It has been one year since the Eaton and Palisades fires ravaged whole neighborhoods in greater LA, such as Altadena, and resulted in the death of 31 people. Though the fires were not in Downtown, their effects could be felt \u2014 atmospheric degradation was visible as the city\u2019s famed skyline became shrouded in a heavy smoke. Downtown remained under high-level air quality alerts for weeks. The county suffered an estimated billions of dollars in lost economic output, and the loss of thousands of homes led to an increase in demand for housing in the urban center.<\/p>\n
A report by the LA Economic Development Corporation categorized Downtown LA as part of the “Secondary Fire Area”\u2014 zones crippled by smoke, road closures and employee displacement. Total output losses across all affected zones are projected between $5.2 billion and $10.1 billion.<\/p>\n
In February, throughout the greater LA area, residents and business leaders came together to support victims of the wildfires. Some offered free services; others gave away food \u2014 all were trying their hardest to support LA.<\/p>\n
In October, arrests were made.<\/p>\n
A former Pacific Palisades resident was charged with maliciously starting what eventually became the Palisades Fire.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rinderknecht, or \u201cJonathan Rinder,\u201d of Melbourne, Florida, was charged with destruction of property by means of fire. If convicted, he would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n
Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe complaint alleges that a single person\u2019s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,\u201d said Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli. \u201cWhile we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In November, rebuilding took hold: The city issued its first approvals under the Standard Plan Pilot Program for single-family homes, providing pre-approved, code-compliant architectural designs that reduce permitting time and cost.<\/p>\n
The program, designed to help individuals rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades after wildfires earlier this year, allows homeowners to choose from a library of designs already approved by Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety for full code compliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe City of Los Angeles remains laser-focused on expediting the rebuilding of homes, businesses, and community spaces in the Palisades to get families home, no matter what it takes,\u201d said Mayor Karen Bass. \u201cThe City\u2019s Standard Plan Pilot Program is just one of many tools now available to residents to fast-track the plan check process and get them home sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only a small portion of Altadena has been rebuilt, and the impact of the wildfires will be felt throughout Los Angeles for decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been one year since the Eaton and Palisades fires ravaged whole neighborhoods in greater LA, such…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":493745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,5810,222289,147964,2961,222290,224,207564,5337,17254],"class_list":{"0":"post-493744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-eaton-fire","11":"tag-jonathan-rinder","12":"tag-jonathan-rinderknecht","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-economic-development-corporation","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-fire","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-palisades-fire"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115841724905084174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}