The signs of change are there, if you look hard enough.
Hillsides along the Pacific Ocean, burned beyond recognition, are showing tentative signs of rebirth. The occasional flower is blooming next to a lost home. From the air, the grid of Altadena shows acres of neatly graded empty lots where the burned-out remains of homes and businesses stood. The fresh wood frame of a new home in Pacific Palisades has become a beacon of hope for some.
But the six-month anniversary of the worst firestorm in Los Angeles County history still feels hard to measure. The feelings of loss — 30 deaths, thousands of homes gone, long-term plans derailed, battles with insurance companies, mental anguish — are still too raw. And evidence of progress still feels too fleeting to take much comfort in, especially for the thousands of victims.
Modern Los Angeles has never experienced loss on this scale, so there are no easy roadmaps. There are the individual challenges: Struggling with the death of loved ones, determining whether to rebuild, and assessing the financial losses. Then there are the collective ones: Will my neighborhood ever feel like my neighborhood again? Can I afford to still live here? Do I still want to live here?
For all the uncertainty, there have been some measurable changes since January. Thousands of lots have been cleared. Numerous lawsuits have been filed. Multiple investigations are underway and dozens of new building permits have been issued.
Here’s a review of where we are:
Cleanup
Federal, state and local officials continued to tout the massive cleanup of Eaton and Palisades fire debris as the fastest wildfire recovery in modern history.
At a news conference in Pasadena this week, public officials said the wildfire debris removal is “months ahead of schedule,” with many parts of Altadena and the Pacific Palisades transitioning from debris removal to the rebuilding phase.
Federal contractors hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have removed ash, rubble and contaminated soil from more than 9,000 parcels, with fewer than 1,000 properties still awaiting debris removal.
The pace of the federal cleanup — 2,000 properties per month — is twice as fast as the state-managed 2018 Camp fire, which decimated Paradise and remains the state’s most destructive wildfire.
Crews have removed more than 2.5 million tons of ash, debris, metal, concrete and contaminated soil. The total removed from the Eaton and Palisades fire zones is equivalent to 92 Statues of Liberty and is twice the amount removed from ground zero after 9/11, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
As workers gather up the wreckage, tons of highly toxic ash, contaminated soil and other wildfire debris have been taken to four local landfills: Azusa Land Reclamation Co. in Azusa, Calabasas Landfill in Agoura Hills, Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center in Simi Valley, Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar.
Still, environmental researchers and residents have concerns about the quality of cleanup. Notably, FEMA has refused to pay for testing to confirm ash-covered portions of the property don’t still contain lingering contamination after cleanup crews remove debris and a layer of soil.
Soil testing by Los Angeles Times journalists, Los Angeles County and privately funded researchers have found lead levels in excess of state standards for residential properties that federal contractors have cleared. The owners of about 1,900 parcels have chosen to opt out of the federal cleanup and instead have private contractors clean properties.
The cleanup effort has largely focused on single-family homes, schools and parks. But debris removal will likely shift to more complex multi-family buildings and commercial properties.
Newsom said this week that 9,195 of the 9,873 properties enrolled in the federal government’s debris removal program have been cleared. The figure doesn’t include commercial buildings or the nearly 2,000 property owners who hired their own private contractors for debris removal.
Hundreds of fire-destroyed properties have neither opted in for the federal cleanup nor opted for private contractors. Last month, Los Angeles city officials declared these properties a public nuisance because of their failure to take action to clean up debris.
City and county response
In the city of Los Angeles, more than 3,450 homes, nearly 80% of those in the city that were destroyed in the Palisades fire, have been cleared of debris.
But most are still navigating the process to rebuild.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County leaders have pledged to streamline permitting for property owners who want to rebuild, a process that many residents who lost homes have criticized as too slow.
The city and county opened one-stop permitting centers and waived certain zoning reviews for people who want to build homes that are roughly the same size as their prior residences.
More than 650 plan check applications have been submitted to L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety. Of those, more than 220 have been approved and more than 165 permits have been issued, according to the city. A plan check is a review of building plans and documents by the city for compliance with building codes, a requirement for most construction projects.
In the county‘s unincorporated areas, more than 1,000 applications to rebuild have been submitted and 90 building permits have been issued as of Tuesday, according to a county dashboard. It’s taking an average of 51 business days for residents to get permits, according to the site.
Officials have also unveiled a plan to use artificial intelligence to help city and county building officials review applications to speed up the process.
FEMA
As the fires raged in January, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent more than 500 workers to Los Angeles County to deliver aid to residents during evacuations, including food, shelter, baby formula and help with medical expenses. More than 4,100 people were housed in FEMA-sponsored hotel rooms in the early days of the agency’s response, according to an agency spokesperson.
In the months that followed, according to the agency, it has dispersed grants for cleaning and sanitizing damaged homes, provided temporary housing and helped replace essential items people lost in the fires.
As of this week, more than $3 billion in federal funds has been approved for individuals, families and businesses impacted by the fires, according to FEMA. More than 11,500 small business loans and nearly 35,000 FEMA grants have been approved. Nearly 3,600 families have received temporary rental assistance post fire, according to FEMA.
The agency is still present in Los Angeles. FEMA said it is still processing fewer than 200 requests for assistance.
“As survivors of the L.A. wildfires continue their recovery, we encourage them to keep in touch with FEMA and update their application with changes to their situation,” a FEMA spokesperson told The Times in an email this week. “If they have additional needs not met by insurance or other means, they may be eligible for additional assistance.”
Cause of the fires
Six months after the firestorm, there is not a definitive cause from authorities for either blaze. But there are some theories.
Sources with knowledge of the Palisades fire probe said there are two leading hypotheses: An 8-acre blaze, dubbed the Lachman fire, that firefighters thought they had put out on New Year’s Day in the same area reignited and spread during intense winds, or a new fire was somehow sparked Jan. 7.
There is growing belief that the Palisades fire was likely a rekindling of the Lachman fire. Sources stressed, however, that the investigation is still ongoing.
The Lachman fire was reported about 12:17 a.m. on New Year’s Day in the hillside above Pacific Palisades by a resident whose home is about two blocks from the popular Skull Rock trail. That fire was believed to be caused by fireworks. Shortly after 3:30 a.m., fire officials reported they had stopped forward progress of the blaze.
A little over an hour later, LAFD reported that firefighters had “completed the hose line around the perimeter of the fire and it is fully contained.”
Some experts suspect the fire was not fully out and the intense winds Jan. 7 caused the fire to pick up and sweep through Pacific Palisades.
Federal investigators have not said when they will determine an official cause.
“This remains an ongoing investigation. Until that work is completed and formally reviewed, we will not discuss preliminary findings or respond to speculation,” a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesperson told The Times this week.
The investigation into the cause of the Eaton fire has from the beginning centered on power lines owned by Southern California Edison. In particular, the company has focused on an idle, unconnected transmission line that possibly reenergized on the day of the fire.
Edison officials have acknowledged it is possible its equipment caused the Eaton fire, and the company is facing numerous lawsuits over the blaze.
Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro told The Times in April that evidence including videos and data from the lines suggests the possibility that the idle equipment was reenergized through a phenomenon called induction and sparked the inferno.
Investigators with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have yet to determine an official cause of the fire.
Legal issues
The fires sparked a massive wave of litigation. Homeowners have filed lawsuits against insurance companies, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison.
Los Angeles County, Pasadena and Sierra Madre all filed lawsuits in March against Edison over its alleged role in the Eaton fire. The county’s suit alleges the fire began when the utility’s equipment came into contact with vegetation or caused sparks that ignited the brush.
Pasadena’s complaint notes that Edison filed reports with the California Public Utilities Commission stating that a fault was detected on its transmission circuit about the same time the fire started.
Residents have also filed dozens of lawsuits against the utility.
Palisades residents have sued LADWP, alleging that one of the utility’s electrical towers started a second ignition when it was knocked down at 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, about 12 hours after the Palisades fire began. The lawsuit also cites reporting from The Times that found the utility’s Santa Ynez Reservoir, located in the Palisades, was empty during the inferno, having been closed months earlier for repairs.
LADWP has dismissed the idea that it could be held responsible for the blaze.
“While our crews and system were prepared for situations that might strain the system, no urban water system is designed to combat a massive, wind-driven wildfire of the speed and scale presented by the historically destructive Palisades fire,” the utility said in a statement.
Insurance companies have also been on the receiving end of several lawsuits filed by frustrated residents. In May, a Pacific Palisades couple filed a lawsuit alleging the California FAIR Plan Assn. delayed payments to fix their fire-damaged home.
State Farm, USAA and two insurers affiliated with AAA have also been sued by policyholders who allege they were under-insured and didn’t have enough money to rebuild their homes.
State Farm said Tuesday that the company has handled more than 13,000 claims following fires and paid customers more than $4.2 billion. The company said it anticipates paying at least $2 billion more.
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