Thousands of Southern Californians were displaced after wildfires ripped through their neighborhoods, destroying their homes and entire communities. As families and business owners scramble to take care of immediate needs, the road to recovery looms, with questions already abounding over the rebuilding process.

UCLA's Stephen Commins has four decades of working in programs designed to reduce disaster risk or respond to disasters in several dozen countries. He has taught courses in regional and international development at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs for over three decades. With extensive experience in global disaster response, we asked him some of the most pressing questions facing local and state-wide legislators and civic leaders.

Initial stages in the rebuilding process

According to Commins, there are several initial steps in the rebuilding process likely to be carried out concurrently, including:

• Developing clear and coherent coordination mechanisms between the multitude of government agencies that have or could have roles in the reconstruction process. These need to be transparent to the public, including the establishment of a citizen oversight group for each of the most affected communities.
• Cleanup of the sites, including hazardous waste and removal of rubble
• Rebuilding of water and energy infrastructure
• Determination of how many households have insurance and can rebuild
• Prioritization of private sector rebuilding such as stores, schools and medical facilities
• Mapping of block-by-block rebuilding plans that involve consultation with residents to determine who plans to rebuild and remain in the neighborhood, who plans to rebuild and relocate and who is unable to rebuild.

Cleanup concerns

Before rebuilding is possible, a cleanup will need to take place, but many older homes were built with materials now considered dangerous. For example, the Health Officer for Los Angeles County has just issued an order barring demolition of property until appropriate hazard inspections are completed.

"Every home has potential hazards - from older homes with asbestos to any home that contained paint cans, lithium batteries and other standard but toxic when incinerated household items," said Commins, who taught UCLA Luskin's Urban Planning Disaster Management course for many years.

"The cleanup effort will be both qualitative in the sense of identifying hazards and toxins, and quantitative due to the large volume of debris that must be removed, requiring thousands of trips by large trucks, as well as extensive remediation efforts," he added.

Neighborhood rebuilds: Possible issues

While some families are dedicated to returning to their neighborhoods to rebuild, things may not return to the way they were.

"A key issue in this situation is the scale of the disaster. If there were 20 houses on a block, what happens if only two or three people want to rebuild?" Commins said. "Will they decide not to rebuild because they don't want to be on a 'vacant' block?"

For households with adequate insurance, their decision to rebuild could be impacted by a "lack of amenities like stores, schools and parks or lack of neighbors and community," Commins explained.

Local government and the rebuilding process

In situations like the one described above, city governments must get involved by organizing and facilitating local conversations among community members "to identify the obstacles to rebuilding and resettlement that are not due to the lack of insurance or other financial issues. It will be imperative to bring people together and mitigate uncertainty about what type of neighborhood will emerge over time," Commins said.

At all levels of government, some existing regulations may be seen as a hindrance to the process of reconstruction which is why city, county and state officials have been moving quickly on issues ranging from eviction moratoriums to the removal of specific measures that might slow the rebuilding efforts.

How potential lack of future insurance coverage will impact rebuilding

As most Californians know, getting home insurance has become a significant problem in the state, with major carriers fleeing the West Coast. Many residents in fire-prone areas including Altadena and the Pacific Palisades were dropped by their insurance carriers in 2024, forcing them to acquire basic fire insurance at a significantly higher rate through the California FAIR Plan.

The state insurance commissioner may have put a moratorium on insurers canceling policies for one year, but no one knows what will happen beyond that period which is a concern as the one-year time frame is likely to be inadequate for the amount of work required for most home reconstruction.

"If homeowners can't get fire insurance, they won't rebuild," Commins said. "The anecdotes of households that risked living in Pacific Palisades or Altadena without insurance and their lack of any financial resources following the wildfires will make it highly unlikely that people will take that risk in the future."

The impact of the blazes on future building

Many are already wondering if a rebuild will be impacted by regulations that could come about due to lessons learned in the most recent fires.

"A number of requirements could be established, including the roof material, the protection of eaves from embers and the types of trees and plants allowed, requiring much more stringent (with fines as necessary) removal of brush and flammable growth, and ensuring that fire resistant building materials are used in reconstruction," Commins said.

Tags: wildfires | urban planning