Some residents have begun to rebuild their homes nearly four months after wildfires in the Los Angeles area reduced thousands of homes to rubble.
Construction workers in the Pacific Palisades area have recently begun constructing a home on a plot where only an old charred fireplace is visible. Many land parcels in the coastal city of Malibu and the foothills community of Altadena are being cleared.
Many homeowners have applied for permits and approvals from their local authorities to build or repair damaged houses or to design new homes. However, only a few have been granted permission to begin construction.
The fires of January 7th destroyed 17,000 structures, including homes, businesses, and other buildings. Uncertainty surrounds the amount of rebuilding.
Even those who have insurance will struggle to pay for it. Some homeowners are still unsure if it is safe to return home, due to the limited information on how much lead and asbestos may have contaminated their property. In the areas affected by fire, there are currently 400 parcels of land for sale.
Those who are looking to rebuild after experiencing a sudden and overwhelming loss must navigate a confusing and lengthy process. Most of the time, rebuilding will take many years.
LA issued its first permit almost two months after the fires began. After the Woolsey Fire of 2018, it took over seven months for the first building permits to be issued.
Sara McTarnaghan is a researcher with the Urban Institute. She studied the aftermath of urban wildfires that occurred in Colorado, Hawaii, and California in the recent past.
Kathryn Frazier was a music publicist, life coach who had lived for 10 years in her Altadena house with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. She raised her children in that home. She was shocked and wondered if it made sense for her to return to Altadena after the fire destroyed her house.
After talking to neighbors, she decided to rebuild.
Frazier replied, “I’m staying.” “That was what everyone kept saying, and the longer we talked, the more we said ‘hell yeah’.”
She is progressing. Frazier has hired a crew for the cleanup of the debris on the property and is almost done with the first phase, which includes getting approval from the county to design her new home. Before receiving permission to start construction, the next phase includes a review of electrical, plumbing, and other aspects.
Frazier, 55 years old, rebuilds her home with no major changes in its size or location to qualify for a faster building permit approval.
She said, “We hope to start building as soon as possible. I’ve heard that by 2026, we might be back in our house.”
Frazier wants to lock in the price of windows, skylights, and other fixtures before prices rise as construction projects increase or due to Trump’s trade war.
She said, “I am scouring Home Depot for slate tiles that are beautiful and modern, but very cheap.”
DeAnn Heline is a TV showrunner who knows how it feels to build your dream home from scratch.
The construction of the home, which had five bedrooms and eight bathrooms with views of the ocean, took more than two full years. Her husband promised never to build another home after the project was completed. The family lived in this house for six years before it was destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
Heline replied, “There was nothing left but ash.”
They have been living in the same neighborhood for over 30 years. They could not imagine not rebuilding.
Heline stated that the house will be built the same way, with some improvements, including the use of fire-resistant material and sprinklers on the outside.
They cleared the debris that was left behind by the former house. This was a difficult task, as the house had a large cellar into which the burning structure collapsed.
Heline doesn’t know when construction will start, but she figures it could take two to three years. She is curious to see what the neighborhood looks like in two or three years.
What are you returning to? You’re returning to a lunar landscape? You’re going to return to a moonscape? She said.
The Eaton wildfire has destroyed more than 270 Janes Cottages, which were historic homes in Altadena. This included the three-bedroom house Tim Vordtriede lived in with his wife and their two children.
The house was only about 100 years old, and the family had lived there for just three years.
He said, “We loved the cottage and its vibe and the grander feel of Altadena, it was perfect.”
Vordtriede is 44 and has decided to rebuild, but not yet. He is now using his experience in construction project management to help other people who have also lost their homes.
He co-founded Altadena Collective. This group provides assistance with home design and guidance in navigating the complicated and lengthy approval processes for rebuilding permits. Three of the two dozen clients the group serves at a reduced rate are still in the beginning stages of the permit process.
He said that even after the projects are shovel-ready, it may take homeowners more than a full year to move in.
“My first statement when anyone walks in the door is: We’re not here to help you design your dream home,” Vordtriede said. “This isn’t a dream time. This is a nightmare, and our job is to get you out of the nightmare as soon as possible.”
