SLOW RISE FROM THE ASHES

A year after the devastating wildfires that destroyed 9 500 homes in Los Angeles, only three have been rebuilt as survivors face huge construction costs and labour shortages

- COMPILED BY DENNIS CAVERNELIS

FOR three weeks the fires burnt relentlessly, obliterating the homes of the working class as carelessly as it melted the mansions of the rich and famous.

Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, the City of Dreams, the place where magic is made, had become the epicentre of hell. Nearly a year later the memory of those terrible days are still fresh, charred buildings and razed streets bearing stark testimony to the ruthless power of nature.

The LA fires of January 2025 were the costliest natural disaster in US history, resulting in a bill of up to $275 billion (R4,6 trillion) and leaving scars not only on the land but on the souls of the people who call the sprawling metropolis home.

Only three houses have been rebuilt since then - and one of them has raised plenty of eyebrows.

In the first week of December, LA mayor Karen Bass announced a house in the affluent Palisades area - swathes of which were ravaged by the fire - had passed inspection and was ready to be occupied. “The Palisades community has been through an unimaginable year and my heart breaks for every family that won't be able to be home this holiday season,” she says. “But today is an important moment of hope.”

A grand opening for the dwelling took place and the community were invited to tour the property - but what Bass failed to mention was the house was a showhouse built by a homebuilding and design firm and not intended for occupation. When an outcry ensued, with survivors calling Bass' announcement tone-deaf, she deleted her posts touting the development.

The firm had bought the land in 2024 with the intention of demolishing the existing house and building the showhouse.

Over in Altadena, a mixed-income community where the fire consumed street after street, Jose Rodriguez and his family became the first in the neighbourhood to move back.