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My brother posted the following on Facebook a couple of days ago:

Fire update,
Thank you and blessings to all how reached out. The area is on heavy lockdown. The National Guard was mobilized on January 10th to secure the area to stop looting and give the utility companies time to disconnect services. None of the residents can get to what’s left their homes. No one is allowed in. I go every day but I’m turned away. Yesterday I registered with FEMA for disaster assistance. There’s a list of tasks ahead. Things that normally don’t come to mind like applying for a reduction of my property taxes since there’s no building on the property anymore. It will be a mess for all to deal with for a long time. Elsa and I stay positive and look for a silver lining.
Thank you all

His post included this picture:

Some pics of what’s left of my brother's shop.

Thank you Carl. My mom is chugging along. She’s safe from any fire danger, but she's 100 yrs old now, and she’s got dementia pretty bad and isn’t really there most of the time.

My youngest brother became a victim of the big fire in Altadena, California on this past Wednesday. Fortunately, he lives 25 miles away, but his business property burned to the ground, a total loss. He’s a general contractor. In addition to all structures and contents on the property. he lost 2 vehicles parked outdoors, and 2 very nice classics he had stored inside….a late 70s Ford F350, and a 1972 Jag XK-E V12. He lost all of his tools but one—a 20' measuring tape that was in the glovebox of his little Honda. Also gone are all of his firearms that were stored in a vault, some valuable French antique furniture he was storing for my mom, and a bunch of her papers and antique silver settings that were in a safe.

He had no insurance, because the property wasn’t really insurable due to the age of the building and the nature of his work. FEMA is telling the thousands of property owners who lost everything to deal with their property insurance first…of which he has none. To add insult to injury, while he was able to get to his property the next morning to survey the damage, the CANG showed up that night, and they’re not letting anybody back in to see if their properties survived or not, so he can’t even begin picking through the ashes yet.

And as an aside, over a thousand homes were destroyed in Altadena alone, and all of those folks need prayer too. What aid is available is already overwhelmed, and the politicians are busy pointing fingers at each other instead of stepping up to help out.