Wildfires in Palisades and Altadena upended life for many residents. A year later, the community’s strength keeps them going

Los Angeles (CNN) — Parched soil crunched under Jessica Rogers’ boots as she crossed the empty lot overlooking Palisades’ Stadium By the Sea. She sprayed her hose toward a cluster of leafy bushes growing at the base of a blackened tree.

The home that once stood on the plot of land was consumed in the deadly heat of the Palisades Fire, leaving only twisted metal and broken glass. But months of daily watering have helped Rogers step off a recurrent emotional seesaw onto solid ground as the roots hidden beneath the fire-ravaged soil have sprouted new life.

A year ago, the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire wiped out entire neighborhoods of Los Angeles, forever changing the lives of Angelenos in and outside the fire zones. The fires rank as two of the three most destructive in California’s history, killing at least 31 people, decimating more than 16,000 structures and leaving thousands of residents to sift through the ruins.

Many residents of the fire zones discuss ever-present anger, frustration and exhaustion as they struggle to cope with how the fires have upended their lives. But they have also demonstrated an incredible resilience that shines brighter than their grief, and faith that their efforts towards rebuilding can help restore the communities they love.

“It’s hard for me not to be there,” said Rogers. “I go every day, no matter what, because it’s important to be there. It’s important to bring life into the community.”

Across the county in Altadena, Brandon Jay launched his own effort to restore life, founding an organization that helps fire-affected families replace instruments they lost in the destruction.

“The enormity of this is just crazy,” said Jay, who lost the majority of his family’s instruments when his Altadena house burned down. “I don’t think people quite understand if they’re not around here.”

As disorienting and difficult as his experience has been, his bond with the community has been a lifeline. “We all have this shared traumatic experience, and so there’s a little bit of connection there,” he said.

The last year has tested the resilience of two communities in Los Angeles, who despite their hardships are still showing up for their neighbors. But the scars remain.

Difficulties in recovery

Kim Ferrier rushed to escape with her family as the Palisades Fire inched ever closer to their home. The streets felt like “a ghost town.”

“We stayed till six o’clock, and there was nobody fighting. It was so helpless,” said the 25-year resident. The loneliness of the moment has stuck with her: “It’s the lack of response, being left out to dry, being helpless, being like every man for themselves in the United States of America.”

The feeling of isolation Ferrier experienced has carried through for many residents over the last year as they work through the day-to-day difficulties of getting back home.

Rogers, who serves as the executive director at the Palisades Long Term Recovery Group, points to a litany of hurdles she’s seen residents, especially the many who aren’t wealthy, have to navigate: insurance issues, costly permitting requirements, burdensome credit card debt.

Many people have been left “destitute, displaced and with no way of building back,” she said.

Rogers has also had a masterclass in the problems that materialize after a disaster. Shortly after the fire took her home and the rental property she managed, she discovered her insurance had canceled her fire policy without informing her.

Her identity was stolen several months later, leading to a six-month process of reclaiming it, which has also complicated her application for a Small Business Administration loan. It has left her without any real way to rebuild her home.

Jay faces similar problems with rebuilding his family’s Altadena property. The last year has been filled with endless forms to fill out — not just for himself, but also for elderly neighbors who have no one else to help them.

“There’s just so much paperwork, so many hoops to jump through that I didn’t anticipate, and some of it is so difficult and unnecessary,” Jay said.

Those handling smoke damage or partially burned homes also face agonizing choices. Lauren Marks’ home nestled against NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory survived the fire but was left with considerable smoke damage.

Remediation required throwing out cherished items like Christmas ornaments passed down through the generations and her two children’s beloved toys because she feared they were “permeated by lead and arsenic.”

“My mother, who did lose her house, has seen me navigate decision making, and she goes, ‘I don’t think I could have made that decision. I’m glad it’s gone so I didn’t have to do this one by one,’” she said.

Some people have decided the turmoil and economic difficulties are too challenging to manage long term, opting to leave altogether.

Judy Matthews, an Altadena resident since the 1970s and the president of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce and Civic Association, has seen longtime friends have to make that choice.

“I’m not losing my friends, but I’m losing the visibility of them being in the community,” she said, describing the countless empty lots as “heartbreaking.”

Marni Ivener Galef, whose Palisades home suffered smoke damage, has helped her parents with the same choice after their Palisades home of 45 years burned down.

Instead of rebuilding, her parents are moving to a condominium in a different part of Los Angeles. While Ivener Galef said she’s grateful to be able to help minimize her parents’ stress, she still wishes it was her home instead of theirs that burned down.

“They have held all the treasures and all the memories from, you know, decades and decades,” she said.

Communities come together in the search for new normal

As they look toward the future, many residents say finding justice for those who endured the Palisades and Eaton fires is a difficult, multifaceted task — one that must be rooted in community needs, focusing on those who are struggling the most.

Maryam Zar, founder and president of the Palisades Recovery Coalition, said a concrete action plan is fundamental, including regular talks between government and community leaders to build trust so people can clearly see the progress being made.

Rogers said she wants to see local government correct injustices, but added the path forward will be paved by working together instead of focusing on anger and frustration.

While no one knows what the next year will look like, residents say they will keep showing up for one another, cultivating the special spark in their communities from the people dedicated to keeping them alive.

This was evident on the night of December 6, when families and onlookers watched as Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane was lit for the 105th year. It is a small miracle that the 135-year-old deodar cedar trees lining Santa Rosa Avenue are still standing as empty lots surround the street.

While there is no Christmas Tree Lane in the Pacific Palisades, Ferrier worked to make her own version. She bought dozens of miniature plastic Christmas trees and started handing them out to anyone she knew to lighten the streets that have darkened with so many residents gone.

Similar small acts over the last year have also brought moments of community connection.

Kayla Roper, a school psychologist, saw three Altadena homes within her family either damaged or burned down. Even as she had to move in with family members, she said neighbors have shown up in surprising ways.

Before the fires, Roper’s backyard unit was decorated from her travels: little ships in a bottle, local art from international locations and a collection of letters from loved ones over the years. All of it was destroyed.

“That was one of the saddest things of losing my house, was losing all the letters and all the traveling things that I had picked up,” she said. But in a moment that really touched her, a teacher reached out to a charity group and got a collection of 20 letters sent to her, helping her feel like even the smallest passions could be rebuilt.

One of the first of the 1,200 families helped by Jay’s organization got a singing bowl and some albums after losing multiple instruments. The mother told Jay once the items arrived, the family was struck by how much they had missed having music in their life, he said.

These moments of compassion didn’t alleviate the pain of the last year’s devastation, but helped make it easier to move forward.

Two potential causes, no clear path forward

After a year of unthinkable loss, who is there to look to for answers?

The overwhelming response for many of the residents affected by the Eaton Fire seems to be a resounding “Southern California Edison,” which is accused by both Los Angeles County and the federal government of igniting the Eaton Fire with their equipment in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Based on current information, “it is likely that SCE equipment could have been associated with the ignition, and induction of the idle line remains a viable explanation,” the company said in a year-end update, adding it is “not aware of evidence pointing to another plausible source of ignition.” The cause is still under investigation, and SCE says it is “focusing on compensation and recovery.”

Many residents expressed anger at the company. “They started the fire. They should be held responsible for it,” Jay said.

When asked about such sentiments, SCE spokesperson Scott Johnson said, “It’s important to remember that everything that’s being done is an effort to recover from a tragedy. We recognize that each and every person that files a claim or accepts an offer is doing so because they have lost something or someone.”

Many Altadena residents are seeking compensation from SCE, either by suing them or through a program that offers qualified residents rates determined by the company in exchange for waiving further legal claims related to the Eaton Fire. As of January 5, over 1,800 claims have been submitted, with 82 offers totaling over $34.4 million made to residents since the program started at the end of October, the company told CNN.

But many say what the company is offering is not enough to rebuild or pay for the damage to their properties and other costs for recovery.

The company “is fully committed to helping the Altadena community recover,” said Johnson in responding to those complaints. He said the compensation program offers a wide variety of benefits, including three-and-a-half years’ worth of funding for interim housing for those who had a single-family home destroyed, and encourages “people to apply to receive a comprehensive offer and see all the program’s benefits.”

In the Palisades Fire, one person many residents are not aiming their frustration at is Jonathan Rinderknecht, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of starting a fire on New Year’s Eve that ultimately rekindled and sparked the Palisades Fire.

Instead of being angry at him, area residents said they are disappointed in the city for failing to make sure the initial fire was fully extinguished and for being ill-prepared for blazes despite high-risk fire warnings at the time.

“People have come to their own conclusions that there was an epic failure of our system,” Rogers said as she reflected on her discussions with community members.

In a statement on the one-year anniversary that was shared in response to CNN’s questions, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged the pain many of those impacted by the Palisades Fire are still feeling, and said she remains committed to restoring the community and getting families home as soon as possible.

“Full recovery is a long-term, multi-year effort that must leverage innovative solutions to protect the community for the future in the face of more frequent and severe climate threats,” she said, emphasizing the need for government, philanthropic organizations, the insurance industry and businesses to work together on those solutions.

Some Eaton Fire survivors also criticize Los Angeles County for the response, including delayed evacuation notices, and the lack of resources in its aftermath.

The County of Los Angeles Fire Department, which was in charge of responding to the Eaton Fire, made “every effort” to quickly bring fire resources from across the state “to respond to the three wildfires we were simultaneously fighting that evening,” it said in a statement to CNN.

Even so, the department was “overwhelmed and outpaced by the speed and unpredictability of the fire,” the statement said, calling it a “catastrophic event.” The agency added it is “committed to continuing to learn and improve,” and is working to “improve processes and incorporate after action review recommendations.”

“Progress has been made, but it has not always moved fast enough for people who lost everything,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents residents impacted by the Eaton Fire.

Since the fires, Barger has worked to address bureacratic delays, waive rebuilding and inspection fees and co-authored a plan to provide financial relief to those impacted by the fires, among other programs, said her spokesperson Helen E. Chavez Garcia.

“We must ensure residents can access the resources they are entitled to, secure stable housing, and return to their community so they can rebuild their lives without being buried in bureaucracy,” Barger said in a statement.

Marks, like many other residents, said more should be done to prepare for disasters.

“At a societal level, it’s a stain on our consciousness … it doesn’t matter if it’s perilous, doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous, it’s only after it’s disastrous do they do something about it,” she said, while discussing the feasibility of preventative measures like putting utility wires underground. SCE said they are working on investing in their infrastructure and plan to put about 153 distribution circuit miles underground in Altadena and Malibu, with 40 miles installed in 2025.

Despite the criticism, she also acknowledged the complexities in such a fire-prone region as Los Angeles. “I feel like that was a biblical fire,” Marks said of the Eaton Fire. “You can only prepare for so much.”

Even as residents look for relief from governments and corporations, they have stood together to take collective action, saying this is the way to move forward.

The week after Thanksgiving, a Los Angeles city council meeting was filled with Pacific Palisades residents pushing to get permit fees waived to ease rebuilding. Each time it came up for discussion, all the residents stood up in unison.

The vote was delayed, but Rogers said the image of them standing together was “really powerful,” just one example of how they have come together in the aftermath of disaster. “It was really remarkable to have people who are not family members, come together but treat each other like family we are.”

These people are what keeps Rogers coming back to the Palisades every day.

“My roots are there, my energy is still there,” she said. “I feel that love, and it’s like, oh, everything’s gonna be okay.”

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