Fund Set Up to Help Santa Ana Fire Victims

Nearly a month after two fires tore through a Santa Ana apartment complex, the company that manages the site has established a relief fund to aid displaced tenants.

Kennedy Wilson Inc., a Beverly Hills-based real estate investment firm, announced the Friends of La Serena fund Tuesday to assist the blue-collar tenants who lost apartments in the Dec. 2 blazes.

About 300 people were left homeless when back-to-back fires destroyed or damaged 68 units in two buildings at La Serena apartments on Lyon Street, a company official said. Most of the victims work low-wage jobs and have little financial security.

And after many residents lost all or most of their possessions, they were forced to rely on family or the American Red Cross for shelter during the holiday season.

“These are working-class people,” said Bob Hart, Kennedy Wilson’s senior managing director.

“There’s a lot of unhappiness. This happened at an awful time of year, and anything we can do to ease the pain, we want to do.”

Hart said he plans to send donation requests to investors, vendors and other associates of the company.

With the help of local politicians spreading word of the fund throughout the Santa Ana community, Hart aims to raise $50,000 for the families as they begin the process of starting over.

Hart said families would receive donations based on how much they lost. He added that the company has already returned security deposits to affected tenants and opened an office to help them find new homes.

Santa Ana fire officials have determined that the first fire was accidental, but the second, which broke out an hour later, remains suspicious.

Checks should be made out to La Serena Donations Account, and sent to Kennedy Wilson, to the attention of Claudia Beder, 9601 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 220, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.