Los Angeles Recovery Crews Begin to Mobilize as Wildfires Continue to Burn

By Scott Blair, Editor-in-Chief, Aileen Cho, C.J. Schexnayder

As strike teams assisting LA County Fire continue to work extinguishing blazes in impacted areas, debris removal teams await the all clear to begin work.
*Photo by Mayra Beltran/Los Angeles County*

More than a week since wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles area stoked by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds, officials are hoping that a change in the weather will soon allow the long process of recovery to begin.

For now, federal, state and local emergency response teams remain focused on controlling the blazes that continue to threaten the region. As of Jan. 15, approximately 40,600 acres have burned and more than 12,300 structures have been destroyed. Twenty-four fatalities have been confirmed. Two of the largest fires that started on Jan. 7 are still burning.

The Palisades Fire has consumed 23,700 acres and is only 19% contained. The Eaton fire has burned 14,100 acres and is 45% contained, according to the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“California has been here before—we know what effective wildfire recovery requires, and we’re using that experience to move faster than ever to support those impacted by these devastating fires,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement this week. “The road ahead is difficult but California is doing all we can to help Los Angeles rebuild and move forward.”

For Mark Pestrella, the director of the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Works, the effort to battle the wildfires is the culmination of years of cooperation between a host of regional agencies.

“The agencies know each other, and so they trust each other, because we've been building those relationships over the last 10 years that we can call on each other to collaborate,” Pestrella told ENR. “We're learning a lot as we go, but we're also really testing our current standards of practice and it's putting a lot of it to the test.”

As additional resources continue to be deployed to the impacted areas, deployment is being prioritized by vulnerability, he said. Officials are targeting protection of areas which are most likely to be impacted by the ongoing evolution of the fires and the changing weather conditions.

In anticipation of that phase of the recovery, a battery of debris removal teams are now on standby to move into the impacted areas as soon as officials deem it safe to do so.

Among the first to be sent in will be a team of 500 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency personnel to safely remove and dispose of hazardous waste from homes and structures impacted by the fires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has allocated $100 million for the initial cleanup effort.

“This is the first—and the most complex—phase of debris removal, which clears the way for the next phase focusing on remaining structural debris, clearing trees at risk of falling and testing the soil for contaminants,” the Governor’s office said in a statement.

A helicopter tanker works to contain the blaze in Pacific Palisades on Monday, Jan 13. Photo courtesy Cal Fire

Newsom issued an executive order on Jan. 13 requiring fast action on the debris-removal work as well as requiring efforts to mitigate the danger of mudslides and flooding in the fire-damaged areas. Southern California typically sees the majority of its rainfall between October and April and the destruction of ground cover has increased the dangers of runoff.

Although the focus remains on battling the ongoing fires, work has begun on preparing for the formidable task of recovery, Pestrella said.

“What I'm driving at right now, and I'm in the recovery portion, is for us to do some master planning together and think about introducing resiliency into the rebuild of this,” he explained. “So right now, we're looking at an upgrade to sewer, water and power systems.”

LA Public Works is tasked with the main debris removal effort which will begin as the impacted regions are declared clear of hazardous materials. While the fires continue to rage, the full extent of the cleanup that will be required remains unknown.

Rebuilding Resources

President Joe Biden signed a major disaster declaration for the state on Jan. 7, freeing up federal funds to support residents and business owners affected by the fires. Emergency aid has already begun flowing to those affected by the fires. According to FEMA Region 9 Administrator Robert Fenton Jr., more than 53,000 residents have registered for aid and already $12 million has been dispersed.

In an effort to kick-start rebuilding efforts, the governor issued an executive order last week waiving certain state building permits for homeowners and businesses, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Costal Act. The change is aimed at reducing the time before construction can begin.

Additionally, the California Dept. of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has automatically extended the tax filing deadline for three months for taxpayers within Los Angeles County.

Another critical question that will affect the effort to rebuild the devastated areas involves the beleaguered state of insurance.

In the past two years, several major insurance companies including Allstate and State Farm have stopped issuing new policies or renewing old policies for California homeowners and businesses, citing wildfire risks and high reconstruction costs. The companies say the costs of underwriting policies have increased dramatically while the state has blocked any increase in premiums.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara implemented a mandatory one-year moratorium on non-renewals for specific ZIP codes in Los Angeles County on Jan. 10. The commissioner also issued a notice asking insurers to stop any pending non-renewals or cancellations for any properties located near wildfires.

“I am working on all fronts to make sure wildfire victims get the benefits they are entitled to, and they get it as soon as possible,” Lara said.

A state insurance program known as California FAIR Plan, set up to be a last-resort, semi-private insurance provider, has seen increased demand due to the departure of major private insurers. One in five homes in the hard-hit neighborhood of Pacific Palisades is covered under the FAIR Plan.

Blair leads day-to-day operations of the ENR editorial team to ensure brand quality and further best practices. He spearheads ENR's various competitions, including Best Projects and the Award of Excellence, and organizes editorial content at events including the Top Young Professionals conference. A Jesse H. Neal, Construction Media Alliance and AZBEES-award-winning writer and videographer, Blair frequently contributes to ENR’s burgeoning video channel with project tour videos and interviews with industry leaders. He is also a frequent speaker and moderator on topics such as diversity and inclusion, design and jobsite technology, construction means and methods and marketing.

Aileen Cho, ENR's deputy editor for infrastructure, is a born-again Angeleno and recovering New Yorker. She studied English and theater at Occidental College, where a reporter teaching the one existing journalism course encouraged her to apply for the LA Times Minority Editing Training Program. Her journalism training led to her first stories about transportation, working as a cub reporter with the Greenwich Time. She has been honored, solo or with ENR colleagues, with several journalism awards. For ENR, she has traveled the world, clambering over bridges, touring airports, and descending into tunnels. She is a regular at transportation conferences, where she finds that airport and mass transit engineers really know how to have fun (bridge engineers aren't far behind). She is always eager to hop on another flight because there are so many interesting projects and people, and she gets tired of throwing her cats off her computer in her home office in Eagle Rock, California. She is a very conflicted Mets/Dodgers fan.

C.J. Schexnayder is the Editor of ENR West. He has contributed to ENR's coverage of the construction industry for more than a decade. His work has focused on major projects, industry trends and emerging technology. He previously was the South America correspondent for the magazine based in Lima, Peru. During that time, he covered numerous large-scale infrastructure projects across the region including the Third Lane Expansion of the Panama Canal. In addition, CJ has been an award-winning newspaper reporter in Southern California, Texas and Louisiana.