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Pacific Palisades, California. , after a year two major wildfires For thousands of families torn apart on opposite sides of Los Angeles County, recovery is still not complete.
The fire broke out over the course of a few hours and burned for a month, killing 31 people and destroying more than 16,000 buildings throughout the county. In Pacific Palisades and nearby Malibu, flames burned for 31 days, scorching 37 square miles and destroying more than 6,000 structures, most of which were homes. In Altadena, the Eaton Fire alone destroyed more than 9,000 buildings.
Today, many survivors are still waiting for permits to rebuild, while others grapple with contaminated properties, displacement and a slow return to normal life.
“I’ve been seeing rays of hope all day,” said Nicole Gyarmathi, who has returned to replant flowers in the area near her former apartment a year after the fire.
“I can do anything I can to help bring back health and what used to be here; if it’s planting flowers and trees and cleaning up trash,” Gyaramathi said.
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Burnt homes are reduced to skeletons in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, days after the Palisades Fire spread. (Fox News)
For them, small acts help process loss and provide hope to others returning to empty spaces.
“People are coming here to look at their vacant lots,” he said. “They see it, and it gives them hope that, ‘Oh yes, no, we’re not going to be left behind.'”
In the Palisades, the recovery has been uneven. on the anniversary of the fireResidents marked the moment with protests and memorials, underscoring long-standing anger and frustration.
A protest sign calling for the resignation of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is seen on a bulldozed lawn, one year after the wildfire. (Fox News)
Ken Ehrlich, an environmental lawyer who lost his home in the fire, said he remembers arriving there to find only remnants of what once stood.
Ehrlich said, “We came up just at sunset … crying and screaming miserably at the site of our still-smoldering property where only the chimney was standing.” “I literally yelled that we should get out of here right now.”
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After months of uncertainty, Ehrlich’s property is now nearing construction. Less than 14 percent of the homes destroyed in the Palisades have received permits to rebuild, according to a December Los Angeles Times analysis. Even the few houses that are standing are unfit to live in due to smoke, ash and asbestos contamination.
Homeowners in Pacific Palisades are starting to rebuild and a sandbag is placed at a construction site. (Fox News)
“The threat is real … it’s a big problem,” Ehrlich said. “I mean, people are dealing with this everywhere.”
Still, a piece of heavy machinery now sits on his land, a sign that reconstruction is finally underway.
“I’m really excited to move forward and build,” Ehrlich said. “I want to come back to the neighborhood. This is where we are, and I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
“My hope remains here,” he said. “My hope is to be back home, want my family to be back, looking toward the future, and really want Palisades to come back better and stronger than ever.”
Across the county in Altadena, the Eaton fire unfolded under extreme conditions. Crews were already battling the Palisades fire when 90 mph winds grounded aircraft and caused the fire to erupt.
Brian Childs stood on his cleared property this week, where there are no homes and no debris… just land, quiet and waiting.
“All you see is this black smoke going about 100 miles an hour and flames all around you,” Childs said of the night of the fire.
His house stood there for most of the evening before the evening ended suddenly.
“I sat across the street for about 15 minutes, called my wife and said, ‘It’s gone,'” Childs said. “And she was devastated.”
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According to city and county data, Only 10 homes have been rebuilt so far in Altadena. The children hope that they will be next. Their plans are complete, and permits are moving forward.
“It’s part of my family’s legacy,” he said. “I want to be able to leave it to my children and hopefully their children.”
Not everyone in Altadena has that option, however. Many of those who lost homes were renters, and some were displaced a year later.
“The housing need remains deep, extremely urgent,” said Pauline Ngaothepitak. “We still see applications every day from people who are still living in their cars a year after the fire.”
Beacon Housing, a local nonprofit, is building long-term housing for low-income fire survivors.
Ngaothepitaka fled the fire with her children last year and is still waiting for progress in her home, but says helping others is essential to the community’s recovery.
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“I think it’s even more important for a place like Altadena where community ties are so strong,” he said. “We’re really looking out for our neighbors here. We’re in this together.”
