In the Palisades and Altadena, recovery in wildfire zones moves into next stage

State and federal officials stood Tuesday in a Palisades neighborhood recently ravaged by flames, near bulldozers draped with American and California flags and surrounded by workers in hard hats and vests. They aimed to make their message clear: Rebuilding has begun.

The city, county and state officials, alongside representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, announced that Phase 2 of wildfire recovery was underway.

In Altadena, Gov. Gavin Newsom joined local leaders and residents to tout the beginning of Phase 2 clean-up at local homes.

“Every level of the government is here,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in the Palisades. The mayor was joined by Federal Emergency Management Agency acting administrator Cameron Hamilton, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California Office of Emergency Services.

Preceded by the Environmental Protection Agency’s required work of removing household hazardous materials like batteries and paint in Phase 1, Phase 2 involves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleaning up fire debris of homes where residents have opted in to the free program. If residents do not opt in, they can independently hire an outside entity to do the cleanup.

If homes were deemed unsafe for the EPA to enter for household hazardous waste removal because of dangerous debris, the Army Corps, if they have right-of-entry, go onto the property and make it safer, before working in conjunction with the EPA for hazardous waste removal and then proceeding with private property debris removal, Colonel Eric Swenson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.

This is the next step in recovery for the city after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires.

L.A. County Supervisor for the city’s third district, which includes the Palisades, Lindsey Horvath, said that 99% of residents in the Palisades opted in to have the Corps complete Phase 2.

“It’s exciting to be at this milestone so quickly in our journey,” Horvath said.

Part of the reason that Phase 2 has been reached so quickly is the experience the Corps and their subcontractors gained working in other wildfire disaster zones, including in Hawaii after the 2023 wildfires.

“We’re also applying many lessons from the Maui wildfire. Certainly, within our organization, we’re acting on what we learned in Hawaii and seeing that and I will share my gratitude for partners from FEMA… it’s a collaboration,” Major General Jason Kelley of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.

In Altadena, Newsom, flanked by L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the city’s fifth district, which includes Altadena, urged folks to fill out applications for right-of-entry for Army Corps of Engineer crews to clean up the properties. The right-of-entry forms are due to be submitted by March 31.

“In a matter of weeks, six weeks, seven weeks, we hope folks are out there starting the construction phase,” he said. “It’s not just 30 days, and then we begin the next phase. It’s not just that next phase, and then after six months, or nine months or a year and then we begin construction. All of this is happening concurrently. It’s happening at the same time.”

Newsom touted the speed of the debris removal, and the removal of red tape.

“This is twice as fast as the Woolsey fire debris removal. The fire in 2018. Faster still even compared to the fire in Paradise.”

He also echoed Barger, who thanked federal officials, including President Donald Trump for helping to make things happen so quickly.

“I spent an extended period of time with President Trump last week, in detail, walking through this process.”

The Corps’ work will continue through the rainstorm expected to emerge Wednesday and continue through Friday in Southern California, unless a safety risk emerges for the crews, environment or community, according to Swenson, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A light rain can actually be beneficial for the work, acting as a natural dust mitigator, but if further rain causes safety issues, work may be paused.

The hauling of debris and increased level of work in the area may cause an increase in traffic in the area of the Palisades. CalOES is “in the throes” of creating a traffic control plan, working with Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and with law enforcement and the state and city to figure out how to get trucks on and off of the Pacific Coast Highway “with as little interruption as possible to traffic,” according to Nancy Ward, spokesperson for CalOES.

Newsom also acknowledged emerging questions over congestion caused by trucks hauling debris in a city already known around the world for its traffic.

“We’re looking at new strategies to address the issue around congestion, for example on the PCH, concerns around how you get these trucks in and out in a 24 hour operation, so we’re looking at dedicated lanes,” he said. “We’re looking at strategies to stress test these landfills. And I mean by stress testing that’s about ingress and egress into landfills. It’s not just the availability, which we have for this debris to go into a landfill, but it’s the ability to get the scales and the weights done, and to make you’ve got the ramps so that we make sure we keep these operations going.”

“I know this is hard. We’re well aware of the friction around staging areas. These are temporary issues,” he said.