Rising from the Ashes

July 2026

Rising from the Ashes

L.A. County agencies have done a remarkable job of leading wildfire recovery, but there’s still plenty of work to do

The January 2025 firestorms reminded us that wildfires aren't just a threat to forests — they can affect neighborhoods, businesses and lives across Los Angeles County. As our climate changes, preparing for wildfire is no longer something only foothill communities need to think about. It's part of building a more resilient County for everyone.

The good news is that preparedness works. The choices we make before the next fire starts can help protect our families, our communities and the places we call home. Here we take a deep dive into the recovery process and how the CSO is helping make a safer, more secure region.

It has been 18 months since the devastating January 2025 wildfires in our region. What can be said about recovery at this stage?

It is difficult to define recovery following a disaster, as the impacts and restoration needs are different for any individual or household, commercial, civic, or social hub, and for public and private infrastructure. There is good internal and publicly available County data on the private property recovery status, as well as an externally developed quarterly survey of impacts, progress, and ongoing unmet needs of fire survivors. The County maintains a Permitting Progress Dashboard for L.A. County Unincorporated Areas, which is updated daily. This data shows that, as of mid-July 2026, nearly 60% of the 6,571 damaged/destroyed parcels have rebuilding applications into the County. Nearly 50% have building permits. Although only 122 homes have been fully rebuilt, more than 1,900 are under construction. This website also provides links to the permit tracking resources for the cities of Pasadena, Malibu, and Los Angeles.

The numbers show that there is still a significant percentage of impacted property owners who have not yet formally started the rebuilding process. They also do not speak to the challenges renters and other commercial entities are facing. The Department of Angels, an independent nonprofit founded in the immediate aftermath of the fires, has, among other support for fire-impacted communities, issued quarterly survey results providing a consistent assessment of recovery needs. The most recent quarterly findings were released in July 2026 and show high numbers of fire survivors still displaced, financial strains and exhausted or declining assistance, and resource gaps for rebuilding.

What innovations or partnerships has the County instituted in support of recovery?

To address the scale of the problem, what the County set out to do directly, and through partnerships and innovation, was to provide opportunities to save costs and time. To reduce direct costs, the County eventually decided to waive permit fees for single-family homes (and accessory structures) for properties that were owner occupied pre-fire (and reimburse those that had already paid). Saving time also can save money. The County created many options to ease and expedite the decision-making process for those working to rebuild. These include:

• on-property temporary housing permissions and allowing the building and occupancy of an accessory dwelling unit prior to the primary dwelling’s completion;
• like-for-like structure replacement permissions for a home built to approximately the same size and location as the pre-fire structure, and built to current energy, water, and fire codes;
• pre-approved plans, a catalogue of ready-designed and approved homes to choose from, including many that are default all-electric and Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) code compliant;
• a self-certification process for structure safety sign-off by contractors/designers;
• the bundling of projects by contractors, while having one County point of contact;
• an AI e-plans pre-check process to ensure submitted applications are as complete and correct as possible before initial County review; and
• an interactive online map platform, CanIBuild, that shows a property owner the permitted building envelope and which pre-approved plans work for that property.

This is all available at the County’s Recovery website, Rebuilding 101.

The recovery process is complex, encompassing different communities, different utility leads, and different geographic context. How is the County structuring this critical coordination?

Governance, funding, and financing present challenges across two impact areas—each with different roles and authorities for the County. The County Board of Supervisors continues to direct departments to advance critical recovery efforts through many motions, funding, and new programs. It also established two Disaster Recovery Finance Districts — one each for Altadena and Unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains. It also recently established a Disaster Recovery Rebuild Authority for Unincorporated County impact areas, whose work is forming and will play a critical role moving forward for infrastructure project development, design, and delivery. These governance, financing, and implementation structures are essential and position the County to accelerate progress once additional resources are available through either the dedicated tax increments to the two Disaster Recovery Financing Districts or supplemental federal and state funding.

Recognizing the challenges ahead absent supplemental state or federal funding, the County remains committed to effective management of current resources, maintenance and creation of partnerships to support recovery. It also vows to maximize the potential of the Disaster Recovery Financing Districts and County Rebuild Authority, including infrastructure master plans, engagement and project delivery with/for other utilities, community engagement, and potential private property support.

In February 2025, Supervisor Horvath convened the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery. In June 2025, the panel released its final recommendations. How has the County progressed these external expert recommendations?

The Blue Ribbon Commission provided recommendations in support of a resilient recovery and climate action ahead of any next disaster. A grant from the California Community Foundation funded the work. Some 20 local and national leaders served on the Commission, from diverse professional backgrounds, and were supported by a UCLA-led research team. That unit incorporated subject matter research and academic expertise.

The CSO, in partnership with County departments, recently completed a report to the Board. The review reported progress of County departments on the Commission’s recommendations; suggested further action by County departments; and highlighted efforts that must be led by others outside the County’s jurisdiction. Attachment I of the report summarizes information CSO reviewed and received on departments’ progress related to the recommendations. And though not all of the panel’s suggestions are actionable at the County level, additional information is provided for these when available.