ALTADENA, Calif.—Royce Ngiam recalls looking out the windows of First City CU’s main office here and seeing an “ominous” sight—a fire creeping up over a nearby hillside, moving toward the credit union’s building.
“It’s quite a story, something I won’t forget. It was spooky,” Ngiam told CUToday.info about a wildfire that recently threatened First City’s main office. The blaze is one of many fires that have burned tens of thousands of acres across Los Angeles County, destroying more than 18,000 structures and killing nearly 30 people.
Ngiam, First City’s chief marketing officer, told CUToday.info that, initially, the $908-million credit union’s concerns were with high winds.
“We had the wind alerts. There were 85- to 100-mile-per-hour winds,” Ngiam said. “Our headquarters building lost power. There were a handful of us in the building and we sent almost everybody home and fired up the generators. Those who remained, a skeleton crew, then rode out the wind…That's when you could see the smoke come up over the nearby hillside,” Ngiam said.
Embers Carry Into City
Fire embers, for the first time ever, eventually carried into the city, where First City’s office is located.
“Some of the embers actually got into our front landscaping area by our signage and the fire crews put it out,” Ngiam said. “There was a second set of embers on the other side of the building, which neighbors saw and began getting buckets of water to put them out. If it were not for those efforts, we believe our building could have burned.”
"Due to the heroic effort of first responders, our corporate office in Altadena was spared from the devastation due to the fires," said First City President Nav Khanna. "I've seen the damage caused to our community with my own eyes and am saddened to know that our neighbors were not as fortunate."
Ngiam said what was so startling about the fire that threatened his CU’s main office is how quickly it developed from just a small fire into a blaze. CUToday.info, in previous reports, shared similar observations from CU executives. The high winds, as experts have stated, have been driving the blazes that continue to burn.
Ngiam said the credit union witnessed how nearby trees would catch on fire and “rain down” burning branches.
Ngiam said First City plans to remove foliage around its office that might catch fire in the future. He added the office is still not open to staff and members, as evacuation orders closed the building and remain in place due to poor air quality and a contaminated water supply.
First City had to only close its main office, with six others operating without interruption. Despite its own problems, the CU is helping members and their families by committing up to $1 million in interest free loans to those residing in the FEMA declared wildfire disaster areas, the credit union reported.
The loans are being made through the $900-million CU’s Recovery Assistance Loan program that defers payments for 60 days.
Additional programs include a discounted and streamlined approval process for First City’s $5,000 maximum Wildfire Relief Loan, payment deferral options on existing First City loans, and discounted auto loan rates for those who need to replace a vehicle that was lost due to the wildfires.
Wescom Continues Its Support
Separately, $6.4-billion Wescom CU, based in Pasadena, Calif., shared what it has been doing to help those impacted by the wildfires:
- Emergency Loans: As of Thursday, 40 emergency loans have been funded for a total loan amount of just over $148,700
- Giving Campaign: Wescom members and communities generously donated $214,000 (which includes $50,000 from the Credit Union itself)
- To help those members that have active loans, Wescom has activated a Loan Deferment Program. If someone is a current member directly impacted by the fires, Wescom will work with them to defer payments, whether that’s related to a mortgage, a credit card, or auto loan
- The Wescom Foundation board has approved an additional $5,000 grant to the LA Firefighters Foundation
- Wescom started a donation drive, assembling 30+ bags of goods along with dog food, water and more
- The CU created an Employee Relief Fund in the amount of $100,000 to offer modest financial assistance to those employees in need
“With our mission focusing on building better lives for Californians, our team members jumped into action immediately, using their community service paid time off benefits to volunteer in the communities that have been impacted. Since Wescom’s headquarters offices are in the City of Pasadena, and the Evacuation Center/Pasadena Convention Center is only a stone’s throw away, team members volunteered there as well,” Wescom stated.