This Palisades site was cleared on February 19 and an erosion control placed on the ground.
If one goes onto the L.A. County Public Works website to see if a property has been handed to the Army Corp of Engineers for debris removal it can be confusing. The map instantly goes to Altadena click here.
Then, the County does not separate Pacific Palisades versus Eaton parcels: they are lumped together. The website shows that 13,579 parcels are eligible to Opt-in for the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) to remove debris . But it does not show the number specifically for each town. In the Palisades fire, 6,822 homes were destroyed. In the Eaton fire 6,116 homes were destroyed.
In order to have debris removal performed (ironically a resident’s home is called debris), a person must fill out a form to Opt-in, then L.A. County Public Works verifies the property belongs to the homeowner. The Corps is then given a Right of Entry (ROE) that allows them to cart away the burned material. Some residents have elected to Opt-out, which means they have to use County-certified contractors/haulers.
Both towns had the first properties cleared by the Corps on February 6, 2025.
CTN asked L.A. County Public Works how many ROE’s had been given to the Corps in Palisades (1,490) and how many had been given to those in Altadena (2,233)?
Public Works was asked the average daily amount of ROEs given to the Army Corps at each location. Eaton has been averaging 68 ROE/day and the Palisades 45 ROE/day.
Celeste Hampton, Public Information Specialist for the L.A. County Public works said that “Public Works is processing ROE’s as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is a multistep process designed to prevent fraud and protect homeowners and involves verifying property ownership. One of the main challenges in the verification process is identifying the owners of the properties held by LLC’s or placed in trust funds.”
Hampton said that about 250 people in public works were working on ROEs at this time.
She was asked yesterday why more ROEs were processed daily for Altadena versus the Palisades. She said she would ask the team and have a response today by 5 p.m.
Today at 6 p.m., she wrote “I’m still waiting for a response from our team. I apologize for the delay.”
If Hampton is able to supply a reason why one site is being cleared more rapidly, the story will be updated. On March 14, CTN received the following response:
“ROEs are transmitted to the Army Corps as they are complete. Given there are more complex ownership arrangements in the Palisades, such as LLCs, trusts and multi-units that require additional review to ensure that all property owners have signed up for the program.”
Public Works wrote that they are missing necessary documentation from more than 1,000 properties across both fire areas. “We encourage homeowners to check their email for follow-up from our case managers. It’s essential that all homeowners with destroyed structures opt-in or opt-out by the deadline.”
One reader wrote to CTN: “I could see where, anecdotally, more houses in the Palisades are owned by LLC’s or are in trusts. What I can’t see is why it is taking so long. A five minute online search can determine ownership parties. Any decent sized title company could finish every lot in a week. And what level of investigation is necessary? Are there Russian hackers out there falsely claiming to be Palisades property owners and fraudulently opting in to ACE clean-up?”
You write: “In the Palisades fire, 6,822 homes were destroyed.” Does this include individual condo units and townhomes? If not, could you please track down this data. Thank you!
Due to the amount of money here, I suspect that, the key lies in the fact that ” One of the main challenges in the verification process is identifying the owners of the properties held by LLC’s or placed in trust funds.”
Thank you for your wonderful reporting. Appreciate it
I could see where, anecdotally, more houses in the Palisades are owned by LLC’s or are in trusts. What I can’t see is why it is taking so long. A five minute online search can determine ownership parties. Any decent sized title company could finish every lot in a week. And what level of investigation is necessary? Are there Russian hackers out there falsely claiming to be Palisades property owners and fraudulently opting in to ACE clean-up?
They use a company in Pasadena called Tetra Tech. They are in complete disarray. It was weeks of back and forth with the County “losing” our trust paperwork, signatures, and IDs. Different people calling and providing different emails to send and re-send your paperwork. We had enough of it. It doesn’t give us any faith in the process of the rebuild moving forward. I suggest everyone go to the LA County Public Works and email the higher ups.
Thanks. My husband and I have had similar problems. When I complained to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s field deputy Zachary Gaidzik he said he’d look into it and replied via email:
“I checked on the website below: https://tt-emi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/874a690d69694d2685d83d07a320e6dd
and it shows that they are missing your ID and certain LLC documentation. Please call the number below or email. And Please let me know what the response is and if you are able to easily submit additional documentation.”
To which I replied, we have already sent over everything twice and still have not had our property turned over to ACE. Some neighbors who have had the process go smoothly, blame us for not handing in the appropriate paper work.
Sorry, if the County is using Tetra Tech, maybe there should be more oversight.
And if your want to email higher ups in the County–I went to the Supervisor’s assistant and was told to go the website.
First, they let our houses burn, then they call our house, property and everything we lost debris and then we are forces to spend literally hours everyday, just trying to straighten out paperwork that should not be complicated. And still, no one takes accountability.