Over the last year, the Los Angeles Times published countless letters to the editor related to the Eaton and Palisades fires. They’ve included messages of solidarity, expressions of grief, frustrations over the fire response and recovery, and demands for accountability, all of them published as L.A. and its residents continue to unravel exactly what happened.
As we approached the one-year mark, I checked in with some Times readers who had letters published over the last year to see what has changed and what hasn’t. What are their thoughts on the recovery efforts? What questions about the response and recovery remain unanswered? What has given them hope in these challenging months? How can Los Angeles avoid devastation on this level in the future? And if they lost their homes, how is their rebuilding going?
In response we received emotional reflections of loss, gratitude for the resilience of L.A.’s communities and, still, calls for answers and accountability. They serve as a reminder that a year later recovery is far from over, but Californians press forward still.
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To the editor: On Jan. 7, 2025, my home, my belongings and my community were reduced to ashes. My initial feeling was shock. How could I have lived so precariously on the edge for 35 years in my little paradise?
Fire had never crossed Sunset Boulevard from the mountains, my husband, the native, told me so many times and again the morning of the Palisades fire. When the fire was in the mountains and the smoke became troubling, he told me to come to his office in Santa Monica. If I had really believed we were in danger, of course I would have brought my cats.
A few hours later, we got an evacuation notice and we desperately tried to get back to rescue our cats, but law enforcement blocked every roadway. I lost all hope. We watched our home burn in footage from a neighbor’s Ring camera before their home burned as well.
What was lost? Photo albums that can never be replaced, going back to generations of my immigrant ancestors. My wedding album from pre-digital days. My children’s art and our diaries. My grandmother’s self-portrait. My community where I served on many boards and walked into town and into the mountains daily. My false sense of security.
What remained? Unbelievably, my cats. An amazing rescue nonprofit, Viva Rescue, captured my two cats on video before actually rescuing them weeks after the fire. They had been returning to the rubble of our home every night. The reunion with my cats at the veterinary ER in Santa Monica was like getting back pieces of my broken heart.
Our safety deposit box somehow survived the total destruction of our bank. In it was my great-grandmother’s ring, brought from Russia as she escaped pogroms.
Also our temple, Kehillat Israel on Sunset, somehow remained untouched.
What was gained? Perspective and freedom from possessions. We all know we can’t take it with us. But only losing almost everything in an instant can truly bring this awareness home. And surprisingly, this sudden realization brought my husband and me a sense of relief and freedom. We now know for sure that we are not our possessions and that all we really need is each other.
Lisa Kaas Boyle, Nashville, Tenn.
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To the editor: There has been so much that has come out over the past year that tells us that the devastation of this fire could have been prevented. People across the country need to watch the “Paradise Abandoned” short documentary on YouTube by Rob Montz.
The Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty at the time of the fires and now needs to be drained again, since the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power can’t figure out how to replace the reservoir cover without emptying it. And the head of the LADWP still has a job?
What’s happening with the federal aid of $40 billion that Gov. Gavin Newsom asked for?
Why can’t the L.A. City Council figure out how to waive the permit fees for the Palisades homes that were lost? Mayor Karen Bass recommended this, but it is up to the City Council. The county waived fees for Altadena.
Insurance companies gladly took our premiums and agreed to specific coverage. Now that we have lost everything, why aren’t they paying us?
Why can’t sales taxes be waived on rebuilding materials?
FireAid raised more than $100 million for recovery efforts. When I watched the concert, I was hopeful that those funds would be distributed directly to fire victims, considering the various profiles featured throughout the evening of affected families. Instead, the money was funneled to various nonprofits (some with CEOs earning six-figure salaries), leaving many victims outraged.
We feel lucky to be part of the Alphabet Streets neighborhood of the Palisades, where people are coming together to help one another and many homes are already under construction, including ours. We can’t wait to get back home.
Jill Smith, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Firstly, I want to thank and congratulate the Los Angeles Times in particular for the ongoing, often in-depth coverage of the Eaton and Palisades fires and their aftermath, and for documenting the struggles of the thousands of newly homeless survivors.
For those of us trying to rise up from the devastating loss of our beloved Altadena homes and community, the regular news coverage has been a vital source of moral support, as well as information. We need to know that we are not forgotten and that the greater community still cares. It sustains us.
Even more, witnessing the overwhelming outpouring of support in those immediate weeks after the calamity (and since) that came from scores of volunteering residents and organizations throughout L.A. County and beyond has been so beautiful and inspirational. The kindness of strangers made survivors feel loved, valued and not alone. These acts of generosity continue to this day.
I am proud to be a resident of greater Los Angeles. GoFundMe published a study recently showing that in 2025, Los Angeles was the top giving city in the U.S. I believe it. The goodness in the hearts of our people here lifted me up.
In the face of the horrific cruelty being enacted by the current president of this country and his enablers, knowing we can rely on each other, our neighbors, for compassion and help means the world.
Walter Dominguez, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Regarding the Palisades fire, I’m very disappointed in the Los Angeles Fire Department. Knowing that Temescal Canyon is extremely susceptible to brush fires, it should have taken better care in making sure that the Lachman fire was fully extinguished. I place most of the blame on then-Fire Chief Kristin Crowley.
I don’t blame Mayor Bass for the city’s response. However, I do think she was overwhelmed and lacked the necessary experience in handling a major emergency.
Regarding the Eaton fire, the emergency response system was clearly not prepared. Alerts were delayed for hours at the height of the fire. There should be more transparency as to what happened and, if necessary, leaders of the emergency command staff and the county board of supervisors should be held accountable.
Because Altadena is an unincorporated area, I am concerned that residents and businesses in the area will not receive the resources they deserve. The American Planning Assn. and a task force led by UCLA have made several recommendations. I just hope the county and others take heed of them.
Speaking broadly about the state’s response, it is not clear that the Department of Insurance is acting in the best interest of consumers and policyholders. Insurance companies should at least partially cover costs for brush clearance, building resilience, better landscaping, etc.
The current bill mandating landscaping buffers should also be reconsidered. The jury is still out on whether barring vegetation in a five-foot zone around buildings is the best approach. My landscaper has told me that if everything is well-watered and the dead brush is removed, then it should be fine. I saw examples of this with the Eaton fire.
Stewart Chesler, Granada Hills
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To the editor: Almost a year after the Palisades fire torched Malibu on Jan. 7, 2025, a November survey conducted by the Malibu Rebuild Task Force, which I chair, exposes a community still smoldering in red tape. With 70 homeowners voicing their “biggest need,” more than half fixated on permits: “A permit so I can go home,” one begged. “Expedite the permit process,” echoed others, slamming “delays” and “unnecessary geo reviews” that “cost residents and the city millions of dollars and months and months of time — they are needless and need to be eliminated.”
Frustration boils over in comments: “It’s criminal that Malibu has only approved three permits. Meanwhile, the Palisades has homes that are getting ready for occupancy,” one fumed. “Stop moving the goalposts,” another demanded, decrying “different requirements” and “super-expensive changes” to unaffected property like driveways and retaining walls.
Financial woes compound the pain: “Takes too long to get a permit, how are we going to pay rent after we run out of insurance money? … We are paying $15k a month.” Elderly voices add heartbreak: “At 83, I think the most important thing for me is time. Can I finish this project before I’m not here anymore?”
Despite city pledges to streamline — waiving fees, adding case managers — progress lags. As of late December, only 22 rebuild permits have been issued for Malibu’s 720 destroyed structures, far behind Pacific Palisades. This isn’t recovery; it’s neglect.
Malibu’s historic slow growth mindset has compounded the woes. City Hall must cut the tape, favor residents over bureaucracy and deliver on promises. As one respondent urged, “Streamline everything.” Malibu deserves to rise from the ashes — now.
Abe Roy, Malibu
This writer is chair of the Malibu Rebuild Task Force.
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To the editor: Much has changed since my family evacuated our Altadena home during the Eaton fire. The area is filled with empty lots, construction and salvage trucks. Many people are still without safe housing as they battle insurance companies that deny or slow-walk claims (my family was displaced for eight months).
As we rebuild, Los Angeles County is missing an opportunity to create a safer, climate-resilient community.
Public works crews have bulldozed mature trees that slowed embers, protected homes and cooled neighborhoods during increasingly hot summers. Despite the botched, deadly evacuation of West Altadena, the county is permitting new homes without updated evacuation plans. It’s providing scant resources for home-hardening or rooftop solar, which could reduce the cost of burying power lines and eliminate the need for methane gas lines.
But the biggest missed opportunity belongs to the state. These efforts require funding.
While Altadenans are shouldering skyrocketing building and insurance costs, the world’s largest oil companies — whose pollution generated the climate chaos contributing to these and other climate-fueled disasters — got off scot-free.
California needs to make polluters pay their fair share. The Climate Superfund bills, Senate Bill 684 and Assembly Bill 1243, would require these corporate polluters to invest a small share of their massive profits in affordable clean energy. This would help our state fight the climate emergency, better prepare for the next disaster and lower household bills. This legislation has broad, bipartisan support from Californians. The Legislature must stop dragging its feet and pass a Climate Superfund bill.
Maya Golden-Krasner, Altadena
This writer is deputy director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.