PALISADES on Our Minds 

The damage from the Palisades Fire was widespread and catastrophic. Pacific Palisades was ground zero, and the destruction there is almost unimaginable. Our hearts are with our neighbors to the east. In this issue of TNT we remember some of this community’s one hundred years of history, and celebrate the spirit of the Palisades community that is resolved to rise from the ashes and write their next chapter. This photo, “Pacific Palisades Photo D Ramey Logan.jpg,” was taken by Don Ramey Logan in 2014, and appears courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0. Cover concept and design by Urs Baur

The Palisades Fire did most of its damage during the first 24 hours. Its impact will be felt for years. In Topanga, the latest impact manifested in the form of mud and debris that flooded the lower canyon and buried parts of the Topanga Canyon Boulevard S-Curves under tons of mud, rocks and boulders. In Malibu, mud flows covered Pacific Coast Highway and runoff swept the debris from hundreds of burned-out homes into the ocean. Boulders were swept down Malibu Creek and a sea of mud poured into the Serra Retreat neighborhood, where houses were lost during the December 2024 Franklin fire.

We have time this week to dry off and dig out from the flooding. There is no word yet on when the two major roads in the area are expected to reopen, and even when they do, flooding, debris flows and landslides will continue to be a major concern throughout the rest of this year’s rainy season, and for several years to come.

We’ve heard a lot of anger following the fire. Many are quick to pin the blame on something other than the fact that we have all chosen to live in an area with extremely high fire risk and a history of wildfires, and unwilling to accept  that this cycle of fire and flood is intensifying because of climate change, but that is what all of the evidence indicates, and no amount of shifting blame is going to to change that.

Much of Topanga was spared this time, although Saddle Peak received devastating damage and two homes were lost near the town center, but this community has traditionally had a better relationship with natural environment and a more proactive attitude towards fire than some of our neighbors 

TCEP—Topanga Coalition Emergency Preparedness—was created after the 1993 Old Topanga Fire. This volunteer organization continues to educate, inform, and take an active position in the canyon during emergencies. TCEP is currently raising funds to help Topanga’s Fire Station 69 acquire needed equipment (the Los Angeles County Fire Department has no mechanism for accepting donations themselves). The nonprofit will use one hundred percent of the money to purchase equipment specified by the station captain. The equipment will then be directly given to Station 69. 

So far, the fund drive has raised more than $57K. We applaud T-CEP for taking a leading role in keeping not just the canyon but neighboring communities safe and informed.  We know that everyone in our community has been impacted directly or indirectly by the fire, and there are a thousand worthy and urgent causes—friends and family who have lost their homes, businesses on the brink of closing, and a host of worthy non-profits who are pledged to help, but we encourage everyone who can to support TCEP. This organization is there for us. We need to be there for them. 

Cleaning up the disaster zone is more complicated than officials realized or acknowledged. The Trump Administration’s breezy assurances that Phase 1—the hazardous waste removal portion of the cleanup—would only take a month instead of six months or a year was overly optimistic. 

The latest word is that the Army Corps of Engineers will continue to operate the hazardous waste collection sites established by the EPA at the Topanga Ranch Motel location and Will Rogers State Beach parking lot while Phase II—the removal of debris—progresses. Part of the problem is that a number of properties in the Malibu area are reportedly too dangerous or precarious for EPA workers to safely enter. The hazardous waste removal at these sites will be conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers during Phase II. 

Protesters continue to object to the presence of both hazardous waste sorting sites. Calabasas residents are now objecting to plans to dispose of Phase II debris at the Calabasas landfill, and new concerns are being raised over the volume of potentially toxic debris that continues to be washed into the ocean following the fire. The fallout from the Palisades Fire is something everyone in the area will be grappling with for a long time. There are a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers.

It’s only been three weeks since the Palisades Fire was fully contained. For those of us in or adjacent to the burn zone the disaster continues to dominate our lives, but each day brings us a little further away from January 7, a little closer to a future when this trauma has receded into memory, and life has settled into a new normal. We’ll get there. 

Stay safe, be well.