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More than a year after the fires that devastated Pacific Palisades, some residents are still living without homes, navigating permits, construction timelines, and an uphill rebuilding process. Now, on top of all that, a new frustration has arrived in their mailboxes: brush clearance fines from the city of Los Angeles, issued to properties where homes no longer exist.
Carol Sandborn, who lost the home she had lived in for 40 years, received one of the citations. She wrote back in red ink directly on the invoice: “This is insulting and cruel. We have no house and we have no brush,” and sent it back to the city. “I was a little astonished,” she added.
The bills show a charge of $31 for alleged non-compliance with brush clearance requirements. LA Fire Department brush fines are typically issued to property owners in high-risk zones who fail to clear hazardous vegetation, a measure intended to create defensible space between homes and surrounding vegetation in high-risk areas.
Residents Say No One Inspected Their Properties and No One Is Picking Up the Phone
Residents say the fire department never inspected their properties before issuing the fines, per Fox 11. Many of those properties are currently under active construction, which makes the citations even harder to understand. With no inspection having taken place, some residents say they were cited for vegetation that simply isn’t there.
Those who tried to call the number listed on the bills ran into another wall. The California Post attempted to reach the department at the number on the citation, but no one answered, and the mailbox was unavailable. No message could be left, and no representative could be reached for clarification.
Residents say they have no intention of paying. “It’s one final blow, you know, after they screwed us over, they’re still trying to take money,” one resident told Fox 11. “$31 is nothing, but you know I’m not paying it. This is the principle of it.” Several others who received notices share the same position.
Mayor’s Office Calls the Fines “Unacceptable” as Frustration Builds Over Slow Rebuilding
Mayor Karen Bass’s office responded to the backlash, calling the fines “unacceptable.” “No resident who lost their homes in the Palisades fire should receive this charge,” Bass said in a statement. Her office added that it is in contact with the Los Angeles Fire Department to determine next steps, though the LAFD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
For many survivors, the response did little to ease the frustration. “It’s disappointing to get something like this and feel that somehow the city is working against you instead of with you,” Sandborn told the New York Post. That sentiment has resonated widely among Palisades residents still waiting on permits, inspections, and any real sign of forward momentum in the rebuilding process.
According to the Los Angeles County rebuilding dashboard, only 13 homes have been rebuilt in the 13 months since the fires began. The slow pace has already drawn significant criticism, and the brush clearance fines have added a fresh layer of tension between residents and the city agencies responsible for overseeing recovery.
A Year Later, Survivors Are Still Waiting and Now Fighting Fines They Say They Don’t Owe
The mayor’s office has said it is working with the fire department to look into what happened, but for residents still living without their homes more than a year after the fires, the explanation may feel overdue. The fines represent, for many, not just a billing error but a symbol of a recovery process that has repeatedly left them without answers.
The broader frustration is hard to separate from the numbers. Thirteen homes were rebuilt across a fire zone that destroyed hundreds of properties, and residents who received citations say the timing has only added to an already difficult year, per the Washington Examiner.
As of publication, the LAFD had not responded to requests for comment. The mayor’s office has not provided a timeline for resolving the citations or confirmed whether they will be formally rescinded. For Sandborn and others like her, the hope is simple: that the city begins treating fire survivors as people who need support, not paperwork.