ACE Clears Last Lot: Officials Absent

A house had stood on casions on the top of Tramonto with spectacular views.

The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) cleared the last residential property for both the Palisades and Eaton Fires, on Tramonto in the Castellammare section of Pacific Palisades today.

Councilmember Traci Park handed the microphone to Nolan West who gave his gratitude to ACE for having his lot cleared.

Nolan West, who was 93 in July, spoke about his home on Tramonto. “I did not expect to be here,” the retired Lt. Colonel said about the press conference. “But now we can go on with planning to rebuild our houses.”  His house and two adjacent homes burned. On the other side of his home, two modern homes were still standing. “Five of the houses were designed and built by my younger brother,” West said.

He looked at his street and the neighbors who had come out to see the ceremony and said, “I would not want to live anywhere else. I got away that night with the clothes on my back.

“I miss my little house in the worst way,” West said and then looked to ACE members and contractors who cleared his lot. “From my heart, thank you very much.”

His daughter Eryn, who lived in the house next to him, said that with insurance they planned to rebuild.

The first lot after the January 7 Palisades Fire was cleared on February 15. If residents wanted their lots cleared by ACE, they had to fill out a form with L.A. County to show they owned the property, and neighbors were urged to do it together, so that entire blocks could be cleared at once. Many had done so by the end of January, but then it became a waiting game. For whatever reason, the County had trouble processing the Right of Entry forms, which meant ACE couldn’t go on the property.

Residents had heard that the ACE had planned to perform debris removal on adjacent properties. That did not happen because the County released individual properties, rather than concurrent homes.

“Be patient,” Colonel Eric Swenson told CTN on February 15, noting that the County has to make sure the person who has given the right of way is actually the owner of the property. “We are working rapidly, and we will have more and more crews on the road.”

For people who wanted to use private companies for debris removal, the county also did not have that set up and it took two months before private companies were allowed to start.

The peak for debris removal was April 21, when there were 1,567 workers in Pacific Palisades.

“We met the governor’s goal of opening PCH before Memorial Day,” said Lt. Colonel David Weart, Commander of the USACE Recovery Field Office today, and “we opened Temescal Canyon ahead of schedule.”

Two hundred and twenty-seven days after the fire, the Noland West property on Tramonto was the last residential project and the media and politicians were on hand to witness the conclusion of the mission. Speakers included Weart, Brigadeer General John Lloyd, Congressman Brad Sherman, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, FEMA Fedearl coordinating Officer Hiro Toiya, CAL-OES Eli Woen, Councilmember Traci Park and West.

There was a large gathering of workers, media, politicians and residents as the last homeowner’s lot from both The Palisades and Eaton Fires was cleared.

Each speaker noted that it was a milestone and that the removal was necessary for a full-long term recovery. Noticeably absent at the ceremony were Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

Media was told they could ask questions of the speakers after the event. Unfortunately, Horvath left immediately and was not there to answer questions about debris, insurance and long-term recovery.

ACE removed all the debris in the ash footprint, but homeowners then had to hire a private debris removal company to finish the project. Some insurance companies are not paying the “extra” (hardscaping, driveway and pools) debris removal, because they claim that ACE did it.

Toiya and FEMA’s Brady Penn said that insurance should pay for the extra debris removal. They were asked when the county would ask insurance companies to repay ACE, and this editor was told to ask L.A. County.

They were asked how people could receive more money for rebuilding, but based on the socio-economic status of the Palisades, most people will not qualify. CTN was told that after insurance pays and if there is still a shortfall, one might try FEMA again.

The real heroes of this press conference were the companies that did the debris removal of the three homes along the rim of Tramonto, which was a complex process. With spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, the stucco houses had been built with steel by West’s brother and were considered fireproof.

A neighbor, who lived across the street, said watching the contractors “was an amazing process. They had two cranes. One held welders on a platform, and it lowered them down to cut the steel beams. A second crane lifted the beam to the street.”

The house was built on caissons on a steep slope and there was a concern debris would tumble down the hill, so contractors put up a triple layer of highway barriers below. It took several months to remove the three homes on the slope.

Across the street, a sycamore planted in 1986, “saved our house,” the owner said. It caught the embers from the burning homes.

West’s neighboor credits this giant sycamore tree for saving their house–by catching the embers.

By the Numbers:

The Army Corp of Engineers worked on 4,010 property debris removals in Pacific Palisades. About 1,152,714 tons of debris were removed by 95,912 trucks. The number of hours put in by workers was 2,372,748. There are still two private properties to be completed, a multi-family private property and the Will Rogers Park restoration. The Park is 25 percent complete, with the estimated completion set for September 8, but the contractor has until September 17 to finish.

Since ACE was so instrumental to the start of the rebuild of Pacific Palisades, they were asked if AECOM, the company hired by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for the Palisades rebuild had ever contacted them. CTN was told by ACE “I’m only able to answer questions related to our debris removal mission within the Pacific Palisades wildfire area.”