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Fire survivors who lost their homes have until April 15 to decide whether to join a government program to clear their lots, or to opt out and hire a private contractor to do the job instead. FEMA recently extended that deadline, which was March 31, and expanded eligibility to include condos and multi-family homes. The goal is to get people who haven't yet signed up to do so.
County officials are urging everyone who is on the fence to join the program, emphasizing that property owners can always pull out later. And the vast majority of eligible residents have done so — nearly 9,800 out of more than 12,000 eligible land parcels as of the latest count. But questions about cleanup and concerns about insurance money remain for homeowners.
How is the debris removal going? The government program is led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Their "Phase 2" clean up is now 7% complete, according to an online tracker that reports 949 properties have had their debris removal completed. Col. Eric Swenson said Friday that the Corps of Engineers has cleared visible debris from 1,850 land parcels, with a few final steps remaining.
" This program is the safest, fastest and most cost-effective way to ensure that your property is cleared for rebuilding, and I would recommend you sign up for our program," he said at a news conference on the fire debris removal program. A process with many steps Residents Frank Figueroa and Melissa Dowd-Figueroa lost their home in the Eaton Fire and have signed up for the government cleanup. They said it took weeks for the county to approve the forms they filled out to opt in to debris removal, and that the Corps of Engineers has cleaned up neighbors' plots but not their own.
" Our timeline is dictated by the bureaucracy of the county," Figueroa said. "However long they take to do each process is how long we have to stay in another living space. And if they don't complete that in a timely manner, we have to sell this property.
" The Corps of Engineers has a multi-step process for clearing debris from a property after it receives and accepts "right of entry" forms from L.A. County, according to Swenson.
First there's an assessment on the site that checks for hazardous trees and asbestos. When necessary, then there's asbestos abatement. After that, the primary debris clearing starts.
Swenson said his goal is to have teams working on more houses in the same neighborhood at once, and that a barrier to doing that has been that houses are on different timelines in the cleanup process. He said as more lots get through asbestos abatement, it will be easier to assign crews to more lots on the same block. " We don't like to move crews, but I also can't have a crew sit idle because there's no more properties that are ready for debris removal on that street," he said.
Insurance questions and concerns L.A. county officials say a big reason people have opted out or not decided on the government program is insurance.
The fire debris removal program is meant to be free, but L.A. County will try to recoup insurance money once the cleanup is complete.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' contractors are not removing structures like pools, patios and driveways from properties, meaning some homeowners may need to hire a private contractor to finish the job.
The county's fire recovery website says that property owners can use their insurance money to do cleanup that is not covered by the government program, and that the county will only collect insurance money that remains after that process is complete. "The county may later request a portion of the remaining insurance proceeds, but only after your home is rebuilt or all debris has been cleared," L.A.
County Public Works Chief Deputy Director Angela George-Moody said Friday. What it takes to 'opt out' Altadena resident Lara Lund opted to have her private insurance remove the debris of her home, which she said cleared her whole property including her driveway at the same time. Those that choose to opt out of the government cleanup need to submit a form and then apply for a fire debris removal permit — a process Lund described as frustrating.
L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said Friday that she was concerned about residents' stories that getting those permits was challenging.
But she also said the permitting process for private contractors is necessary to ensure debris is properly handled. "My biggest concern is that we're gonna get contractors up here who are not licensed who are gonna end up taking it up to the Antelope Valley and dumping it in the desert," she said. "So I want to make sure that we are ensuring that whoever is opting out is using a licensed contractor.
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It should not be difficult to get a permit." Questions about rebuilding The debris clearing process is just the beginning of a lengthy journey for families who want to rebuild in fire zones. Barger said Friday that for the area affected by the Eaton Fire, LA County's Department of Regional Planning has approved just 23 of 132 applications for rebuilding.
The Department of Public Works has approved building permits for two of those 23 applications. " Of the two permits approved, they are both still pending clearance, one for debris removal and the other for clearances from other departments such as fire," she said. "These numbers are simply not acceptable.
We must move faster with a sense of urgency." Raymundo Baltazar and his husband are planning to rebuild after losing their home in the Eaton Fire. He said they've signed up for the government debris removal program.
Now, they're waiting for the call that it's their turn for cleanup. " The timeline has been OK," he said. "But we want to go home.
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