1 Year Later, Life Is Far From Back To Normal For Palisades And Eaton Fire Survivors

Wednesday marks a year since the lives of thousands of Los Angeles County residents were upended by a pair of wildfires that burned through heavily populated areas on either end of the county, killing at least 31 people and destroying 16,000 structures, many of them homes.

Twelve months after the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, life is far from back to normal for the vast majority of people who call the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas home.

"Anniversaries like this reopen wounds, especially for households still navigating insurance disputes and the slow, exhausting process of rebuilding," county Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said.

While the embers were still smoldering and the ashes still piled up last January, it wasn't uncommon to hear the fire areas compared to a war zone. Now, rows and rows of spotless vacant lots make for a macabre pastoral scene — Mother Nature's own recovery happening at a quicker-than-human pace.

“You could not see the (neighborhood’s) downtown, you could not see the water – now you can, without any houses there,” Sara Trepanier said of the Palisades lot in the Via Bluffs where her Spanish-style home once stood.

RELATED: Palisades And Eaton Fires Anniversary: A Look Back At Recovery And Milestones One Year Later

Despite efforts at the local, county and state levels to expedite the issuance of permits, rebuilding efforts are being delayed due to rising costs, as well as other challenges fire survivors face with their insurers. For those who had insurance, it’s often not enough to cover the costs of construction. Relief organizations are stepping in to help, but progress is slow.

'We Made It'

The city of Los Angeles has issued just two certificates of occupancy for rebuilt homes in and around the Palisades, which means the houses are move-in ready. The city received 3,072 applications for rebuilding at 1,399 addresses; 1,446 permits have been issued, according to the city's online dashboard.

The county has reported seven completed construction projects in Altadena and unincorporated areas near the Palisades and issued one certificate of occupancy to an Altadena resident Ted Koerner in December. It received 2,899 rebuild applications and a total of 1,460 building plans have been finalized and approved, according to county documents.

About 900 homes are under construction in both fire areas, potentially on pace to be completed later this year.

Koerner, 67, liquidated about 80% of his retirement holdings, secured contractors quickly, and moved decisively through the rebuilding process as his insurance payout was tied up.

Koerner was driven in part by fear that his beloved golden retriever, Daisy Mae, now 13 years old, might not live long enough to move into a new home, given the many months it can take to build even under the best circumstances.

“That’s the only way we were going to get it done before all of a sudden my dog starts having labored breathing or something else happens,” Koerner said.

Once construction began, his home was completed in just over four months.

Daisy Mae is back lying in her favorite spot in the yard under a 175-year-old Heritage Oak. Koerner said he enjoys his morning coffee while watching her and it brings tears to his eyes.

“We made it,” he said.

'I Just Had To Get It Done'

Only one in four families have returned to the Palisades after the fire, according to Jim Cragg, president of the relief group Pali LTRG.

While the task of rebuilding is a gargantuan and frustrating one for families and the community at large, Cragg said the neighborhood is on the right track.

"It's very difficult to say that to a person who wants to have their home rebuilt in a year," Cragg said. "We're ahead of Lahaina, Maui. We're ahead of Altadena. But that doesn't bring a lot of solace to a person who's still living in a rental somewhere and their kids are traumatized and wanting to go back to their old life."

Trepanier’s family is on track to be one of the earliest to return to the Palisades. After her house burned down, she quickly determined a modular home would be the best choice to replace it. Their home is set to be move-in ready by the end of May, she said.

“I’m a single mom so it was all me – I just had to get it done,” she said. “I had to learn about insurance and insurance coverages and how that all worked. I had to learn about what forbearance means … I’m an ER doc, so I make decisions rapidly. I could only see this one path to rebuilding the house.”

If she tried to sell the lot – which was not only the site of the family home of her dreams, but also a big part of her retirement plan – Trepanier, 57, would have likely lost $1 million compared to what she paid for the house and be stuck in debt.

She interviewed 13 different builders, who quoted her around $1,000 per square foot to rebuild the home her neighbors affectionately called the “pink palace” – with no guarantee of a building start date. Already paying a mortgage for the value of a house that no longer exists, Trepanier could see if she went that route she would never get her money back, she said.

Roof and Realm, which manufacturers modular homes in the Bay Area, was the clear choice, she said. Her home, which she custom designed, is currently under construction in a massive factory. When it’s finished, it will be trucked down in 10 pieces to LA and placed on a foundation on her lot by a crane – with nearly everything, even the kitchen cabinets, already in place.

Last year, the company’s customers paid between $350 to $500 per square foot, along with an extra $50 to $100 per square foot for on-site infrastructure costs, according to CEO Fatima Shahid.

“People appreciate that they did not have to go through the very detached and discombobulated requirements of building a home the traditional way – hire an architect, hire a structural engineer, hire this guy for this, that guy for that. You put a year of work into all of this and you barely have put a dent in the whole process – you’re barely even ready to submit a building permit,” Shahid told Patch.

Another major benefit: With steel studs, boxed eaves, standing-seam roofs, mesh ventilation and a specific type of insulation, Shahid said her company’s homes are fire retardant.

“In the talks with our neighbors, things have been clear: You have to build a fire resilient home because you won't get it insured – at all,” Trepanier said.

• Read more about Sara Trepanier's story at the GoFundMe page set up by her friend

Insurance Payout Gaps

Many homeowners are stuck as they figure out whether they can pay for the rebuilding process.

Scores of residents have left their communities for good. More than 600 properties where a single-family home was destroyed in the wildfires have been sold, according to real estate data tracker Cotality.

“We’re seeing huge gaps between the money insurance is paying out, to the extent we have insurance, and what it will actually cost to rebuild and/or remediate our homes,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, a group of 10,000 fire survivors mostly from Altadena.

By December, less than 20% of people who experienced total home loss had closed out their insurance claims, according to a survey by the nonprofit Department of Angels.

About one-third of insured respondents had policies with State Farm, the state’s largest private insurer, or the California FAIR plan, the insurer of last resort. They reported high rates of dissatisfaction with both, citing burdensome requirements, lowball estimates, and dealing with multiple adjusters.

In November, Los Angeles County opened a civil investigation into State Farm’s practices and potential violations of the state’s Unfair Competition law. Chen said the group has seen a flurry of substantial payouts since then.

Without answers from insurance, households can’t commit to rebuilding projects that can easily exceed $1 million.

“They’re worried about getting started and running out of money,” Chen said.

Read more of Patch's coverage of the Palisades and Eaton fire anniversaries:

• Fire Survivors Discover Music's Power To Facilitate Healing
• Palisades And Eaton Fires Anniversary: A Look Back At Recovery And Milestones One Year Later
• Newsom Proclaims January 7 As Day of Remembrance For Los Angeles Fires
• 1 Year After Fires, LAUSD Looks To Expedite Rebuilding Of Palisades Schools
• LAFD Chief Addresses Criticisms, Touts New Tools Ahead Of 1-Year Anniversary Of Palisades Fire
• Newsom Announces $107M For Affordable Rental Homes To Aid LA Fire Survivors

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.