As efforts to remove debris from the Palisades and Eaton fire burn zones marked a major advancement, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Friday marked the one-month anniversary of the fires with a vow to fully rebuild and conduct a thorough review of the response to the disaster.
Bass — who has taken heat from some critics for her handling of the firestorm — spoke to reporters at City Hall Friday morning and outlined numerous steps she says have been taken to expedite the recovery process and speed the process of rebuilding. She also announced that the city has contracted with Hagerty Consulting, which she described as a “world-class disaster recovery firm.”
Hagerty, which also works with Los Angeles County, will “provide expertixe and operational support to facilitate our comprehensive recovery effort,” Bass said. “Hagerty will focus on implementing the city’s vision for community resilience, infrastructure restoration and environmental mitigation.”
The mayor said the last month has been “a defining 30 days for our city.”
“So over the next 60 days, we are going to make further progress through an all-hands-on-deck effort,” she said. “We are continuing to identify antiquated red tape restrictions so Palisades neighbors can quickly rebuild. We will work with our state partners to change the law where it’s needed to streamline the rebuilding process, and starting next week, we will open a one-stop rebuilding office where residents can go for every question related to rebuilding and process their permit applications.”
She also reiterated her appointment of longtime civic leader and activist Steve Soboroff to spearhead the city’s recovery efforts, and said she has appointed former Los Angeles Fire Department Interim Chief Jim Featherstone to oversee the city Emergency Operations Center’s Recovery Group.
Bass also said she “will work in collaboration with the governor’s office to conduct a comprehensive independent review of the state and local response” to the fire. The city and the mayor have faced criticism on various fronts — from a major water reservoir in the Palisades area that had been out of service for months ahead of the fire due to still-pending repair work, leading to low water pressure in some areas, to questions about the LAFD’s pre-deployment of resources ahead of the widely publicized Jan. 7 windstorm that fanned the flames, to allegations that fire hydrants in the Palisades area were ill-equipped to handle the demand.
She also said the Los Angeles Fire Commission will conduct an investigation of its own, headed by Tyler Izen, special investigator for the LAFD’s Office of the Independent Assessor.
“While much has been done over the last two weeks, much, much more needs to be done, including participating in the review, evaluation and critique of everything, and then quickly acting on recommendations,” Bass said.
The mayor’s remarks came on the heels of a major advancement in the debris-clearance efforts in the Palisades and Eaton fire burn zones. On Thursday night, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger announced that the county Department of Public Works had officially delivered the first batch of signed “Right of Entry” forms completed by wildfire victims to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Receiving the forms means the Corps will be able to begin clearing debris from residential properties that were destroyed in the blazes, as soon as they are cleared of hazardous materials by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA’s hazardous waste operations are considered Phase 1 of the debris-removal process. Once properties are cleared, residents can chose to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to clear other debris under Phase 2 of the effort. The Army process is free for residents, but they must opt in to the program by completing the Right of Entry forms. Residents can also opt out of the free program and hire their own contractors to perform the work.
The EPA operation was initially expected to take as long as three months, but local officials have pushed for the work to be completed in 30 days. Bass said Friday the EPA now estimates the work will be completed by the end of February. The Army Corps’ Phase 2 work officially began earlier this week, with clearance activities at five Pasadena Unified School District campuses that were destroyed in the Eaton Fire.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin toured both the Eaton and Palisades fire burn zones on Thursday.
“It’s impossible to fathom,” Zeldin told KNX News after viewing the Eaton Fire area. “No American has ever seen anything like this ever before, and hopefully no American will ever have to see something like this ever again.”
He said his agency “has been proudly doing everything in our power” to complete the Phase 1 clearance of hazardous materials from the burn zones, with the agency trying to meet a goal of finishing the work in 30 days.
“We set a 30-day goal. We’re doing everything we can to possibly meet it.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, a Brentwood resident, toured the Palisades Fire area Thursday. She said she was impressed how the community is coming together to recover from the fires and destruction.
“I do believe that in these moments of crisis, the heroes and the angels among us are revealed,” Harris said at a relief center established at the Westwood Recreation Center. “When I think about the work that is happening because of the leaders who are here and the folks who work with them, it truly is the best of who we are as a country — which is individuals understanding the power that they have to lift up the condition of other people. Individuals who understand that in these moments of crisis, so many of the survivors of these crises feel alone, and just need to have a safe place to go, where they are treated with dignity and a sense of community. That they have a place to go where a perfect stranger sees in them a neighbor, sees in them someone who is worthy of their attention and their care and their love.”
Harris previously toured the Eaton Fire burn area in Altadena on Jan. 20, after she officially left office and returned to Los Angeles from Washington, D.C.
The Right of Entry forms are available at any FEMA Disaster Recovery Center, and online at recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal/. The deadline to complete the forms is March 31.
Status updates on the EPA’s work, including an interactive map of individual fire-affected properties, are available online at epa.gov/ca/2025-california-wildfires.
A nightly curfew for the burn areas remains in effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Checkpoints restricting access to the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades remain in place. Returning residents and authorized contractors are being given access to the Palisades Fire burn area with access passes, which are being distributed by law enforcement at the Disaster Recovery Center in West Los Angeles, 10850 Pico Blvd., and at the West Los Angeles Civic Center, 1645 Corinth Ave. Passes can be obtained daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Red Cross and county health officials have been distributing personal protective equipment to people heading for the burn area, and authorities urged people to wear protection as they sift through the potentially hazardous debris.
Both the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire in the Altadena and Pasadena areas, which erupted on Jan. 7, are now fully contained, according to Cal Fire.
Another Southland blaze that broke out later in January, the Hughes Fire in the Castaic Lake area, burned 10,425 acres and was also fully contained.
The Eaton Fire caused at least 17 deaths, destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged 1,073 more while burning 14,021 acres.
At least 12 people were killed in the Palisades Fire, which burned 23,448 acres, destroyed 6,837 structures and damaged 1,017 others.
The cause of both fires, which began while the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire danger due to a historic wind event that saw gusts of 80 to 100 mph, remains under investigation.
The Los Angeles County Office of Medical Examiner has positively identified 18 of the 29 people confirmed dead in the two wildfires. The list can be found at me.lacounty.gov/2025/press-releases/wildfire-update-18-victims- identified-by-medical- examiner/?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_te rm=.
FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers are open at UCLA Research Park West, 10850 W. Pico Blvd., and in Altadena at 540 W. Woodbury Road, to assist homeowners with applying for aid. The centers are open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
FEMA is also operating two other centers to provide assistance to fire victims, including those from the Hurst, Sunset and Hughes fires. Those centers are at:
— Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center, 5056 Van Nuys Blvd., building B, operating 9:30 a.m to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; and
— Ritchie Valens Recreation Center, 10736 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Pacoima, operating from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1 to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
The deadline for fire victims to apply for FEMA financial relief is March 10. According to the county, FEMA has already approved more than $54 million in housing and other assistance for 24,575 households. More than 117,200 individuals have registered for FEMA assistance.
The UCLA Anderson Forecast released a report Tuesday estimated that the two fires caused property damage and capital losses ranging between $95 billion and $164 billion, with insured losses at $75 billion.
AccuWeather last month issued a revised estimate putting the damage and economic losses at between $250 billion and $275 billion.