Their homes burned in the LA wildfires. A year later, thousands still can’t return

Their homes burned in the LA wildfires. A year later, thousands still can’t return

Lynda Lin Grigsby in Los Angeles

Sun, February 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC

8 min read

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<span>Esmeralda Rodas on the lot where her house burned down in Altadena, California. New homes being built and empty lots where homes were destroyed by the fires in LA.</span><span>Composite: Lynda Lin Grigsby, AFP via Getty Images</span> — Esmeralda Rodas on the lot where her house burned down in Altadena, California. New homes being built and empty lots where homes were destroyed by the fires in LA.Composite: Lynda Lin Grigsby, AFP via Getty Images(Composite: Lynda Lin Grigsby, AFP via Getty Images)

Esmeralda Rodas sits on the ground in front of what was once the front door of her home, haunted by memories of her previous life. She remembers jumping for joy in 1989, when her husband, Hector Rodas, presented her with the Altadena house as a birthday gift.

It was small, Esmeralda says, but it was her castle – with windows overlooking purple mountains that, one night last January, glowed ominously red with wildfires which razed many homes on her street.

One year later, Esmeralda, 64, a longtime nanny, is still in exile. She and her family now live in the nearby city of Glendale in a small house owned by an aunt. It’s comfortable, but sleep eludes her husband.

“It’s not mine,” Hector, 67, says. “It’s not what I worked for.”

Esmeralda and Hector are not alone. The Eaton and Palisades fires – among the most destructive in California’s history – forced an exodus of residents from their communities who have yet to return. The fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures, displacing tens of thousands of people.

A year on, a vast majority of the displaced have still not been able to come back. A recent report by the Department of Angels, a non-profit that supports Los Angeles’s wildfires survivors, found more than seven in 10 residents in Altadena and Pacific Palisades have not yet returned home. And among those who plan to rebuild their homes, only one in seven have actually started the process, the report found.

News of small numbers of people moving back into newly rebuilt homes in the burn zones obscures a larger truth: most residents who fled their fire-ravaged communities are still living in temporary housing in nearby cities, other parts of California or even other countries.

Every fire survivor’s journey to recovery is different. What remains constant are the nostalgic memories of their pre-fire neighborhoods: unlocked doors, cake bake-offs between neighbors and streets that once felt like extended family. Survivors describe longstanding community bonds they are fighting to reclaim or, in some cases, leaving behind altogether knowing nothing will be the same again.

For Esmeralda and her family, the year spent living away from their home has felt listless and hollow – as if their hearts are beating outside of their bodies. They visit their empty lot often, and frequently break down in tears when speaking about the loss.

“When everything was gone,” Esmeralda says. “It was hard. So hard.”

‘Their trauma is growing every day’

For fire survivors, the barriers to returning home are multifaceted: from surging rent prices and delayed permits to systemic battles with insurance companies.

On the anniversary of the fires this January, fewer than a dozen homes have reportedly been rebuilt in Los Angeles county’s burn zones. While thousands of homes have been permitted for construction, it still represents a fraction of what was lost. Many fire survivors with homeowner’s insurance who want to rebuild or move back into standing homes are stuck in quagmires of delayed claims and lowball damage estimates.

They are also in a race against time. Policy benefits that cover temporary housing are nearing their expiration dates.

“It’s a very precarious situation right now,” says Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. “People are transitioning from being displaced to being homeless.”

So far, wildfire recovery has only been afforded to the wealthy and the few whose insurance companies paid fairly and on time, Chen says.

For other Altadena residents like Claire Thompson, 37, and her husband, Tim Szwarc, 40, the road to recovery is circuitous. They are living in a rented property in the nearby city of El Sereno while they fight their insurance company, State Farm, for remediation of their standing home.

Most environmental tests of surviving homes in the burn zones have revealed high levels of toxins, which some residents are living in because they have no other choice.

A certified hygienist’s report found high levels of contaminants in their home, Thompson says, but her insurer has not accepted the report’s findings or recommendations. She keeps records of every email, report and phone call in thick binders with rainbow-colored dividers. That is, she adds, until she runs out of paper.

... They’ve blown through their time and savings, maxed out their credit cards, [and] taken on crushing debt just to stay housed
Joy Chen

“This is what recovery looks like,” says Thompson, balancing the folders in her arms after she spoke at a fire survivors’ press conference on 7 January in Altadena calling for accountability, housing relief and federal support.

Up to 15% of survivors report struggling to feed their families and pay their bills, according to the Department of Angels survey.

“It’s not just that they’re in limbo. It’s not just that they’re standing still,” Chen says. “Their trauma is growing every day because they’ve blown through their time and savings, maxed out their credit cards, [and] taken on crushing debt just to stay housed.”

‘We are still living in an Airbnb’

Over 30 miles away, the Pacific Palisades – known for its coastal glamour and mansions – was also a place with Craftsman-style ranch homes such as Cherie Maquez’s, built in the 1940s with bad plumbing.

Since driving away from her Pacific Palisades home as the flames consumed it last January with her family and pets, Marquez’s living situation remains month-to-month.

“We are still living in an Airbnb, believe it or not,” says Marquez, 51, founder of a marketing agency.

The fully furnished temporary residence in nearby Culver City is the most affordable choice for her now. Since her house burned down, she spends a lot of energy on rebuilding plans. Like many others who lost their homes in the fires, Marquez wishes she could recreate the blueprints of her old home but has opted for an affordable modular home plan.

This is the stage that will test her patience. Behind the fence of Marquez’s property sits an empty lot filled with rainwater after a series of storms this January, which will delay construction progress.

Despite efforts to streamline the process, permitting has been slow.

“I think I’ve been patient,” she says. “I don’t want this construction piece to draw out.”

Marquez hopes to be back home by the end of the year because she just wants her neighborhood back.

‘Someday, we’re gonna’ come back here’

If the first year after the fires was about survival, the second is about recovery. For many, that means redefining what “home” means.

Some residents such as John Kim have decided to leave Los Angeles entirely – at least, for now. This summer, Kim and his family moved to Costa Rica after their Altadena home of over four years burned down.

For Kim, a licensed marriage and family therapist, author and podcaster, the fires represent an untethering. For a while, Kim fought to stay, hopping from temporary residences in adjacent cities while constantly being reminded of what he once had. He was living in the ashes of his former life.

Then he decided to change his surroundings. Once intangible dreams of adventures suddenly became possible when he lost everything. Both he and his wife are therapists, so they can work remotely anywhere in the world.

His heart goes out to the residents who don’t have the options made possible for him, says Kim. But even tragedies can bring silver linings. When his home burned down, he gained permission to think bigger.

“I think for many people, they’re just going to do the best they can to create a life that starts to eclipse the old,” said Kim, 52, from Costa Rica, where birds squawk in the background. “And I know that’s what we’re doing. And one of the things that helps us is that our life is so different now that there’s no comparison, right?”

Kim plans to keep his Altadena lot for as long as possible, he says, to keep options open. But he wonders if his beloved neighborhood will be the same. Real estate investors are buying up to 40% of fire-impacted lots, according to a recent analysis by the real estate company Redfin.

The fires, as traumatic as they were, could symbolize an opportunity to re-evaluate life plans, says Kim.

In the last year, Esmeralda and her husband Hector have talked about starting over somewhere else, but where would they go? Months before the fire, their insurance company dropped their homeowners’ coverage, a widely reported occurrence in burn zones.

To make ends meet, they’ve depleted their savings, says Esmeralda.

On the anniversary of the day they lost their home, she sits with her back facing the frames of a house being rebuilt. An orchestra of construction sounds plays in the distance.

“I feel that there is hope,” she says. “And someday, we’re gonna’ come back here.”

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