating adjusters."

Chen said some families she works with have had between nine and 11 adjusters on a single claim.

"Every time they seem to make some progress on a claim, then boom, they have a new adjuster coming in saying, 'OK, we're going to start all over again,'" Chen said. "What that previous person told you is no longer operative. It's up to me now. We're starting to see the systemic nature of some of these delay and denial tactics."

Using these patterns, the group is pushing for systemic change.

"We've brought these delay and denial tactics to state legislators and the media," Chen said. "There's a massive power imbalance between any one of us and a multibillion-dollar insurance company. By uniting and sharing information, we're starting to level the playing field."

Andrew King, a former high school principal and member of the network, knows firsthand how overwhelming this recovery process is.

"At 6:30 that night, we were just leaving dinner for a hotel. In the back of my head, I thought - we're going to lose the house tonight," King recalled.

By the next morning, his fears were confirmed. King and his family lost their home. Yet, his resilience in the face of adversity is unwavering, and his loss has transformed into community gain.

RELATED: Generations of Black families built their lives in Altadena. Then the Eaton Fire swept through LA

King, like Chen, is helping his neighbors use AI tools to tackle one of the hardest parts of recovery: documenting lost possessions for insurance claims.

"My spreadsheet has more than 2,000 rows. It's overwhelming," he said. "AI allows you to have a conversation almost with yourself about what you've lost and how to recover it."

To bridge the digital divide, King leads in-person workshops at kitchen tables and libraries, helping elderly Eaton Fire Survivors Network members and others unfamiliar with technology learn how to use AI for recovery.

"There are those in the community who are less served or less able to recover because of their access to resources or their ability to navigate," King said. "Sometimes this might be elderly folks who are not able to access these digital resources. Sometimes it might be just folks who, either by choice or by skill, are not connected to the internet or AI."

Stepping away from his nearly 20-year career in education wasn't easy, but for King, the work is deeply rewarding.

"If I can help any one person get back to their home faster, that's incredibly rewarding," he said.

For both Chen and King, the mission is clear: empower survivors and build back stronger.

"No one should have to go through this alone," King said. "Together, we can be Altadena strong."

For more information on the Eaton Fire Survivors Network and its AI recovery tools, visit efsurvivors.net.

Mike Ryan, Stephanie Maurice, Dean Singleton, Julia Seifer, Kristie Bihn, Sophie Flay, Andres Rovira and Daisy Macias contributed to this report.