Los Angeles Wildfires: Volunteer Ministers Answer the Call to Help
- The 2025 LA wildfires are the most destructive natural disaster in Los Angeles history.
- In the first five days of the disaster, more than 1,500 VMs have helped over 28,000 people.
- VMs have responded to every major disaster since 9/11.
Hurricane-force winds, dry conditions and low humidity sparked a series of major wildfires on 7 January in the Los Angeles area. To date, the fires have ravaged more than 37,000 acres (150 square kilometers), destroying more than 12,000 structures, including homes, businesses and cultural landmarks.
These blazes have claimed 24 lives and forced the evacuation of approximately 180,000 people. The Palisades Fire, between Santa Monica and Malibu, and the Eaton Fire in the east near Pasadena already rank as the most destructive in Los Angeles history. The fires have devastated entire neighborhoods, leaving many thousands homeless. The situation remains severe, with strong winds, difficult terrain and dry conditions hampering containment efforts by firefighters.
The Church of Scientology swiftly mobilized a large team of Volunteer Ministers (VMs) to launch disaster relief efforts, setting up a VM disaster response headquarters in LA Org. They established an LA Community Fires Donation Center in the LA Org parking lot where they organized, sorted and distributed supplies to needed areas. A local market asked their customers for donations to the center, resulting in three truckloads of water and supplies being donated.
Emergency grants from the IAS equipped VMs with critical supplies needed, including water, ice, hygiene kits, food, blankets, air mattresses and generators, as well as immediate housing for IAS members who had to evacuate.
VM teams fanned out across LA to eight of the city’s evacuation centers. In each location, the VMs met with those in charge and found out what was needed and wanted. Groups of VMs then immediately rounded up the requested provisions and rushed these over to the centers. The VMs are returning daily to provide further supplies as needed.
VMs’ organizational skills are also in big demand. At the Pasadena Convention Center, which is sheltering 1,000 evacuees, a team of VMs helped organize the large volume of donated clothes and supplies.
Additionally, VM teams are providing needed supplies to the two primary emergency command centers handling the biggest fires. One is the mobile command center on Zuma Beach in Malibu, coordinating firefighting efforts and evacuations for the Palisades Fire, and the other is the command center at the Rose Bowl Stadium, which is being used by police, firefighters and emergency responders tackling the Eaton Fire.
As word of the VMs’ actions quickly spread on social media, news coverage and by Scientologists speaking to their friends, more than 70 non-Scientologists came in to LA Org in a single day to volunteer and help with VM activities in the community. As one of them said, “This is the first time I’ve come to the Church of Scientology. I’ve never done work for a volunteer organization before. It feels nice to help and to know that I can help. I know there are good people, but this made it real that there are more good and nice people. I absolutely plan to come back and continue helping.” Just five days after they mobilized, a team of more than 1,500 Volunteer Ministers have answered the call and helped over 28,000 people in disaster zones across the Greater LA Area.
