Los Angeles wildfire recovery enters second year as frustrations grow

PACIFIC PALISADES, California. – One year later two big fires The recovery of thousands of families from the disaster that ripped apart opposing sides of Los Angeles County is far from complete.

The fires started just hours apart and continued for a month, killing 31 people and destroying more than 16,000 buildings across the county. In Pacific Palisades and nearby Malibu, flames burned for 31 days, scorching 37 square miles and destroying more than 6,000 structures, mostly homes. In Altadena, the Eaton Fire alone destroyed more than 9,000 buildings.

Today, many survivors are still waiting for permission to rebuild, while others grapple with contaminated property, displacement and a gradual return to normal life.

“I saw hopeful things all day long,” said Nicole Gyarmathy, who returned to the area near her former home to replant flowers a year after the fire.

“Anything I can do to help bring back health and what used to be here is planting flowers and trees and cleaning up trash,” Gyamathy said.

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For him, small actions help process the loss and offer hope to others returning to wastelands.

“People come here to visit their vacant lots,” he said. “They see that, and it gives them hope, ‘Yeah, no, we’re not falling behind.'”

The recovery across the Palisades has been uneven. On the anniversary of the fireResidents marked the moment with protests and commemorations, highlighting ongoing anger and frustration.

A protest sign calling for the resignation of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appears on a bulldozed lawn a year after the wildfires. (FOX News)

Ken Ehrlich, an environmental attorney who lost his home in the fire, said he remembers arriving here and finding only ruins of what had once been standing.

“We pulled up toward Sunset…we were hysterically crying and screaming where our property was still smoldering with only the chimney standing,” Ehrlich said. “I practically shouted that we had to get out of here immediately.”

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Ehrlich’s property is now nearing construction after months of uncertainty. Less than 14 percent of homes destroyed in the Palisades received permits to rebuild, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis in December. Even some surviving houses become uninhabitable due to smoke, ash and asbestos pollution.

A sandbag sits at the construction site as homeowners begin rebuilding in Pacific Palisades. (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 remains on his lot, a sign that rebuilding has finally begun.

“I’m really excited to move forward and build,” Ehrlich said. “I want to go back to the neighborhood. This is who we are and I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

“My hope rests here,” he added. “My hope is to come back home, to want my family to come back, to look to the future and really want the Palisades to come back better and stronger than before.”

The countywide Eaton Fire in Altadena unfolded under extreme conditions. Crews were already hard at work fighting the Palisades fire when 90-mile-per-hour winds grounded planes and caused the fire to explode.

Brian Childs stood this week on his cleared land, where no houses and no debris remained; just land, silence and waiting.

“All you see is black smoke going 100 miles per hour and flames all around you,” Childs said of the night the fire started.

His house spent most of the evening there before suddenly disappearing.

“I sat across the street for about 15 minutes, called my wife and told her she was gone,” Childs said. “And he was devastated.”

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According to provincial and district data, Only 10 homes have been rebuilt so far in Altadena. Childs hopes he’ll be next. Plans are complete and permitting is ongoing.

“This is part of my family’s legacy,” he said. “I want to be able to pass that on to my children and hopefully their children.”

But not everyone in Altadena has that option. Many of those who lost their homes were renters, and some were displaced a year later.

“The need for housing remains extremely urgent,” Palin Ngaotheppitak said. “A year after the fire, we are still seeing applications every day from people living in their cars.”

Beacon Housing, a local nonprofit, is building long-term housing for low-income fire survivors.

Ngaotheppitak escaped the fire with her children last year and is still waiting for progress in her own home, but says helping others is essential for the community to heal.

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“I think it’s even more important for a place like Altadena where the community ties are so strong,” he said. “We’re really looking out for our neighbors here. We’re in this together.”