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The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has apologized to thousands of victims of the devastating January 2025 Palisades Fire for bureaucratic delays that have stopped them rebuilding.
The fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures, and while nine out of 10 owners say they plan to rebuild, by August, just 1,000 homes were under re-construction.
Owners have put the blame on delays in the LADWP supplying temporary power to the homesite to help with rebuilding.
Dave Hanson, LADWP’s Interim General Manager, said: “My deep apologies to everybody that’s had to deal with any sort of a delay on the account of DWP.”
“When I’m talking to a customer that I know just wants to go home and I’m the reason they can’t go home, I do take that personal,” Hanson told ABC 7 in an interview at LADWP’s Inspections and Permitting Support Center in the Marquez section of the Palisades.
He attributed the delays to the Palisades home base moving three times and the volume of inspection requests ramping up quicker than the utility was staffed for.
Hanson added that five to six additional inspectors have also been hired to speed up the process in the area.
The LADWP launched a customer portal last week that guides contractors and property owners step-by-step through its compliance checklist, the news outlet reported.
“These people lost everything that they own, their memories, their keepsakes, that they just want to go home. That’s all that matters. I want to be part of the solution, and so do our 13,332 employees,” Hanson told ABC 7.
Palisades Fire victim Jack Nguyen is among those who are struggling with the utility’s permitting, inspection, and power restoration processes.
“We have been through hell literally, and you would think that if anything, the bureaucracy would be shortened and we would be able to ease through the process,” Nguyen told ABC 7.
In July, 1,628 new-home permit applications were submitted, 1,088 permits were issued, and 905 homes had started construction, according to the online tracking site Pali Builds. But only 27 homes had received certificates of occupancy.
The new analysis released in April this year showed just 34 homes have gone up in Pacific Palisades and Altadena in the 15 months since the devastating wildfires tore through — a shockingly sluggish pace that lags behind recoveries from other previous major California infernos.
The January 2025 fires — which erupted within 24 hours of each other — killed 31 people and devoured nearly 16,000 acres, flattening the wealthy coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades and hammering middle-class Altadena in the foothills.