LA mobile home park fire victims face uncertain future

The Palisades Fire that ignited in January and killed 12 people engulfed several luxury homes, beachfront properties and celebrity mansions. But it also razed the homes of those living in more affordable communities, including two mobile home parks. 

For those residents, the long road to recovery includes even more uncertainties and barriers, writes CalMatters’ Felicia Mello.

The Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates and Tahitian Terrace together housed hundreds of retirees and other long-time residents. Some residents who moved in decades prior paid just $600 a month for rent-controlled lots. 

But that all changed on Jan. 7, and the limitations of state and local rules ensuring affordable housing in Los Angeles are becoming clearer. For instance, under California law, mobile home park owners who rebuild after a natural disaster must allow tenants to return — but they can also increase rents to cover rebuilding costs.

For Colby Biggs, the co-owner of the 150-unit Palisades Bowl, being unable to recover costs could mean foregoing rebuilding the grounds altogether. 

• Biggs: “If we have to go invest $100 million to rebuild the park and we’re not able to recoup that in some fashion, then it’s not likely we will rebuild the park. … We’re not evicting anybody. But if the park’s not rebuilt, then obviously the residents wouldn’t have the right to reoccupy the park.”

Biggs said it could be “a different story” if he can secure state or federal funding. But that’s a big question too: Gov. Gavin Newsom flew to Washington D.C. last week to lobby for disaster aid, following President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to withhold aid to California if the state didn’t change its water or voting policies. Trump has also floated the idea of “getting rid” of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, adding another wrinkle to recovery efforts. 

Read more here.

The other devastating Southern California January fire, the Eaton Fire, is also completely contained — but its potential to cause deadly debris flow has experts on high alert, report CalMatters’ Julie Cart and Alastair Bland.

The U.S. National Forest Service on Tuesday released a damage assessment report that found that the “probabilities of hyper-concentrated flows and/or debris flows are high to very high” in the Eaton Fire burn area. 

Heavy rainfall expected on Thursday and Friday could increase the chances of mud, boulders and debris rushing toward the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains — endangering the nearly 170,000 people living in Altadena, Pasadena and other nearby communities.

For fire-scarred parts of these mountains, there is no more vegetation to stabilize the earth. The soil, now coated with ash, repels water, and can roll off easily down hillsides instead of soaking back into the ground. Together with other sediment, they form debris flows, which can travel as fast as 40 miles an hour.

In addition to crushing bridges, buildings and vehicles in their paths, the flows can claim lives: The subsequent debris flow of 2017’s Thomas Fire killed 23 people in Montecito.

Read more here.

To keep itself solvent, the state-run fire insurance plan of last resort is turning to private insurers — and, in turn, their customers — for a bailout.

As CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay explains, the California FAIR Plan offers customers limited coverage when no private company will cover them. Severe wildfire seasons in the past few years have driven up the number of FAIR Plan customers to more than 451,000, as more insurance companies stopped writing or renewing policies in the state.

The FAIR Plan has predicted it will run out of money by March, so on Tuesday the state Insurance Department approved its request to impose a $1 billion charge on private insurance companies to cover claims from the L.A.-area fires. Most California home and fire insurance customers will likely see temporary fees added to their insurance bills.

Meanwhile, the consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog is considering suing over the new charges customers will pay.

Read more here.

State Sen. Kelly Seyarto spent 35 years fighting fires in Southern California, and is one of the few career firefighters to have served in the Legislature. But despite his expertise, Seyarto said being a Republican excluded him from discussions on the special session bills related to the L.A. fires. Find out more about the Murrieta lawmaker from CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal.