Red Tape to Recovery: Tracking Altadena Rebuilding After the Eaton Fire

The Eaton Fire that rampaged through Altadena in January 2025 burned 14,000 acres over 24 days, destroyed 9,413 structures and resulted in 19 deaths. A year later, data and stories from community members show that only a few Altadenans and Pasadenans have returned home.

This second most destructive wildfire in California history devastated a haven for Black family homeownership.  As redlining shut Black Californians out of other places in the first half of the 20th century, Altadena, especially West Altadena, provided homes they could own, in the process creating a uniquely diverse historic neighborhood.  Eventually, it became a vibrant hub for all communities of color.

Rooted in resilience and solidarity, Altadenans and their Pasadena neighbors now rise to ensure everyone affected can return to a safer and stronger community. Networks of coalitions are working together toward an inclusive recovery where everyone—renters, homeowners, and business owners—can return home. Elected officials, funders, and insurance companies must also pursue solutions to support a just and inclusive reconstruction where both homeowners and renters have real choices to rebuild, small businesses and local workers have economic opportunities, and all community members have a healthy built environment to return to.

This research project and dashboard, developed in partnership with Dena Rise UP!, provides crucial, accurate data on how different areas and properties are rebuilding to help ensure everyone can return home. We analyzed the devastation in Altadena to understand the housing lost, the uphill battle to recovery, and the threats to residents returning home. We focused on West and East Altadena, separated by Lake Avenue, given the disproportionate impact of the fire on the Altadena community and its legacy of Black homeownership and wealth.

Check out the data map. | Need help? Watch our tutorial.

Property owners are stuck in the permit process

Based on data from the L.A. County Assessor and Electronic Permitting and Inspections Portal (EPIC-LA), only 23 residential properties, of nearly 6,000 that suffered significant damage, had completed all rebuilding and repairs as of December 2025.

We count any residential property that had at least one structure sustaining 26% or more damage as significantly damaged, meaning these numbers include properties destroyed or suffering major damage. Only 4 in 10 owners (43%) of these significantly damaged properties have at least applied for or received permits to begin construction. The rest are stuck, after debris removal, with no applications or permits to rebuild—assuming they can afford the up-front costs of rebuilding.

For many homeowners, the choice to rebuild is not straightforward. Insurance does not pay enough to cover temporary housing and construction. For example, a family aiming to replace their destroyed 1,500-square-foot house would have to pay $750,000 to rebuild, assuming a cost of $500/square foot. The average home insurance coverage in Altadena was only $607,000 as of 2023. The family would face a shortfall of more than $140,000 just to afford construction, without even considering temporary housing costs. Even if cost was not an issue, the process of hiring architects and contractors for permitting and rebuilding can be stressful.

Rebuilding will require different strategies depending on whether properties are owner-occupied or rented. Across Altadena, most owners of significantly damaged properties have not submitted any permit applications regardless of whether they were owner- or renter-occupied. Over half of owner-occupied (57%) and renter-occupied (58%) properties have not applied for or received permits to begin construction.

West Altadena lost the most single- and multi-family homes

The Eaton Fire caused greater devastation and property loss of both single-family and multifamily homes in West Altadena. Prior research documents that all those who lost their lives in the fire lived West of Lake Avenue. Failures in alert and evacuation operations meant West Altadena residents did not get evacuation orders until nine hours after the fast-growing fire began.

Single-family homes, meaning properties with a single residence or single residence and ADU, in West Altadena were significantly damaged or destroyed at nearly twice the rate of East Altadena. More than half of the single-family homes in West Altadena were significantly damaged or destroyed, compared to only about a third in East Altadena. Multifamily properties such as duplexes or apartments suffered worse devastation. Nearly half (47%) suffered significant damage, compared to 14% in East Altadena.

This partially is due to the distribution of multifamily homes compared to the path of the fire: it burned through much of West Altadena, but in East Altadena it stayed in the northwest quadrant. As recovery continues, ensuring at least the same level of single-family and multifamily housing for returning residents will require significant resources. An equitable recovery must provide solutions for the rebuilding of multifamily units lost.

All Altadena residents now must contend with lead contamination

As property owners rebuild, they must also contend with chemical hazards resulting from the fire. Between February and March 2025, L.A. County Department of Public Health contracted Roux Associates, Inc. to conduct surface soil testing at residential properties near and within the Eaton Fire. Their results confirmed lead as a chemical of concern. Additionally, they found that while lead levels dropped significantly after debris removal, properties still showed lead concentrations above acceptable residential levels—so even after debris removal, residents face a risk of lead contamination. 

Nearly half of significantly damaged single-family homes and an even higher share of multifamily homes are now in high-lead areas—areas with average lead concentrations at or above 80mg/kg. In West Altadena, 68% of significantly damaged multifamily homes are in high-lead areas. In East Altadena, the proportion is 79%.

And properties with no damage still may face lead hazards. Across Altadena, 84% of multifamily properties and 58% of single-family properties that sustained no damage are in high-lead grids. Recently, Eaton Fire Residents United tested 50 intact, remediated homes. Six out of 10 remained uninhabitable due to elevated lead and/or asbestos. Testing and environmental mitigation must include undamaged as well as damaged properties, and mitigation strategies may need to be tailored to whether a property is owner- or renter-occupied to ensure safe rebuilding.

Current fire hazard zones do not adequately prepare property owners for disaster, though they will likely affect rebuilding

As property owners rebuild, some must also deal with changes in building codes resulting from revised fire hazard severity zones, placing heavier burdens on them to establish defensible space and wildland urban interfaces—even though these zones failed to reflect the scale of devastation in West Altadena.

Between April 2024 and March 2025, the California Office of the State Fire Marshal finalized fire hazard severity zones in state responsibility areas and local responsibility areas. These zones indicate the likelihood of wildfires in 30-50 years without property owners implementing mitigation measures. Property owners in high or very high fire hazard severity zones must establish a defensible space around their property and comply with other regulations, depending on whether they are in an area of state or local responsibility. Importantly, these zones were in development in the months before, during, and immediately after the Eaton Fire, meaning they were not created in response to it.

Ideally, these zones would help prepare residents for wildfire catastrophes. They proved insufficient in the Eaton Fire. Only 23% of significantly damaged homes across the region are in a designated very high fire hazard severity zone. Despite worse destruction, fewer significantly damaged properties in West Altadena, 19%, are in such a zone compared to East Altadena’s 33%.

This raises questions about how property owners in Altadena, and across California, can properly prepare their properties against disasters like the Eaton Fire. As Altadenans rebuild, they will need support complying with state and local regulations to defend against future fires. More broadly, Altadena and other communities must push for broader preparedness measures and better assessments to accurately prepare them for climate- and human-caused disasters.

Timely, accurate data can help track progress to support a just, inclusive recovery

Our new data map, Red Tape to Recovery: Tracking Altadena Rebuilding After the Eaton Fire, helps Altadena survivor groups demand equitable fire recovery policies that will let them return to the community they love. The data tool shows the repair/rebuild and sold status of significantly damaged residential properties—answering the question of who has the means to return home and who does not.

It also shows how fire and environmental hazards—two factors influencing just rebuilding efforts—affect properties. Users can filter the dashboard to see/compare progress for West versus East Altadena, for different residential types (single-family, multifamily, etc.), and for different stages of rebuilding. We will update the dashboard regularly to provide timely, accurate data that tracks the path to recovery.

We encourage public officials, insurers and funders to use this map, and its corresponding data, to understand recovery challenges and ensure they are pursuing equity in their policies and allocations related to the rebuilding process. Community coalitions can use it as an accountability tool to demand equity in recovery from those responsible and as an organizing tool to support their neighbors trying to rebuild.

Check out the data map. | Need help? Watch our tutorial.

For a just and inclusive recovery, public officials and insurers must invest in community-driven solutions

While properties can be rebuilt with lumber and steel, it will take people working toward equity and community to bring back the refuge Altadena was for so many families of color. All Altadenans and Pasadenans affected by the Eaton wildfire deserve to return home to a thriving, united community with fair housing choices for homeowners and renters, local jobs and economic opportunity, and a safe, healthy environment.

We call on elected officials, private funders, and insurance companies to put in place solutions advanced by Altadena and Pasadena community coalitions, including Dena Rise UP! and the Eaton Fire Collaborative, and to use these data to support a just, inclusive reconstruction. We offer these recommendations as a starting point:

• Enhance staffing in county departments involved in permitting and inspecting rebuilt properties, including the Fire Prevention Division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Building and Safety Division of the Los Angeles County Public Works Department, and the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Department. Increased staffing could help provide greater support to residents trying to navigate the rebuilding process. Also, provide additional resources or educaton to vulnerable communities who may face greater difficulty navigating the process, such as elderly residents or residents who speak a primary language other than English.
• Protect Altadena homeowners from predatory real estate speculation. Enforce bans on unsolicited offers, as enacted by AB 851. For property owners who must sell, invest in community or nonprofit acquisition programs, like community land trusts, and prioritize sales to community buyers.
• Provide more environmental testing and mitigation support, regardless of damage, to residents, especially renters, whose homes are now in high-lead grids in East Altadena, as well as homeowners in West Altadena. Fully fund environmental testing and remediation of all affected housing, schools, parks, libraries, and other public spaces until safe levels are achieved.
• Enact more protections from environmental hazards for future homebuyers and tenants, building off SB 610, which requires mandatory post-disaster testing and remediation disclosures to guarantee transparency from sellers or landlords.
• Provide support and funding to Altadena community members in rebuilding their properties in compliance with the state’s new defensible space requirements, such as helping them navigate state/local regulations, afford the property changes required, and, if necessary, find an updated and adequate home insurance policy.
• Pursue broader disaster preparedness for communities within and outside of fire hazard zones. This can include public education and resources for low-income communities and communities of color to prepare their loved ones and property for disaster.