As the Eaton and Palisades fires roared across the Altadena area and the coastal Santa Monica Mountains in January 2025, the flames were fueled in part by accumulations of bone-dry chaparral, brush and other vegetation.
The fires eviscerated many of the plants and trees in and around the burn zones, leaving behind barren lots and charred swaths of parkland.
But over the nearly one-and-a-half years since the 2025 mega-fires, native and invasive grasses, bushes and trees have begun to regrow, weaving flammable greenery across the landscape. At the same time, many owners of homes and businesses that burned down are more focused on navigating the byzantine rebuilding process and trying to sell their lots than on maintaining their properties.
Some whose homes and businesses survived are increasingly concerned about the risks posed by surrounding lots consumed by unchecked vegetation. Their concerns are heightened by the fact that the region is heading into peak fire season after four months with minimal precipitation.
Keeping the encroaching natural world at bay is a struggle in neighborhoods adjacent to Los Angeles County’s wildlands. The county, local agencies, utilities and property owners are in a constant battle with the flora and fauna just beyond fencelines and backyards.
Earlier this month, the county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a measure aimed at ensuring that the thousands of empty lots in unincorporated Altadena and Sunset Mesa, a small residential enclave bordering Pacific Palisades, are not left untended.
Co-authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath, who represent Altadena and Sunset Mesa, respectively, the motion calls on multiple county departments to develop a plan to ensure that vegetation is effectively managed in both communities as well as on nearby county land.
“[R]esidents have expressed growing concern regarding residential properties where vegetation has become severely overgrown,” the motion said.
Cleaning up the landscape is necessary to reduce wildfire risk, the supervisors wrote, but the county is sensitive to the hardships that property owners face. So the motion calls for a “solutions-oriented approach” that provides resources and assistance to encourage people to comply voluntarily without punitive enforcement.
“We have concerns from residents who have vegetation growing on their properties and are already struggling with insurance payments and trying to make ends meet,” Horvath said in an interview. “And we have residents who just lived through — and escaped narrowly being impacted by — the fires, and don’t want the vegetation that’s growing nearby to become a hazard for them or their nearby neighborhood.”
The motion directs the county’s Department of Public Works, its nascent Disaster Recovery Rebuild Authority, L.A. County Fire and other county departments to deliver a report next month with recommendations for how to address the vegetation management needs of fire-scorched properties, and how to fund those efforts.
The measure “emphasizes education, defensible-space assistance, and non-punitive mitigation as preferred first steps,” according to a statement by Barger.
L.A. County Public Works has already begun working with Neighbors Helping Neighbors and the Conservation Corps to remove brush and vegetation from private properties, according to Kerjon Lee, a spokesperson for the department.
“We’re removing roughly 50-60 bags of green waste a day from 260 properties,” Lee said via email.
The county is also undertaking efforts to reduce vegetation on untamed land beyond the suburban streets of Altadena and Sunset Mesa. Those include pile burn and goat grazing projects in the Santa Monica Mountains and San Gabriel Valley.
Horvath said the county hopes to receive tens of millions of dollars in state funding for additional brush clearance, fuel modification, home hardening and other initiatives.
“These communities are working hard to rebuild, and overgrown lots pose a real threat to that progress and to the neighbors living right next door,” Barger said in her statement. “I want County resources working on this problem now, before another fire season puts more lives and property at risk.”
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