OUT OF THE ASHES

One year following the area’s biggest fire, progress is made and hearts are healing



BAD TIMES—Woolsey firefighters battle to save Oak Park homes in a scene from exactly one year ago. The community will never forget. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

BAD TIMES—Woolsey firefighters battle to save Oak Park homes in a scene from exactly one year ago. The community will never forget. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

Everyone learned something from the Woolsey fire. Residents who fled the flames know what to bring with them next time. Homeowners who lost property learned to navigate the labyrinthine corridors of insurance reimbursement and government assistance. And stung by a recent Los Angeles County report that outlined areas in which the Woolsey firefighting agencies fell short, first responders have vowed to improve the tactics they will use when faced with the next major fire that breaks out.

“We’re prepositioning a lot of resources, which we’ve always done, but now we’re doing even more. We’re positioning an additional strike team—that’s five engines, throughout the county, as well as additional overhead and hand crews,” Mike DesForges, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson said.

Next time, DesForges said, the firefighters are on it. “In our initial attack we’re looking for a big punch for a small fire. Once it gets its legs under it, it presents different challenges.”

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUTURE— Above, construction begins on a single-family home at Stonecrest Drive in Agoura Hills. More than 75 homes from Calabasas to T.O. were destroyed in the fire. Only some are being rebuilt. JOHN LOESING/Acorn Newspapers

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUTURE— Above, construction begins on a single-family home at Stonecrest Drive in Agoura Hills. More than 75 homes from Calabasas to T.O. were destroyed in the fire. Only some are being rebuilt. JOHN LOESING/Acorn Newspapers

The effects of the Woolsey fire are far-reaching and still being felt.

The fire hit full force on Fri., Nov. 9, 2018, and among the 1,650 structures that burned in the blaze were people’s homes, businesses and beloved historical landmarks that had withstood multiple previous threats—such as Paramount Ranch.

The heavy rains and subsequent mudslides following Woolsey put more stress on the community and raised questions about how to deal with the days after a major wildfire. Nobody expected the ash would turn to mud and create even more havoc.

Residents and public officials statewide have turned their wrath against the utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric, which have admitted culpability, and to the insurance companies, which have been accused of withholding coverage and raising rates. Last month, the power giants began preemptively cutting power to large swaths of the state during high-wind events to prevent live wires from creating a new round of emergencies.

THEN AND NOW—Marsha Maus, a 75-year-old Seminole Springs resident who lost her home in the Woolsey fire, returns to her property soon after the blaze, and then one year later. She’s hoping to rebuild. In today’s Acorn you’ll find reporting on the aftermath of the fire and a look at those who have come out of the ashes to see brighter days ahead. Photos by RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

THEN AND NOW—Marsha Maus, a 75-year-old Seminole Springs resident who lost her home in the Woolsey fire, returns to her property soon after the blaze, and then one year later. She’s hoping to rebuild. In today’s Acorn you’ll find reporting on the aftermath of the fire and a look at those who have come out of the ashes to see brighter days ahead. Photos by RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

By the numbers

In Oak Park, 19 homes fell to the Woolsey fire. Of the 15 rebuilding applications the county has received, eight have been given permits and seven houses are under construction.

In Thousand Oaks, 29 houses were fully destroyed but only two building permits were issued. Some residents are taking their blank slate and redesigning their property, but it’s a strategy that tends to make the rebuilding process slower, Marjan Behzadi, the city’s permit processing manager, told The Acorn.

“A lot of people, after they decide they want to rebuild, they want to change the design, the size . . . as long as they’re building exactly the same house (that burned down) we just do it over the counter for planning,” Behzadi said. “If they want to make changes, they have to go through planning review.”

Westlake Village lost 20 homes to the blaze—four in the Westlake Point neighborhood— off Ridgeford Drive and Lindero Canyon Road—and 16 in the Oak Forest Mobile Estates. Because they are mobile homes, the Oak Forest properties fall under the jurisdiction of the California Housing and Community Development Department, which has received five applications from homeowners looking to rebuild. Two of the homes have already been completed.

HEADWAY—Workers rebuild a Ridgebrook Drive home in Agoura Hills. JOHN LOESING/Acorn Newspapers

HEADWAY—Workers rebuild a Ridgebrook Drive home in Agoura Hills. JOHN LOESING/Acorn Newspapers

Philippe Eskandar, assistant to the city manager of Westlake Village, said the four lots in the Westlake Point neighborhood have been cleared of debris and he expects to receive development applications soon.

Nine families lost their homes to the fire in Agoura Hills. All of the properties have been cleared of debris, and three of the owners are at various stages in the permitting process to rebuild. The city is doing its best to fast-track the approval process, Mayor Linda Northrup said.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag of either they’re working with contractors or insurance,” assistant city manager Nate Hamburger said.

Calabasas also lost nine homes, seven of which were on Parkmor Road where the fire hit before jumping the freeway and moving south. Michael Russo, spokesperson for the city, said two of the property owners live out-of-state and have decided not to rebuild.

“Of the other seven, two are still undecided and five have worked with architects to develop plans,” Russo said. “Four of those are in the plan check stage and the fifth one, I believe, is still working things out with their insurance company.”

Russo said one of the complications to the rebuilding process is finding contractors to do the work. The fires of 2018 destroyed homes all across the state—from the Woolsey and Hill fires in the south to the devastating Camp fire in the north—draining the limited pool of contractors.

“It also opens people to being victimized by shoddy contractors,” Russo said. “Couple that with disputes with insurance companies and it can really cause a lot of problems for people who have already been traumatized.”

The hardest hit local community has to be Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park, a 215-unit trailer park on Mulholland Highway in unincorporated Los Angeles County. Seminole Springs lost more than half its homes to the fire. While trailers would seem easy to replace, the community’s displaced residents feel like home is still a long way away.

Seminole Springs, which was built in the 1960s, suffers from out-of-date infrastructure, such as electrical wiring and plumbing, which need to be replaced before homes can be brought in. Theresa Cavalleri, president of the Seminole Springs board of directors, said she hopes residents can start rebuilding by next spring. Paramount Ranch, the 750-acre historic property on Mulholland Highway, lost its famous Western town movie set and cowboy main street. Only the town’s small white church and train station escaped destruction. The iconic property has been used as a backdrop for numerous classic movies and television series since the 1950s.

The National Park Service, owner of Paramount Ranch, hopes to rebuild the movie set to its former glory, but the process is a slow one. Twelve months later, the burnt structures remain.

“As a publicly-owned space, getting the property cleared is much harder than for a private property, when you’re dealing with the federal government,” said Ana Cholo, NPS spokesperson.

“We have identified a business and they have the contract to do the removal,” she said. “It’s happening soon.”

Help on the way

Within days of the fire, representatives from state and federal agencies arrived in the area to offer aid to residents. A key disaster recovery center was set up at the Hilton Foundation in Agoura Hills to help victims sort through the red tape and paperwork needed for rebuilding. Kindness was not in short supply.

But even with assistance, residents have found the recovery process to be a slow one. Several months after the fire, the charred rubble of destroyed homes from Calabasas to Thousand Oaks could still be seen, and it wasn’t until spring that many of the lots were cleared. Now, residents face the complicated chore of rebuilding— hiring architects, obtaining city and county building permits, and garnering insurance to pay for the rebuild.

To get help with the process, residents have been aided by groups such as the Los Angeles Region Community Recovery Organization, a nonprofit group that helps connect those in need with the resources they might not know are available to them.

“We have construction navigators that work with people hand-in-hand and walk them through the mire of that paperwork,” said Jennifer Campbell, the organization’s executive director.

The applicant might ask, “‘What’s it mean to actually rebuild a house? Why won’t they give a permit? (The navigator) will ask if they have their plans yet,” she said. The experts with that knowledge base “are volunteers on our committees,” Campbell said.

Officials from the state’s debris removal program gave final inspection approval to a total of 920 properties in L.A. and Ventura counties, clearing the way for reconstruction.