Rising from the Ashes…Rebuilding Hope After a Devastating Fire
Fran Flanagan was my first California mentor. In 1988, she somehow ended up taking on Relocation among her many other responsibilities at Jon Douglas Company. I was a newly minted Californian straight out of Texas. Everyone laughed when I said, "Y'all." She quickly taught me the ropes of high-end real estate and relocation for the rich and famous. We have been friends ever since.
I asked her to recount the painful experience of surviving the Palisades fire and its aftermath. The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed over 16,000 homes and structures across 60 square miles in the Los Angeles area in January 2025. Thirty people lost their lives.
Q. Tell me about your background and how long you have been in real estate.
A. I am so grateful to Teresa, who asked me to recount this story, because I want to make sure that the Palisades and Altadena fires are not forgotten. I got my real estate license in 1972. I was 26. I was a transplant from New York and thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Ever since then, I have been working in real estate in Pacific Palisades -- first in sales, then in management, then back to sales. When I was in management at Jon Douglas Company, I did all kinds of stuff, including regional management, dispute resolution, and relocation. At one point, I managed 16 offices -- and helped to build that company into a regional powerhouse. Over the years, I have worked for Spring Realty (Ring Spring and call the Mover!) Fred Sands, Coldwell Banker, and finally COMPASS. I moved to COMPASS six years ago, when my daughter Liz Jones joined my team. It was the best move we ever made.
Q. Tell me about the day of the fires, 1/7/2025.
A. In the first week of January, we had a "no burn" order, which meant no fires in the fireplaces, no firepits, etc. The wind was high all week, and we needed to be careful. On January 7, a fire broke out in the Highlands mid-morning -- an area of newer homes set in the hills above Sunset Blvd., where the reservoir is. The first thing we heard was how difficult it was to evacuate because there is only one road in and one road out to the Highlands, so there was an enormous traffic jam -- we turned on local news and watched. Fire - real flames - were burning down the road, setting landscaping on fire, and winds were whipping up. Residents with their animals were in the cars, trying to get out. Some residents got so scared that they just left their cars in the middle of the road and ran down the hill to avoid the fire. Abandoned vehicles then became the issue. Newscasts showed men lifting cars out of the way. It was awful.
We still felt relatively safe- the Palisades is big, and this fire was at the far end, away from us. Liz and I both live in the flats of the Palisades. It was usually the hills surrounded by trees and brush that burned -- but this fire was a whole new animal. We never in a million years thought we were in imminent danger. After noon, an evacuation order was set for the entire Palisades. We heard the alarms on our phones, which are the scariest things you can imagine. Liz and her husband, Billy, thought they would come over to my house, east of theirs, and spend the night. The winds kept on fiercely blowing, so hard that helicopters, which usually fight fires, could not be deployed. Firefighters were relying on hydrants, which did not have enough water. From my house, you could look west and see the fire from a distance, as it came closer and closer. Big billows of smoke clouds, then actual flames. You could hear sirens going off everywhere, wind and trees snapping, and branches blowing around. The winds raged up to 100mph gusts and delivered fire tornadoes.
Q. When did you finally evacuate?
A. Around four or five pm, people really started evacuating. We were all glued to the television -- but no one had to tell us what was happening -- we saw and felt it. At about nine pm, I decided to leave where I was and join Liz and Billy. I drive a heavy car, and still, in the one mile from where I was staying to where I was going, the winds felt like they were picking up my car. I was terrified. Now we began watching the fires on our ring cameras. Liz and Billy's cameras went out at one point -- mine stayed on to picture the red glow on the horizon. At about eleven, Liz came into my room sobbing. "Mom, it's all gone. Everything. The whole town. Our house is totally gone." I said, "No, sweet girl, you won't know for sure until the morning." Liz said, "Mom, we know. We saw our house burn down on the news."
Q. Once the realization set in after the fires, what were you thinking?
A. The morning came with the devastating news that Liz was right. The whole town was gone. Six thousand homes burned in less than a day in the Palisades. Our stores, churches, schools, gas stations, library, and supermarkets burned to the ground. We also had some neighbors who hired private firefighting vehicles. These stood watch to put out small fires as they spread. We believe that this saved my neighborhood.
Q. Tell me about those first weeks in your personal life after the fires.
A. Phones rang tirelessly the next few days, neighbors, friends, with so much sadness, so much grief. We are all traumatized, actually in shock. All we have worked for all these years -- gone. Maybe it is some solace that all of our neighbors are in this together -- Liz's book club with 12 members had nine who lost everything in the fire. But for a Mom, nothing is more heartbreaking than a heartbroken child. For many of us who did not suffer a loss, we did have horrible smoke and ash damage, which necessitated a two-month evacuation because of the toxic air and non-potable water.
Q. Tell me what it has been like being an agent at this time. What are you doing to help your clients?
A. Being an agent at this time is a daily routine of levels of sadness and grief. So many clients and friends lost their homes, and all are trying to figure out their next steps. "Should we stay or should we go?" All day, every day. With no schools left in the Palisades, people with school-age children are having a horrible time. Parents try to keep their kids with their friends, which is almost impossible. Insurance companies are paying for loss of use, and so there has been a HUGE demand for furnished leases of various lengths. Some clients are moving away from the Palisades to nearby areas. Santa Monica has had a tremendous uptick in sales. Palisadians are loving Manhattan Beach, Marina del Rey, and Montecito, where the schools have openings and the air is clean.
Q. How many do you think will rebuild or relocate?
A. Even those homeowners who planned to rebuild needed a temporary place to live. We have clients who are moving to Spain, Aspen, and God knows where else. Some are selling their lots because they cannot afford the time or resources to rebuild. Currently, there are over 100 lots officially on the market, and fewer than ten have sold, many to builders. Many Palisadians are planning to rebuild and are in the early stages of that process. Clearing debris in two stages, dealing with toxicity, finding builders and architects, and trying to figure out $/sf costs, all made more difficult by tariffs levied on lumber, steel, and other building necessities. Evaluating the materials used in building will be a high priority. Staying within the footprint of the pre-existing property will speed up the permitting process. Liz and Billy are rebuilding.
As a side note, data from the Los Angeles Times: FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers are responsible for the cleanup for 95% of the residents who accepted FEMA help. They successfully cleaned up the toxic waste in the Palisades in a remarkable 28 days. Asbestos was found in 60% of the homes in Altadena and 40% of the Palisades properties. A small army of laborers, heavy equipment operators, hazmat technicians, and truck drivers are now working on debris removal, which is slated to finish in June. They are more than a third of the way complete, clearing nearly 120 lots a day. The landfills are overflowing, and local residents are fighting to prevent new landfills from being established in their unaffected neighborhoods. More than 2000 truckloads of debris have been spread among 16 landfills, equivalent to 100 Eiffel Towers. The recent rains added to challenges, causing runoff of toxic waste into the ocean.
Q. There has been a lot of finger-pointing at the government level. What could have been done to prevent this disaster?
A. Finger pointing? Oh, I'm good at that! Let me just say that we were in the midst of a full-blown Santa Ana wind event in January, and our leadership did NOTHING to help us. Our reservoir was empty, there were not enough fire engines in place, nor traffic cops for evacuation. We can't get insurers to pay for losses. We are all on our own. Even if a property did not burn, it stands alone among the burned lots. One of our clients' homes was the only surviving property on a cul-de-sac in the Highlands. As a single person in her 80s, she is afraid to live up there without her neighbors. Access is still limited, so what would happen if she had to call 911?
Q. What else have we learned?
A. Insist on brush clearance and water accessibility. Insist on leadership that is responsive to all constituents. Pacific Palisades is a wealthy part of Los Angeles. Altadena needs as much help as the Palisades. It's been 100 days since the fires, and the experience remains as traumatic and shocking as it was that night. Our community is resilient; while it may take years, it will rebuild.
“It was a nuclear winter. It was like Armageddon. It looked like the end of the world.” ~ Mitch Mendler, firefighter.
Left: Realtors Liz Jones and Fran Flanagan, Compass