Los Angeles 2025 Wildfires: NBA legend Magic Johnson will lead new recovery group

Even though Los Angeles hasn’t suffered from the wildfire threat in over two weeks, the damages are insurmountable. This is why California Governor Gavin Newsom has tabbed a new group that will provide efforts to support the recovery, led by none other than NBA legend Magic Johnson.

Alongside the purple and gold icon, the group will also be guided by Dodgers chairman Mark Walter and 2028 Olympics organizer Casey Wasserman. This organisation’s name will be known as LA Rises, which includes many other business leader and elected officials, as they hope to rebuild their ravaged communities.

“We can’t lose hope,” Newsom told the press at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, as they hope to repair damages of the fires that took at least 29 lives at the start of the month. “It is possible that we can come back more climate resilient, come back stronger.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom is enlisting basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Guggenheim CEO Mark Walter to lead a private sector push to rebuild Los Angeles after this month’s devastating wildfires https://t.co/KYDhMv0nWO

— Bloomberg CityLab (@CityLab) January 28, 2025

According to the Governor of California, the Mark Walter Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation have committed up to $100 million to the effort.

Johnson told the press that he will be in charge of the contribution to rebuild Altadena, which has been a safe space for generations of Black families who have avoided discriminatory housing practices in other parts of the state.

“My focus will be on Altadena because those people may be left behind and I want to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” Magic told the Los Angeles Times this week.

More than 50,000 people had to be evacuated during this tragedy, while firefighters resisted fire away from residential areas

Due to the powerful Santa Ana winds, fires ignited on January 7 and destroyed more than 6,800 structures in the Palisade area, while more than 50,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes.

This is why Wasserman described the efforts as an initiative that is intended to bring about the “rebirth of L.A.” The expectation is also that the Government will work on preventative measures so that this tragedy never repeats itself.

“This process and this journey we’re about to start with LA Rises is not about the next month or the next year. This is about what L.A. is going to be like for the next 50 or 100 years, ” the Olympics organizer said, according to the Times.