Los Angeles homeowners begin to rebuild after devastating wildfires
LOS ANGELES — Nearly four months after wildfires reduced thousands of Los Angeles-area homes to rubble and ash, some residents are starting to rebuild.
In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, construction workers recently began placing wooden beams to frame a house on a lot where only a charred fireplace remains standing. In the seaside city of Malibu and foothills neighborhood of Altadena, many land parcels where homes once stood are being cleared of debris.
Hundreds of homeowners have sought city or county approval for new home designs and other permits to eventually rebuild or repair damaged homes, though few have gotten the green light to break ground.
Some 17,000 homes, businesses and other structures burned to the ground in the Jan. 7 fires. It's uncertain how much will be rebuilt.
Many homeowners will not be able to afford it, even those with insurance. Some are still trying to figure out whether it's safe to return to their properties, given limited data on the degree to which toxins from the fires, including lead and asbestos, may have permeated their land. Roughly 400 land parcels are already for sale in the fire-ravaged areas.
Facing overwhelming loss and the chaos that comes with sudden displacement, those looking to rebuild must navigate an often confusing and time-consuming process. In most cases, it will take years for them to rebuild.
LA issued its first building permit nearly two months after the fires started. It took more than seven months before the first building permit was issued following the Woolsey Fire in 2018.
'Putting this in context of other disasters, the speed is actually probably faster than expected,' said Sara McTarnaghan, a researcher at the Urban Institute who studied the aftermath of urban wildfires in recent years in Colorado, Hawaii and California.
Resolving to rebuild in Altadena
Kathryn Frazier, a music publicist and life coach, had lived in her four-bedroom, three-bath house in Altadena for 10 years and raised her two children there. After her home burned to the ground, she was in shock and questioned whether it made sense to come back.
But after conversations with neighbors, she became determined to rebuild.
'I'm not leaving,' Frazier said. 'That's what kept coming up for everybody, and the more we all talked to each other the more we were all like 'hell yes.''
She is making progress. Frazier hired a crew to clear the property of debris and she is nearly through the first phase of permitting, which involves getting county review and approval for her new home's design. The next phase before receiving approval to begin construction includes reviews of electrical, plumbing and other aspects of the design.
Frazier, 55, is rebuilding her home without major changes to its size or location in order to qualify for an expedited building permit approval process.
'We are hoping to be building by June or July, latest,' she said. 'I've been told that maybe by February or March of 2026 we could be back in our home.'
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The Independent
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Brad was also previously married to actress Jennifer Aniston, 55, before their divorce in 2005. 50 FACTS ABOUT ANGELINA JOLIE Angelina Jolie is now 50. It is quite the milestone for the Oscar-winning actress who was born into fame as her father is 86-year-old Mission: Impossible actor Jon Voight, and then she found fame on her own as a teenager with daring acting roles. But there are many things that fans may not know about the mother-of-six. To celebrate the Maleficent actress' big birthday, has complied a list of 50 facts about the silver-screen superstar that many people may not know. For example, though Jolie has had dark hair for her entire career, she was born a blonde. In recent months, the ex-wife of Brad Pitt has returned to her lighter locks. Another is that she has taken college classes in New York City. And then there is the information about who her best Hollywood friends are and why she wouldn't work with Leonardo DiCaprio. One of the most surprising facts: Jolie is not her last name on her birth certificate. 1. She has more than 30 tattoos. There is a mark of a sparrow on her chest which some of her children have as well. 2. Jolie has a private pilot's license and flies a Cirrus SR22 aircraft, which is a single-engine four- or five-seat composite aircraft built since 2001 by Cirrus Aircraft of Duluth, Minnesota. 3. Angelina was bullied for being slender when attending Beverly Hills High School. Her classmate was Sam Nazarian, who later became the founder of Umami Burger and Katsuya. 4. She was only 19-years-old when she married her Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller in 1996. They split in 1999, with the divorce finalized in 2000. They are still friends to this day. 5. She is the niece of singer Chip Taylor who wrote the song Wild Thing; Chip is the younger brother of Jon. 6. Jolie's godparents are actors Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. Bisset was specifically asked to be Jolie's godmother by her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, while Bertrand was pregnant. 7. Jolie holds Cambodian citizenship, a recognition of her work in helping the country and she has said she wants to move there once her 16-year-old twins turn 18. 8. When she wed Brad Pitt in France, her veil and train had embroidered drawings on them from their six children. 9. The humanitarian has visited Iraq on several occasions in her role as Special Envoy for the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency). She was in Mosul and the Sinjar region. 10. The star dated Madonna's friend, Vogue model Jenny Shimizu, around 1996 and admitted they fell in love. 11. Jolie has said in the past that she has kept a gun in her house. 12. She speaks French almost fluently and will use the language in her upcoming film Couture, which is set in Paris. 13. The often-wed star has worn wedding gowns for the movies Mr & Mrs Smith and The Good Shepherd. 14. Her nickname is Ange. 15. Jolie purchased an estate in Los Feliz, California, which was previously owned by the iconic filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille who made the 1934 drama Cleopatra with Claudette Colbert. 16. Jolie was initially attached to a Cleopatra movie project, but it was ultimately canceled. 17. Her acting role model is Gena Rowlands who was best known for the films A Woman Under The Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980). Angelina and Gena worked on the 2004 film Taking Lives. 18. One of Angelina's longtime celebrity friends is Gwen Stefani. Back in 2008, Angelina revealed that she and Gwen grew close after they gave birth to their kids around the same time. 19. She has become pals with Salma Hayek after they costarred in The Eternals. Jolie has directed Hayek in the upcoming movie Without Blood. 20. Jolie has met Queen Elizabeth II. In 2014, Jolie received an honorary damehood from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for her work in U.K. foreign policy and her campaign to end sexual violence in war zones. The Queen presented her with the Insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross. 21. The star really sang opera in her Maria Callas film after training her voice for seven months. 22. Jolie performed many of her own stunts in the film Salt. She reportedly did 99% of the stunts, including leaping from one truck to another. 23. The star kept a photo of her mother in her purse when filming a difficult scene for Changeling because it gave her strength. 24. She collaborated with jeweler Robert Procop to create the Style of Jolie jewelry line in 2012, with all proceeds benefiting Jolie's charity, the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict. 25. In 2023, she launched Atelier Jolie in New York City. She attends many of the store's events. 26. Angelina turned down a role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator so she would not have to work with Harvey Weinstein. 27. The beauty's first role was as Tosh Warner in 1982's Lookin' To Get Out; she was billed as Angelina Jolie Voight. Her co-stars were dad Jon as well as legend Ann-Margret. 28. She was also a music video star who worked with Lenny Kravitz, Meat Loaf and The Rolling Stones. 29. Some of the famous people she has played are Cornelia Wallace, model Gia Carangi, journalist Mariane Pearl and singer Maria Callas. 30. Jolie's voice work has appeared in animated films like 2004's Shark Tale (she was Lola), the Kung Fu Panda movies (she played Tigress) and The One And Only Ivan (she voiced Stella). 31. There is talk of a Maleficent 3. 32. Jolie is known to speak Khmer, the Cambodian language. 33. The looker has modeled for many brands including Louis Vuitton, Guerlain and Shiseido. 34. Jolie has appeared on approximately 28 Vogue covers across different international editions, including American, British, and Japanese Vogue. 35. The pinup has admitted that she can't cook even the most basic meals. 36. Jolie has been seen driving several different vehicles, including a Mercedes-Benz V-Class, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Jaguar XJ, a BMW hydrogen, a Range Rover Vogue, and a Cadillac Escalade. 37. The thespian has said the character she played that is most like her is Thena in the movie Eternals. She stated that they are both 'raw, broken, and vulnerable.' 38. Jolie's sun and Mercury are in the sign of Gemini. 39. Her tattoo artists are Sompong Kanphai for traditional Thai tattoos, including the iconic Bengal tiger on her back. Mark Mahoney has also been a frequent choice, designing and applying intricate designs like the Stay Gold tattoo and the recent dainty bird tattoo. Mr. K has worked on her hands, and Bang Bang tattoo studio has also been involved. 40. Her favorite country to visit is Cambodia. 41. Her brother James Haven has appeared in several of her movies: 1998's Gia, 1998's Hell's Kitchen and 2001's Original Sin. 42. The star tries to hide her big size nine feet by wearing beige shoes. 43. She hired a refugee to run the restaurant Eat Off Beat inside her store Atelier Jolie. 44. Jolie calls herself a punk: 'If punk means not to follow, but to question, then I suppose I do. The resistance to being told how to think, dress or feel is important to me,' she told CR Fashion Book. 45. The Oscars love her: Jolie won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a diagnosed sociopath in the psychological thriller Girl, Interrupted (1999). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Christine Collins in the mystery crime drama Changeling (2008). In 2014 she was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards by the Academy. 46. Jolie revealed that selling the first photos of her twins, Knox and Vivienne, in 2008 was a security decision to control their release safely while also donating the proceeds to charity. 47. She has gone under the knife: Angie underwent a prophylactic mastectomy, followed by breast reconstruction, and a preventive salpingo-oophorectomy to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes. These procedures were undertaken due to her elevated risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer, stemming from a positive BRCA1 gene mutation. 48. She has been to college: the star took night classes at New York University to study directing and screenwriting. And she studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. 49. Her middle name is Jolie as her full birth name is Angelina Jolie Voight. 50. Jolie's net worth is estimated to be $120 million as of 2025.
