Rebuilding L.A.

As we hit the 21-month mark since the Palisades and Eaton fires ignited, we are wrapping up season two of Rebuilding L.A. with a return to a community that knows disaster all too well: Malibu. A third of the city was destroyed by the Palisades fire, even as it was still recovering from the devastating Woolsey fire in 2018. Malibu is a coastal enclave of catastrophe - a paradise prone to burning. Mudflows and erosion, too. Now it’s facing a new threat from the West: a warming and rising Pacific Ocean. The decisions Malibu is making right now to rebuild its homes and businesses will shape the city for generations to come and, say the   Malibu long-timers who've grown up in the area, it's all worth doing and fighting for. 
GUESTS: Wade Major, Malibu Rebuild Task Force and palisades fire survivor; Jefferson 'Zuma Jay' Wagner, former mayor of Malibu and business owner; and Joseph Irvin, Malibu City Manager

'Zone Zero' is the latest tool in California's kit to help mitigate fire risk in the state. The new regulation applies to anyone with a home in a high fire zone, and bans any kind of plant, even well hydrated ones, within a foot of a house. No hedges. No rose bushes. No ivy clinging to the walls. Nada. And homeowners can’t have anything that can catch fire - like fire wood or leaves or a flammable gate - within five feet of a home. Homeowners have five years to comply with these new regulations, but not everyone wants to. While there is research that says such policies could prevent a home from catching fire, there are plenty of skeptics who are not convinced it'll work. Plus, major changes to people's yards can be costly and, so far, there are no state plans to helps homeowners pay for this. Host Kate Cagle digs into what people like — and what they don't —  about these new rules with Noah Haggerty, who covers wildfires for LA Times. 

GUEST: Noah Haggerty, Environment Reporter for the Los Angeles Times 

California's High Fire Severity Zones: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/community-wildfire-preparedness-and-mitigation/fire-hazard-severity-zones 

How Zone Zero, designed to protect California homes from wildfire, became plagued with controversy and delays: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-11-03/how-zone-zero-became-plagued-with-controversy-and-delays   

Early adopters of ‘zone zero’ fared better in L.A. County fires, insurance-backed investigation finds: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-12-10/zone-zero-early-adopters-fared-better-in-la-county-fires-report-finds.  

Newsom signs first-in-nation standards for homes damaged by wildfire smoke: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-09-15/newsom-signs-first-in-u-s-standards-for-homes-damaged-by-wildfire-smoke        

The Eaton and Palisades fires destroyed or damaged at least a dozen schools, adding to the heartbreak and displacement for families that were already dealing with so much. Most of the campuses that suffered the worst are still closed, but this episode is about one school that burned to the ground and rose back up, earlier, even, than expected.  

Thanks to the sheer grit of some determined parents, and really the luck of the landscape, Marquez Charter Elementary School in the Pacific Palisades has been able to welcome kids back to campus for the second year in a row. Now, even more families who had been previously displaced are coming back.

This is, in the end a feel good story, but it was not easy to get here. There were some tears and some terse words. It was, at times, pretty tense. Kate Cagle gets the backstory from three moms on the post-fire frontlines, and hears from other parents and LA Unified administrators — folks who were not only rebuilding their lives, but also a school.

GUESTS: 
Jodi Lederman, Palisades fire survivor and parent on the Marquez Governing Council
Caroline Nick, Palisades fire survivor and former president of Friends of Marquez
Cameron Pfizenmaier, Palisades fire survivor and parent on the Marquez Governing Council
Dr. Debra Bryant, Executive Director, LA Unified School District

There’s a saying that’s come up repeatedly since the L.A. fires in 2025: Disaster does not discriminate, but disaster recovery does. So many people – regardless of their wealth – lost everything. But whether you can claw your way back from disaster really depends on how much cash you have on hand,  and how quickly you can get it. Even those who have insurance, the money that's supposed to pay for temporary housing is running out, and there are still not enough funds to build a whole house. Enter nonprofits like Greenline Housing Foundation. With its mission to help boost black home ownership and close the equity gap, Greenline has become something of a "first aid kit" for Eaton fire survivors, offering financial services that range from temporary housing grants to land banking that have helped some families fund their paths back home.

Jasmin Shupper, Founder, Greenline Housing Foundation

Greenlilne Housing Foundation: https://greenlinehousing.org/

We have a happy update for you. There's a block in Altadena, West Poppyfields Drive, and it's coming back. So far there are 9 houses in the process of rebuilding and a handful of them have all four walls up, roofs, porches, and even front doors attached and windows in. That includes Whitney's Haggins's house. We've been following her efforts to rebuild  -- and that of her neighbors -- since last fall when she decided to go with a home design from the Foothill Catalog that had been pre-approved by Los Angeles County so she did need to wait for months on a building permit. The design is for a Craftsman, called The Lewis, and so far her plan is paying off. Whitney thinks she might be moving back home by next January, if not by Christmas. In this episode, we bring you the update on how Whitney and her neighborhood are coming along, plus a re-run of the two-part series we did on the Poppyfields people back in June.

GUESTS: Whitney Haggins and John Hall, Eaton fire survivors 

 The LA fires destroyed more than 13,000 structures, but thousands more were left standing in their wake. They were not burned, but saturated in smoke. Even homes beyond the perimeter of the burn zone had smoke damage. But there still hasn't been a lot of testing of these structures — or the soil around them — to see what toxins remain, leaving doubt in the minds of some survivors about whether it's safe to come back.

In the absence of the federal government, a handful of local government organizations, universities, and nonprofits have stepped in to help with soil testing. The latest effort is coming from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. They just announced a $3 million program in conjunction with some nonprofits groups to test and clean the soil at homes still standing in the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire.

GUEST: Tony Briscoe, Environmental Reporter for the L.A. Times.

Feds won’t test soil after L.A. wildfire cleanup: https://www.latimes.com/00000194-fcb2-df26-a396-fdb326f10000-123.   Uncovering the toxic soil lurking in L.A.’s burn zones: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-05-04/treated-like-dirt-soil-testing-project.  

L.A. County Board of Supervisors Advances Soil Remediation Program to Protect Altadena Families After Eaton Fire: https://kathrynbarger.lacounty.gov/l-a-county-board-of-supervisors-advances-1m-soil-remediation-program-to-protect-altadena-families-after-eaton-fire/

The insurance crisis has been well documented after these disasters - people who didn’t have insurance, or not enough insurance, or just can’t get their claims covered. But some folks have made it through that whole process, only to hit another roadblock: their mortgage lenders are holding onto the money.

Grace Toohey, a breaking news reporter for the Los Angeles Times, has been in touch with homeowners who say this is a growing issue – and one that has forced them to delay or halt construction on their new homes.

GUEST: Los Angeles Times Fast Break Reporter Grace Toohey

Read Grace's article: Fire survivors were finally ready to rebuild homes. A new barrier is leaving them ‘demoralized: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-07-17/fire-survivors-were-finally-ready-to-rebuild-new-barrier-is-leaving-them-demoralized

 For years now, the home insurance market in California has been broken, with carriers suddenly dropping customers without warning and little explanation, leaving them vulnerable to losing everything. The survivors of LA's recent fires know this all too well, and they want someone to fix it. Jane Kim, candidate for state insurance commissioner, has a big plan to upend the system and offer every Californian a public-run disaster insurance plan. She’s calling it “natural disaster insurance for all’. Kim, an attorney and former San Francisco supervisor, is running against State Sen. Benjamin Allen for the role of running California’s long-beleaguered Department of Insurance and she talks to Rebuilding L.A. host Kate Cagle about why she should get the job. GUEST: Attorney Jane Kim, former state director of the Working Families Party Jane Kim's priorities: https://www.janekim.org/priorities. Jane Kim: Now is the time for Disaster Insurance for All: https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/02/jane-kim-now-is-the-time-for-disaster-insurance-for-all/. Your guide to the California insurance commissioner’s race: Who will replace Ricardo Lara? https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/2026-california-election-insurance-commissioner-voter-guide

The race to take the top job at California's Department of Insurance is typically a sleeper. But the role of Insurance Commissioner is getting a lot more attention after the fires of January 2025. Once of the candidates is State Senator Ben Allen. He represents the 24th Senate District, which includes the Pacific Palisades -- an area that lost thousands of homes in the Palisades fire. The other is attorney Jane Kim, who has been endorsed by Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders. Both have similar goals should they get the job  -- lower rates, hold insurance companies accountable, get homeowners off the state's Fair Plan -- but each differ on how to get there. Senator Allen has put his money on fire mitigation and bringing stakeholders together in communities up and down the state to reduce their risk and stay insured. In this episode, Host Kate Cagle speaks with Allen about his plans.

GUEST: California State Senator Ben Allen, 24th District

Senator Ben Allen's plan to stabilize the insurance market: https://www.benallenca.com/issues Legislators eye new prevention efforts in fire-scarred California: ‘A tipping point’: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-04/california-legislators-introduce-bill-package-to-address-wildfires 

Your guide to the California insurance commissioner’s race: Who will replace Ricardo Lara? https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/2026-california-election-insurance-commissioner-voter-guide

Note: Attorney Jane Kim, Allen’s opponent in the insurance commissioner’s race, talks about her plans to reduce insurance costs in the next episode of Rebuilding L.A.

The June trial against alleged arsonist Jonathan Rinderknecht, the Uber driver accused of setting a fire that ultimately became the Palisades fire, ended in a mistrial. He is due back in court in October but it's unclear whether anything about the case will change, or if new evidence will emerge, that could alter the outcome in the fall. During the June trial, the majority of jurors moved to acquit Rinderknecht. We discuss the case with LA Times Brittny Mejia, Metro reporter for the L.A. Times, who covered the court case, and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.

GUESTS:

LA Times Metro reporter Brittny Mejia                                                                            

Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and president/ co-founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers

Mistrial declared in Palisades fire arson case, a stunning blow to U.S. prosecutors: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-06-26/jonathan-rinderknecht-verdict-palisades-fire