One year ago Wednesday, the lives of thousands of Southern California residents were thrown into turmoil amid punishing hurricane-force Santa Ana winds that drove a pair of massive wildfires through heavily populated neighborhoods, killing more than two dozen people and permanently changing the local landscape.
A year following the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, many survivors are still picking up the pieces from the destruction, while others are mourning the loss of loved ones and most are wondering when — or if — they’ll be able to rebuild.
Combined, the fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena that erupted on Jan. 7, 2025, killed at least 31 people, destroyed 16,000 structures and displaced thousands of residents. People who lived it can vividly recall the chaos as the infernos spread.
Sara Trepanier — a Navy veteran, emergency medicine physician and single mother of four kids — lost her home in the Palisades fire. She recalled seeing the fire in the hills and being uncertain of whether she should pack and evacuate. There was no official communication, she added.
“In the beginning there were planes dropping water,” she told City News Service. “But at the end, there were no fire trucks. There was just smoke. It was like a ghost town.”
Trepanier eventually evacuated with her kids to Venice. She later relocated with her two daughters to a friend’s house in Orange County, then moved into an apartment in Culver City, and later to Santa Monica, where her girls would be closer to their temporary school. Palisades Charter High School was heavily damaged in the fire as well.
“I cried for six months after that. I could not cope with it. The whole thing was a shock,” Trepanier told CNS.
On top of the emotional loss, the financial consequences still haunt her.
“It’s a big financial loss for us. You’re still paying the mortgage on the lot, and you’re paying to try to get money for the rebuild, including taking out more loans, disaster loans, and still paying for your house,” Trepanier said.
Trepanier is on track to have her home rebuilt in May 2026. While she’s looking forward to the rebuild, she feels like the Los Angeles Fire Department and top city officials failed her and Pacific Palisades.
“I don’t think they valued the Palisades. I don’t think they prioritized us,” Trepanier told CNS.
“During the time when the fire occurred, the Methodist Church was still standing after the first night, but they never returned. I mean, where in the U.S. would you let a part of your city burn for three days without intervention? It makes no sense?” Trepanier added.
Trepanier said she will be attending events this week to commemorate the anniversary. Among them will be a White Glove Flag Presentation and Remembrance Ceremony hosted by the Palisades American Legion Post 283 and Pacific Palisades Long Term Recovery Group.
Jim Cragg, board chair and president of Pali LTRG, encouraged Pacific Palisadians to attend their event and meet members of the group. Pali LTRG is an organization dedicated to identifying and connecting local fire survivors to relief resources.
“I want Palisadians to feel a hug. We want to put our arms around each other, whether it’s literally or figuratively,” Cragg told CNS in a teleconference interview Monday. “I want our children to feel loved and supported. I want our elderly to feel connected.”
Twelve families who lost family members will be sitting in the front row, and behind them will be 100 Palisadians who lost but are working to recover their community.
The group itself was created by community leaders with support by the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. A similar group called the Eaton Fire Collaborative LTRG was formed to aid recovery in Altadena, an unincorporated area of L.A. County.
Pali LTRG’s work is to contact and connect thousands of families with the LTRG program, get them signed up and get them in front of disaster case managers, according to Cragg. He noted the task can be difficult as only one in four families have returned to Pacific Palisades.
“We have people who are making life-changing decisions every day, to buy a new house, to move, to live and take their children and move to a new state,” Cragg told CNS.
“They’re overwhelmed by the government organizations and nonprofits that are there. In my opinion, they’re doing the best they can. Some of them have made a lot of mistakes, and accountability is important, but my role is far beyond that. I have to worry about moving forward.”
Reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the Palisades Fire, Cragg said the area is on the right track toward rebuilding and recovery.
“It’s very difficult to say that to a person who wants to have their home rebuilt in a year,” Cragg told CNS. “We’re ahead of Lahaina, Maui. We’re ahead of Altadena. But that doesn’t bring a lot of solace to a person who’s still living in a rental somewhere and their kids are traumatized and wanting to go back to their old life.”
L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents Pacific Palisades and Malibu, in a statement affirmed the county will not stop until families are back home and neighborhoods are whole again.
“One year after the fires, I am continually inspired by the extraordinary strength and resilience of our communities, even as so many families are still carrying the weight of loss and uncertainty,” Horvath said in her statement. “Recovery is not a straight line, and while we’ve made real progress — from the fastest cleanup in US history to streamlined permitting — residents are still hurting and in need of support.”
In Altadena, events to honor the lives lost in the Eaton Fire, and to uplift fire survivors are also scheduled for Wednesday.
Members of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network are scheduled to gather at The Collaboratory, a business located at 540 W. Woodbury Road. The group is expected to present new data, lived experience testimony, and proof of what money moved in 2025 and what must happen in 2026 to stop displacement of Altadena residents.
“This story has national relevance. As disasters accelerate, Eaton and Palisades survivors show what happens when insurance, utilities and public systems fail to deliver at scale: recovery tracks wealth and displacement becomes permanent unless billions owed are paid,” according to a statement from Eaton Fire Survivors Network.
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, is expected to join fire survivors to mark the anniversary. In a statement to CNS via email, Barger said her message to survivors is straightforward: “I see your pain, I respect your resilience and I remain committed to standing with you for the long road ahead.”
“Anniversaries like this reopen wounds, especially for households still navigating insurance disputes and the slow, exhausting process of rebuilding. It is my responsibility to ensure you are not facing those challenges alone,” Barger said in her statement.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement on the Palisades Fire, saying, “There are no words to articulate the unimaginable trauma, grief, and exhaustion felt by the Palisades community — exacerbated by constant headlines along with delays, underpayments, and denials from insurance providers. This anniversary forces us to face the trauma head-on. As we collectively mourn, the pain remains palpable. But so does something else now: hope and resolve.”
She called for continued partnership across every level of government, philanthropy, insurance industry and the businesses sector to build on progress made so far. Bass said she remained committed to using the “full-force” of her mayoral power to restore Pacific Palisades.
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state has deployed new firefighting equipment and cutting-edge technology to bolster Los Angeles’ ability to combat wildfires.
“The Los Angeles fires showed us we need to move faster and smarter. We’re streamlining projects that used to take years, deploying new technology to target our efforts where they matter most, and investing record funding in prevention,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re turning hard lessons into concrete actions and delivering results on the ground.”
Roxanne Hoge, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, in a statement to City News Service, described the anniversary as a “solemn reminder that competent state and local governance matters.”
“Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom are good at mouthing platitudes, but when lives and property and communities were on the line, they both disappeared,” Hoge said in her statement. “We, the citizens of L.A. County, are very clear eyed about the lessons learned last year — that when leadership and protection were needed, political globe-trotting and plants were prioritized over people.
“The Republican Party of Los Angeles County mourns the lost lives and the neighborhoods, and wishes only for survivors to find peace and to be made whole, and for those whose policies and practices were responsible to not be rewarded,” Hoge added.