Fire Tragedy Sparks Effort to Keep Heat on for Needy

The death of a girl whose home was set afire by candles being used to replace utilities that had been cut off for lack of payment has inspired an innovative community project to prevent any similar tragedy.

The Department of Water and Power’s Project APPLE--Assisting Pasadena People with Limited Emergencies--will ensure that residents facing temporary financial problems will not have to go without heat and resort to using candles or other dangerous methods for keeping warm.

Calling in such power brokers such as Michael Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy who runs a nonprofit energy brokerage firm, city officials said they plan to begin offering the service by Feb. 1.

Calls for Donations

The project asks for donations from DWP customers and local businesses to help pay the utility bills of financially strapped customers who temporarily may not be able to afford such necessities.

“It’s for people who run into a short-term financial crisis like a medical emergency, they got laid off and came up short that month,” the DWP’s Jay Jay Vega said.

City officials have already solicited Kennedy’s help for fund-raising. The 30-year-old nephew of President John F. Kennedy recently hosted a breakfast meeting with members of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce to encourage contributions.

Kennedy is chairman of Citizens Energy Corp., which he founded with his brother, Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), in Boston in the early 1980s. The company buys surplus energy from the world fossil fuel market then sells it to local utilities at competitive rates. Since the company makes no profit, any surplus money is kicked back into utility-assistance programs, like Project APPLE, Vega said.

Citizens Energy Corp. is offering Pasadena the most reasonable price available for electricity, Vega said.

“In our case, the cheapest,” she said.

The idea for Project APPLE was born from a tragedy that could have been prevented with $34.86--the cost of LaVerne Williams’ utility bill last spring.

On the night of May 13, Williams went to a church meeting, leaving at home her daughters, Veronica 17, and Tammy 9, and her son, Antwon, 12.

Left Candles for Warmth

Before leaving, Williams placed lighted candles throughout her Lennox-area house to generate warmth. Only a few days before the household heating had been turned off when Williams was unable to pay her utility bill.

After the children had gone to bed, the candles touched off a fire. Tammy was trapped and killed. Antwon was critically burned and Veronica suffered minor injuries.

“Our project is a direct result of that fire,” Vega said. “There was a county task force formed to investigate it and we watched it very closely.”

Ironically, Williams’ home was just a few blocks outside the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles, where a utility-assistance program, Project Angel, has been in existence for six years.

Jim Derry, a spokesman for Project Angel, said Los Angeles’ 1.3 million DWP customers have donated nearly $1 million to the fund in the last six years, helping more than 100,000 families.

“We’ve had customers who, after receiving assistance and getting back on their feet, give something back to Project Angel,” Derry said. “That’s proof that the program works.”

Pasadena DWP customers can expect to see a Project APPLE donation slip in their bill at the end of December, Vega said.

The cities of Burbank and Glendale are looking into the possibility of starting similar programs.