For many, the devastation created by the Palisades Fire felt like the end of the world. Six months later, most of the fire debris has been removed, but stark reminders of the damage remain, as residents and local governments struggle to cope with the losses. Driving through the parts of Malibu, Topanga, and Pacific Palisades destroyed by the fire remains disorienting. Landmarks are gone, so are the houses of friends and family. Even for those fortunate enough to still have their homes, living here remains almost impossible. The noise and dust from demolition and construction, the fears of contamination, and the isolation of living in a disaster zone are too much.
In Pacific Palisades, the city council is grappling with disaster tourism. Enterprising tour bus owners have been descending on the stricken community with busloads of tourists keen to witness the scene of destruction. Tours began arriving almost as soon as Pacific Palisades reopened to the public in mid-June, intruding on the grief of distraught residents and getting in the way of clean up crews and demolition equipment. The Los Angeles City Council recently voted unanimously to direct the Department of Transportation to restrict the tours.
underway in the Palisades, but six months after
the fire, the first houses are also beginning to be
built.
progress and hope for the future.
In Big Rock, where almost the entire neighborhood burned, the handful of residents whose homes didn’t burn are still not home again. We know one family who is still waiting for the Army Corps to clear their property—they spent their weekends there all spring, clearing the brush that has grown up around the ruins. Another family is still waiting for soil and air contamination test results before attempting to return to their unburned home. It’s a process that has taken months longer than anticipated, but toxins, including asbestos, arsenic, and lead, have been found throughout the burn zone, and their potential presence raises health concerns. Soil is removed at the sites of properties that burned as part of the debris clearing process, but the homeowners whose houses made it through the fire are on their own to identify and mitigate potential contaminants.
progress and hope for the future.
A report in the San Francisco Chronicle revealed yet another potential toxin in the burn zones. Beryllium, an earth metal used in electronics, has been found “in dozens of homes in the Eaton and Palisades fire zones,” and elevated levels of the element have been detected in outdoor areas as recently as May.
New research indicates that fire survivors may face not only physical health issues for years following a disaster of this magnitude but also serious mental health concerns. Many who live in and around the burn zone still feel exhausted and stressed following the fire, and that condition has a name. A new study from researchers at the University of California San Diego published in the journal Scientific Reports, confirms that wildfires can trigger what is being called “climate trauma,” a condition that can have significant and lasting effects on cognitive function.
This latest study, one of several that have examined the survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, finds that, “individuals directly exposed to the disaster had difficulty making decisions that prioritize long-term benefits.”
The new study augments earlier findings that indicate fire survivors can experience post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression, as well as “hyper-distractibility”.
The authors conclude that, “Overall, these findings suggest that climate trauma may significantly impact neuro-cognitive processing in the context of value-based decision-making…”
This study is another reminder that recovery from a major disaster takes time. Those who live in the aftermath continue to struggle with life in a landscape that has dramatically changed.
There is good news: the Topanga Beach Bus is running. There are fewer delays on Topanga Canyon Boulevard during peak hours, although one stretch of the road, where the roadbed was undercut by floodwaters, remains one lane only, with alternating traffic.
The Getty Villa recently reopened. The hours are limited but all of the museum’s art treasures are intact and there’s even a new exhibit. Many trees were lost on the property and restoration will take time, but the process is underway.
Most of the surviving local businesses are also open again. Gladstones, Maestros and Dukes restaurants on Pacific Coast Highway reopened just in time for the Fourth of July weekend. Topanga’s independent shops received a major boost from the reopening of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, but are still grappling with six months of closure.
Down at Topanga Beach, the beach parking lot remains closed, and water quality is still an issue, but more than three hundred tidewater gobies—a species of tiny, endangered fish—have been returned to the watershed. They were rescued after the fire and before the first rains filled the creek with silt and debris. They were moved to safety, and are now back in their native habitat. Topanga’s newest wildlife residents, the bear family TNT reported on in our last issue, are still making themselves at home in the canyon area. We now know that Mama bear has three cubs instead of the two initially reported.
In Pacific Palisades, the first new houses are already in the framing stage. There are signs everywhere promising renewal and the mood is generally optimistic, but there are also many “for sale” signs. Not everyone is able or willing to rebuild. It will be years before these streets are quiet, residential neighborhoods again. For the elderly, and for those who were underinsured, that future may be out of reach.
Progress is slower in unincorporated Los Angeles County and Malibu, where residents are still working on debris clearance and plan check. The city of Malibu’s rebuild website has not been updated since early June, but it currently states that five building plan checks have been submitted, and so far, none have been approved.
Elevated levels of some unusual pollutants remain a concern not just at home sites but also at some area beaches impacted by the fire, but testing conducted by the environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay indicates that the risk of exposure to toxic chemicals appears to be low, although beachgoers are advised to stay away from debris. Less exotic hazards like nails, screws, sheetmetal and broken glass are an ongoing problem.
Water quality has improved and the amount of debris on local beaches has significantly declined. In the hills, new growth is already covering the burn scar. New landmarks will replace the old ones, and new houses are being planned. The scars on the landscape and on our hearts, health, and psyche will take a long time to fade. We still have a long way to go, but six months is an important milestone. We’ve come a long way.
