Nearly Five Months After The Eaton Fire, Only 15 Permits Issued To Altadena Homeowners

On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed frustration with the lack of building permits issued to homeowners to rebuild following the devastating Eaton Fire.

As of last Friday, just 15 building permits have been issued to property owners that lost their homes in the Eaton Fire.

“We are simply not meeting the mark,” Barger said during her weekly address updating the progress of efforts to rebuild the community.

“I hear your frustrations and quite frankly I share them.”

The fire led to the deaths of at least 18 people, destroyed more than 9,000 buildings and scorched more than 14,000 acres, making it one of the deadliest fires in the state’s history.

After the fire, County officials guaranteed a swift rebuild process.

However, for most people that has not been the case.

Many local residents were underinsured and face further burdens due to the high cost of building permits and delays in the County’s burdensome process.

Barger said she has once again directed the County’s Public Works Department to drill down on the issue.

“We must understand where the bottlenecks are. The roots of the delays and how we fix them now.”

Barger said she continues to fight against the red tape delaying rebuilding.

In April, Barger introduced a successful motion that called on the County to create a Unified Permitting Authority (UPA) within the Altadena One-Stop Recovery Permitting Center to expedite the residential rebuilding process.

A “strike team” of senior-level staff from Regional Planning, Public Works, Fire and Public Health and other key County departments involved in approving rebuilding plans was also scheduled to be created as part of the motion.

“Recovery cannot and should not wait,” Barger said.

Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers continues to remove fire and ash debris from residential properties impacted by the fire.

There are 56 debris removal crews in Altadena. Debris has been removed from 5,150 properties, more than half of the residential properties destroyed by the fire.

Fifty-six crews continue to work in Altadena, a decline from the number of crews in recent weeks.

“As we continue to crew down, you should see less trucks on the road,” said Cpl. Sonny Archival. “And less debris crews on the streets.”

Archival said the Army Corps is waiting to hear from Federal Emergency Management Agency about the inclusion of commercial properties in Altadena. A decision on that matter is expected within the next week.