There was a town hall last night regarding debris removal, if you didn’t catch it, HERE is the link to the Youtube video. It’s worth watching.
Essentially the clean up is split into two parts and as Mayor Bass kept stressing that this effort is being led by the County of Los Angeles, not the City:
PHASE I: EPA CLEANUP, FREE to the residents. FEMA has assigned the EPA to assess, remove, and safely dispose hazardous materials from all burned areas. These are household items like lithium batteries, and chemicals (think of the ones in your garage and cleaning supplies). You can follow the status of their clean up on their website: https://www.epa.gov/ca/2025-california-wildfires OR call 1.833.798.7372. They are estimating it’ll be a few hours per household, but there are 15,000 household per the spokesperson. They are starting today, Monday 1/27/2025
PHASE II: After the EPA certify the lot free of hazardous material. You move onto Private Property Debris Removal or PPDR phase. You have two choices:
1.OPTION ONE: Hire your own contractor for debris removal. They must be licensed by the state, and it cannot just be a general contractor. This was quoted as much as $170,000. Porperty owners who elect to opt-out of the government-sponsored program will be required to obtain County approval prior to removing any fire debris.
2.OPTION TWO: Government-sponsored program. led by the Army Corp of Engineers. You will have to sign a Right of Entry (ROE) to give the federal government the right to enter your site for debris removal. This program is FREE to those without debris removal in their insurance policy or without insurance. For this with insurance, the county will access the fund available for debris removal provided by the insurance. I encourage everyone to sign up for this government sponsored program. This is why we pay taxes. The more homeowners sign up the more they can organize by area and sooner they can get this done. Check https://pw.lacounty.gov/epd/debris-removal/ The portal is now open: https://recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal/ You can download the opt-in and opt-out form on the website. There will be an option to see if you want the foundation to be removed or not. You should confirm with your structural engineer or architect. Typical 18” pier footing should be removed, due to the high heat caused by the fire. The rebar within those footings probably have melted. The homes with caisson and full basement will require core samples examined by structural engineer to verify if it should be removed or not. the deadline for this is MARCH 31, 2025. They will not remove swimming pools and spas. You should check with your pool contractor on this. THIS is the link for what to do after a fire for swimming pools.
Meanwhile, you can still submit your plans to LADBS for review. Regardless, you’ll need to obtain an existing plan for your insurance or your mortgage company. HERE is the link to the form to request for blueprint of your home. Mayor Bass indicated in her news conference yesterday that the one-stop portal for plan check submittal should be open next week or the week after. https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/la-mayor-karen-bass-gives-update-on-palisades-fire-recovery-efforts-rebuilding-socal/
Hope this helps. Have a great week!
XO May