Three years after the fireworks explosion in South Los Angeles, the City Council voted to compensate 19 victims who were displaced from their homes with $21 million to settle legal disputes.
However, the victims still do not know how much help they will receive, or if they will receive any. Most of them have not yet been able to return to their homes, and have been living in hotels where the City of Los Angeles has placed them. Many of them have lived under threats of eviction by the hotel owners, who view them as pests.
It was in June 2021, when Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers seized a massive shipment of illegal rockets in South Los Angeles, and when they tried to detonate them, they caused an explosion that left 17 people injured and dozens of homes and vehicles damaged.
Financial agreements
Councilman Curren Price, who represents the district where the explosions occurred, said the victims of 27th Street have faced unimaginable pain and trauma that will last a lifetime.
“Reaching these financial agreements was a crucial step toward healing, rebuilding their lives, and giving them stability and peace.”
He noted that over the past three years, the process has been agonizingly slow.
“On behalf of the City of Los Angeles, I regret that it has taken so long to reach this point. But getting here was not easy and required a collective effort by multiple departments, attorneys, and other stakeholders, presenting significant challenges along the way.”
The councillor said he understood the victims’ continued frustration, but said his office had never abandoned them.
“Our commitment to supporting every household has been steadfast from day one. We have advocated for emergency funding, proposed temporary housing, established a neighborhood resource center, facilitated home repairs, distributed scholarships, and ensured access to basic needs like medicine, clothing, and food.”
She said they have also collaborated with medical professionals to provide those affected with screenings, mental health services and other vital support; and worked with allies and nonprofits to obtain housing vouchers, relocation assistance and other social services.
“The truth is that this incident should never have happened as it was completely preventable, and we are still recovering from it.”
He added that he strongly expects the LAPD to have learned from this disaster and taken all necessary steps to prevent such tragedies from happening again in the future for the sake of our City.
Sad and hard
Ron Gochez, community organizer and educator for the organization Neighborhood Union, who helped organize the victims of the explosion, said it is sad and hard that three years after the tragedy, they are not going to be given compensation to repair their homes.
“Most of the affected families are African-American and Latino. Some are homeowners and others are renters, and we don’t know when the money will start to be distributed, how it will be distributed, and how much each affected person will receive.”
He explained that It was very sad that in order to get the Los Angeles City Council to approve the $21 million for the repair of the houses, they had to march and go to Mayor Karen Bass’s house to protest three times..
“Just last Day of the Dead we were able to meet with Councilman Curren Price.”
He recalled that at first the City of Los Angeles placed the victims in horrible, seedy motels.
“Afterwards they put them in a good hotel in the center, the Level Los Angelesa hotel that charges $250 a night, but even though it is very nice, families have felt uncomfortable because of the way they are looked at and because they are not allowed to use the pool or grills.”
Gochez said many of those affected are tenants who are asking the City of Los Angeles to assign them low-income apartments.
“They had been living in the damaged apartments for over 20 years, with low rents; now the rents are three times what they were paying, and they simply cannot afford them.”
The community leader acknowledged that the Los Angeles City Council’s vote of approval to allocate resources to the victims was the result of them not giving up.
“It took a lot of time and tears”.
Affected tenant
Leticia Rodriguez, a tenant for seven years who lived with her mother, son, daughter-in-law, grandson and partner in a building on the corner of 27th and San Pedro streets where the exposure occurred, said her apartment was left destroyed and uninhabitable.
“Glass was embedded everywhere, in clothes and furniture; doors and ceiling fans were torn off. We had to throw out all our belongings.”
Leticia said that after being left homeless, her family was placed by the City of Los Angeles in the Level Hoteland although he says it is very nice, living all crowded in a small studio has even caused family problems because they no longer have the space they used to have.
“We have even been kicked out of the hotel several times,” said Leticia, which was confirmed by Góchez.
Affected homeowner
Ernesto Márquez, who for 20 years has owned a home that was damaged in the explosion three years ago, has not returned to live in his house.
“Luckily, I arrived a little early from work that day, and the police told me to get my wife and grandson out of the house because they were going to set off fireworks. We didn’t go out and we stood nearby. I never thought the explosion would have such an impact. The police officers went too far.”.
Ernesto shared his house located on 27th Street and San Pedro Street with his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law and his grandson.
“The explosion damaged the foundations of the house, broke windows, ripped out doors, knocked down fans; and the scene was as if a bomb had fallen.”
He said that the outburst made him very nervous. “I panicked and became depressed.” Ernesto and his family were unable to return to live in their home.
“The owner of the maintenance company I work for offered me an apartment to rent in Monrovia, and we went there.”
He said that weeks later he decided to go on a three-day vacation that he had planned for some time in Mexico, which he was going to use to recover a little from the emotional damage, and when he was there, they called him on the phone to tell him that they were going to give him $10,000 in aid to those affected.
“I returned immediately, but when I arrived they did not want to give me anything, because I was on vacation in Mexico. That forced me to file a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. To date they have not given me anything to fix my house that I bought with so much effort.”.
Ernesto said he still rents in Monrovia, and to top it off, his house has been broken into several times.
“One time, I was robbed while the police were in front of my house; another time I caught some thieves inside the house, I called the police and they took a while to arrive. When they finally came, I told them ‘there they go on the corner with my things, that’s who they are’; but they told me they couldn’t stop them because they had already left my house.”
He said that they have even stolen his electricity cables and air conditioning.
“They have taken everything they could, and the fact is that my house, between the explosion and the thieves, was ransacked; and now with everything so expensive, the materials to rebuild the house cost twice as much.”
As a result, he said he feels frustrated and disappointed.
“America is supposed to be a country of opportunity. I have worked and paid taxes for 40 years. It is not fair that the authorities treat us this way. Of course, since we do not live in Beverly Hills, we are second-class citizens.”
Accept responsibility
The LAPD accepted responsibility for failing to safely detonate the seized fireworks.
According to a federal report, the bomb squad packed the nearly 40 tons of homemade fireworks into a container that was only meant to hold 33 tons; and decided to detonate them on site because it was too risky to move them, but the container exploded and debris spread into homes, businesses and vehicles.
Ten officers and seven residents were injured in the blast, and 22 houses, 13 businesses and 37 cars and trucks were damaged. About 80 people were evacuated and some have not yet returned to their homes.
According to federal investigators, bomb squad technicians underestimated the weight of the rockets because they measured them visually instead of using a scale, and they also ignored warnings from a team member who said they should be broken up into smaller loads.
As a result, four members of the bomb squad were punished for their decisions.