More than a week after the Los Angeles wildfires started, frustrated evacuees are desperate to return home

No stranger to natural disasters, Pasadena resident Pedro Rojas keeps a safety bag in his car with essentials like a jacket, gloves and running shoes in case he needs to flee at a moment’s notice.

No stranger to natural disasters, Pasadena resident Pedro Rojas keeps a safety bag in his car with essentials like a jacket, gloves and running shoes in case he needs to flee at a moment’s notice. Rojas didn’t wait for an evacuation order. He and his family rushed out of their home Tuesday night minutes after seeing strong winds and the Eaton fire start to ignite, and took refuge at his daughter’s home in nearby Eagle Rock. All he grabbed was a box of important documents. “It’s terrible because we left the house with nothing,” he told CNN Thursday. Within 12 hours, the family of 11 was forced to evacuate again. Now, Rojas is staying at a hotel in Azusa – about 15 miles east of Pasadena, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to return home. While the house is still standing, it will need chemical testing and smoke and ash cleanup before it’s safe for the family to live there, he said. “We don’t know if it’s going to be for one, two, three, four months, a year,” Rojas said, adding that he’s been trying to get temporary housing through his insurance company. Rojas is among the over 170,000 people who remain under evacuation notices more than a week after the LA fires started. Many are staying in temporary housing like shelters, hotels, short term rentals or with friends. Officials face multiple challenges in ensuring the areas are safe and habitable.