Californians rally in anger over rebuilding efforts one year following LA wildfires

Residents of the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood in Los Angeles rallied this week to demand accountability from elected officials on the one-year anniversary of the devastating wildfires that destroyed thousands of buildings across Southern California.

Hundreds of people gathered to voice their anger at state and local leaders, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and senior fire officials, according to US media reports.

Although most of California’s political leadership is Democratic, many demonstrators stressed that their criticism was not driven by party politics but by what they described as a disastrous response to the fires that erupted on January 7, 2025. The blazes tore through large swathes of the state’s coastal neighbourhoods and were not fully contained until the end of the month. While California regularly battles wildfires because of its climate and terrain, the 2025 fires ranked as the third-most destructive in state history and the worst Los Angeles has ever experienced.

“We didn't have water, we didn't have reservoirs, we didn't have personnel, and there was no emergency response,” said Jeremy Padawer, organizer of the “They let us burn” rally.

Anger has persisted even after the October arrest of a suspected arsonist. City Councilmember Traci Park and affected families have continued to voice outrage not only at the accused, who remains in custody without bail, but also at what they describe as persistent insurance disputes, bureaucratic delays and reports that foreign entities and hedge funds have begun quietly buying up fire-damaged lots from families who have lost hope of returning.

She told Fox News Digital that LA had been "not well prepared" for the disaster. "These are constituents who feel that they were really, in many ways, let down on January 7th, 2025," Park said. "All of the systems that we desperately needed to work on that day in history failed around them."

The Palisades Fire was one of eight major wildfires that burned simultaneously across Southern California in January 2025, alongside the deadly Eaton Fire.

In Altadena, survivors of the Eaton Fire gathered at the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s community center, underscoring their determination to keep fighting for the right to return home.

Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivor Network, said the past year had been the most difficult of their lives, marked by unimaginable grief over the 31 people who died that day and the hundreds who have since died prematurely, as well as the loss of homes, jobs and incomes, and a deep erosion of residents’ sense of safety and identity.

Many families remain in limbo. Only about 14% to 16% of rebuilding permits have been issued, and more than 70% of Altadena residents are still displaced.

Despite their differences, the Palisades and Altadena communities share similar frustrations with insurance companies, government agencies and disaster scammers. However, their anger has been directed at different targets. In Altadena, activists have focused on real estate speculators, the county fire department and Southern California Edison, which is suspected of triggering the Eaton Fire. In the more affluent Palisades area, criticism has continued to mount against Mayor Bass, the Los Angeles Fire Department and state agencies.

In the months since the fires, residents who lost everything have faced an uphill struggle to rebuild. According to city statistics analysed by the Los Angeles magazine, not a single homeowner whose property burned has been able to return as of January 7, 2026. In Pacific Palisades, just one certificate of occupancy has been issued, for a house that was already being rebuilt before the fire, alongside 933 rebuilding permits. In Malibu, no certificates of occupancy have been granted and only 454 building permits have been issued.

By Nazrin Sadigova