Warner Bros. Discovery is offering help and aid to employees who have been impacted by the deadly Los Angeles wildfires, TheWrap has learned. WBD CEO David Zaslav shared the news during a Thursday meeting with employees where he also offered his sympathies and concern.
The company has set up a hotline for staffers, an insider familiar with the matter told TheWrap. This hotline is being used to direct people to hotel rooms, which Warner Bros. Discovery has already blocked off and paid for, as well as shelters. They are also offering to pay for meals for staffers who have taken in displaced family members and friends. The company will also continue to evaluate what impacted staffers need in the medium- and long-term as this natural disaster unfolds.
According to a report from Puck, 1,300 employees from Warner Bros. Discovery have already evacuated impacted areas, and 20 staffers have lost their homes.
Nexstar also offers an employee assistance fund designed for natural disasters such as this. The company is still assessing how these fires have impacted its L.A.-based employees, as it is too early to tell how much staffers will need, an insider with knowledge of the matter told TheWrap. Since Nexstar is located in Texas and is a broadcast television group, the company is not as focused in Los Angeles as other networks and streamers.
The catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires started on Tuesday. Low humidity, dry conditions and Santa Ana winds that exceeded 90 miles per hour combined to create one of the most dangerous natural disasters the region has seen. As of the fourth day of the fires, eight people have died and 10,000 structures have been destroyed.
The biggest fire remains the Palisades fire, which was at 8% containment on Friday after burning 20,438 acres. Other fires include the Eaton fire, which has burned 13,690 acres and is now at 3% containment; the Kenneth fire, which has burned 1,000 acres; the Hurst fire, which has burned 771 acres; and the Lidia fire, which is nearly contained but has burned 394 acres.
TheWrap will update this article as we learn more about the measures other Hollywood companies are taking to help their employees.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated there was a confirmed 10 deaths due to the L.A. wildfires. LAFD has since corrected that number to eight.
