(Editor’s note: Teddy Ray a resident, is chronicling his life after the fire. This is his second piece – and no matter where someone has “evacuated” or moved, life still revolves around decisions based on the fire.)
Palisades residents have become semi-experts on debris removal after the January 7 fire destroyed their homes. Opting in or opting out was topic of conversation that only fire victims care about.
By TEDDY RAY
Three of many of my New Year’s resolutions were: to lose weight, find something new and intellectually challenging to keep me daily occupied, and most importantly become closer to friends and family.
Little did I think when I clicked my glass at midnight that my resolutions would come true so quickly. In a few weeks. – I dropped a few pounds. I am on the Fire Diet. Wake up – do things all day fire-related, go to bed. My day is filled with all-things Palisades Fire: FEMA, EPA, debris removal, insurance buckets, housing, county, state, and city issues. Instead of counting sheep. I’m counting papers and emails that I did that day or the ones I need to do tomorrow. The true blessing is you. I certainly didn’t expect to speak, text or email so many relatives and friends over the many decades and from all over the country and world.
I’m fortunate I understand the complexities of insurance, compliance and government regulations from past employment, but there are moments that get frustrating. When a disaster happens, no one tells you how much you have to fend for yourself. The horror stories of many friends depending on insurance to find housing and are now 30 to 50 miles away (which in LA is an hour to three hours from employment) with kids in new schools.
Nothing resembles your daily routine and expectations. You can opt into government programs or opt out, such as debris removal, either way its decisions that few of us ever knew existed. Certainly no one told us on January 7 that our lives were going to change forever. I know more about debris removal than I care to know.
Imagine fifty percent of a town’s homes, plus business buildings being bulldozed and hauled away. It’s beginning now and should last up to a year. The choice is the Army Corps or private companies. Today there were dozens of trucks and machines everywhere. Of course, air quality and hazardous materials are a valid concern. Imagine living in the communities where they are dumping our town’s debris. Somewhere our lithium and asbestos has to find a new home. Pity them.
The day after the fire, my emotional feeling, like so many others, was shock and awe. There were and are so many questions and challenges to overcome.
On the bright side, I have a full-time job every day. There’s a disaster relief center in Westwood that’s filled with volunteers from all departments of the county and state, as well as nonprofits. Government agencies like IRS, SBA, FEMA, LA County, LA Planning, Permitting. They help replace birth certificates and passports burned in the fire. Congressional, city and county representative staff are at the disaster center. I was there so often I am now on a first-name basis with many of them. It’s a lot easier to just walk in and talk to someone instead of being on hold for hours. I also get rumors and secrets. (That’s my fun for the day.)
You can stop paying taxes on your property at the disaster relief center. The Assessor has a booth. You can also do this online, so either way, take advantage of this. Imagine theone time and one thing California doesn’t tax.
If you are or are not using a Public Adjuster or have questions about your insurance policy that you’re hesitant to ask your insurance adjuster, stop by and ask the State or Nonprofit Insurance experts there. Yes, information is coming at the people of the Palisades like a firehose – I forgot our fire hoses don’t have water.
There are many different stages of emotion after a home fire. First, there’s the sadness of watching your wife and children in shock that their home is gone. Their spot of gardening, cooking, playing hot wheels or beer pong vanished in hours. Sadness also comes from knowing that your neighbors, no matter how strong and resolute they may be, are unlikely to live on the same street or have the same life.
The same feeling also comes from the churches, synagogue and parishioners not beingthere. Realization comes to mind that the houses will be rebuilt and will be better, but not with the same people living there. Children will go to different schools, and teammates will play for different teams.
We all now shop, sleep and worship elsewhere. The great people in our lives who served us with smiles are now looking for new jobs. Car wash, grocery, restaurant, gardeners, cooks, doctors, accountants, teachers, church staff, the list is longer – they lost or substantially decreased their income. Fifty percent of our city buildings and homes are gone. Of the 50 percent of homes standing, half or more have hazardous smoke damage.
I’m disappointed, like many, that fire hydrants were empty, or water pressure was nonexistent. The reservoirs being shut during fire season because it needed a $85,000 cover repair.
Hundreds of fire engines in the service yard during fire season. Those lack of proper decisions by leadership meant sending firefighters to fight fires without water! Like sending a military person to war without a weapon.
Why don’t we have fire hydrants with water? Why are the reservoirs that cost less than $100,000 to fix sitting empty during fire season? Even when we evacuated, I was confident that the fire hydrant 50 yards away and the fire station a few blocks away made us O.K.
The shock and awe has worn off. The Mayor fired the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief is pointing fingers at others. The Palisades fire czar is now demoted and unhappy he is doing the job for free – it’s a new story daily. Meanwhile thousands of lives are changed.
Insurance. We have paid premiums for 30 years and my insurance has been good, but they still wanted verification of materials used to build and remodel our home and they wanted photos of the contents.
Insurance wanted an accounting of every item in every room. I expected this and I handle the daily hoops they throw. For many it’s inhumane because it’s a horrible daily reminder of what their family once had and has been lost and then having to justify it. If you cannot stomach this – get a Public Adjuster.
New Idea – Why wait for a disaster to ask for photos of a remodel and contents? Why not ask for photos every time the premium is due? If you haven’t videoed your home – do it now- including the drawers and cabinets. Do you really have 20 pairs of socks? (Any socks with holes are depreciated. I love insurance.)
Daily all I talk about is the fire, whether it is information coming out in the insurance industry, including property, content and debris removal.
Since January 7 the big topic most people have questions about is future housing, ownership versus renting, rebuilding vs selling, moving versus staying, crying versus cursing, praying versus drinking, somedays it’s all of the above. I can say that the positive attitude of rebuilding better, is alive and well.
My good news is that our apartment in the Marina is beautiful and instead of motorcycles racing down Sunset at midnight – seals bark at night. Our insurance has been good, and recently our property cleared the phase one EPA.
Soon, we will be able to clear our home site of debris. We could have cleared earlier but we were introduced to Samaritans Purse, a Billy Graham organization that brings volunteers to sift the ash in search of some past family memories. Talk about good people. We are in a good spot.
Many of our friends have also relocated to Marina del Rey. I am continually amazed by the generosity of everyone with your calls, emails and text. The kindness and generosity of our family have been overwhelming. After the fire, our children gave us furniture and have provided us with a roof over our heads with food and clothes. They are also my helpers with Insurance Adjusters. Through their grief and their pain, they have been there for me and my wife. This we are blessed.
I’m happy to share my knowledge of what I’ve learned and more importantly I want to share my mistakes so that you don’t do the same. My advice is don’t wait for the government or the insurance company to contact you. Remember, we paid premiums and paid taxes. They have a service to provide.
We all look forward to the new Palisades whether it’s sooner or later because it’s a special, beautiful and majestic place. Someday I hope we all have a chance to gather there. Let’s pick a date to circle on the calendar. July 2028 – LA will be the Olympic Host City.
As Joe Montana said “The greatest comebacks are when you’re down the most” Palisades is Down but Not Out.
Great article.
Great article. I feel for you as my family and I are in the same boat. However, I want to correct a falacy that’s been going on for three months now spread by our friends at the LA Fire Department. There WAS water. Plenty of it. It was in pools; 40,000 gallons in the Pali High pools—enough to fill 20 fire engines–sitting INSIDE arguably LA’s best fire break: Temescal Canyon.; water reservoirs all over town (where do you think Caruso filled his low-tech water tanks-with-hoses which save four blocks right next to our sleeping fire station?), and the big wide sea where the LAFD inexplicably retired around 2 pom on Tuesday to hang out for three days. Why? We don’t know. They’ve hired a big law firm to prevent us from getting their call logs that we have a legal right to. I’m going to guess their cellphones from those days have a lot of selfies as they sure were photographing a lot in their free time and joy rides around town while the rest of us were doing their jobs for them. But they had water. Plenty of it.
When my husband and I bought our home on Radcliffe in 1972, it was an exciting and optimistic time. We made improvements, always maintained our precious property, and expected it to be there always. I am angry that the city of my birth (I am a 3rd generation native Californian) let us down in so many ways. We had a wonderful neighborhood and I will miss my dear friends and neighbors. I will miss being a Palisadian, which I have been over half of my life. But next week I will be 91, and at this stage of my life, I don’t feel like taking on a major project which will last several years and not bring back the home I loved. Farewell and Godspeed.