- Six years after LA County’s Woolsey fire, many destroyed homes haven’t been rebuilt.
- Rebuilding is costly, emotionally taxing, and often delayed by complex red tape.
- Two families say they might not have rebuilt their homes if they’d understood how hard it would be.
Thousands of homeowners in Los Angeles are figuring out a way forward after the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed 16,000 homes and properties across the county. But some of their neighbors who lost their homes in past fires warn that rebuilding will likely be harder than expected.
Two families whose Malibu homes burned down in the 2018 Woolsey fire told BI they might have sold their properties and moved on if they’d known how lengthy, complicated, expensive, and emotionally taxing the rebuilding process would be.
That might be why, more than six years after the Woolsey fire destroyed more than 1,600 structures and burned 97,000 acres, only about 40% of the homes that were lost have been replaced.
Construction costs will likely be even higher for victims of LA’s most recent fires, as the scale of the destruction far outstrips past fires and will squeeze a building industry already facing a labor shortage, elevated building material costs, and overwhelming demand.
Losing a home filled with art
Jon Krawczyk always knew there was a chance he could lose his Malibu home to a wildfire. But he didn’t really believe it until it happened.
“They say there’s a reason young men go to war because they don’t think they’re going to die, right?” he told BI. “I left thinking I’ll come back tomorrow, and it’ll be here.”
It’s been two and half years since Krawczyk, a metal sculptor, and his wife, an art consultant, finally broke ground on rebuilding their home of 18 years. That came after a seemingly endless back-and-forth with government officials over permitting and approvals for their project. Krawczyk said authorities required them to rebuild the same structures they had before, even though they wanted one building instead of three, and less square footage.
Krawczyk, who lost his studio and all his equipment on the property, said he initially thought rebuilding would cost about $1.6 million and take about three years, but it’s ended up costing north of $2.2 million and taken close to six years.
The Krawczyks had paid off the mortgage on their home six months before the fire and were able to evacuate with their two teenage kids to a family home. A few months later, they used their insurance payout to buy a home in nearby Thousand Oaks, where they’ve lived since 2019.
While they received their maximum insurance payout and money from a $2.2 billion settlement with Southern California Edison, they lost their insurance provider and had to resort to California’s FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. The plan has high premiums and caps payouts at $3 million.
The couple hopes to get the final occupancy permit and move into their new house this spring in time to host their son’s wedding. But if Krawczyk could turn back time, he’s not sure he would’ve gone through with rebuilding.
“If I knew then what I know now, I may have just walked away,” he said, “because it is not fun.”
Leaving Malibu
Bill and Leslie Bixley had lived in their home in the Malibu hills for about 20 years when the Woolsey fire reduced it to ash.
It didn’t take long for the couple to get their first payout from their insurance company, but it took about two years to get the permits and other approvals they needed to begin construction on the new, more fire-resistant home.
“The initial shock of losing material possessions is rough,” Bill said. “But the roughest part, actually, for me anyway, was getting the permits and getting through the bureaucracy.”
But the couple was determined to rebuild, so they pushed ahead and completed the home about four years after the fire.
While the rebuild made sense financially, the Bixleys said that with the benefit of hindsight, they might not have done it.
“It wasn’t worth the pain,” Leslie said. “Looking back on it, I wouldn’t do it again, I don’t think.”
But years later, the new house still doesn’t feel like home.
They miss Bill’s 70-year-old teddy bear and Leslie’s mother’s Steinway grand piano, which they lost in the fire. Without many of its old trees, the property has lost some of its spirit. “We had to put so much concrete in to make it fire-safe that we feel like we’re in a Lexus commercial,” Leslie said. “It’s just not the folksy place it was.”
The Bixleys are also traumatized by their experience — and fearful of future fires, so they moved out of Malibu for the time being and leased their home to victims of the most recent LA fires. They’re living in a rental home in Fresno as they decide what to do next.
“This last fire was so horrific, and we’ve just been so stressed out and traumatized from the experience, even though we’ve done everything in our power to fireproof our house,” Leslie said. “We went through all that heartache, but it still didn’t take away the pain and the fear of this happening.”
Many of the Bixley’s neighbors never rebuilt their homes, so their neighborhood still “looks like somebody who’s lost half their teeth,” Bill said. The couple said they know many others who also fear future fires and want to leave Malibu.
But if you’re determined to rebuild, you can, Bill said.
“You can’t get beaten down,” he said. “You can always do it, just when you think it’s over, it’s not.”
Has your home been impacted by a wildfire or other natural disaster? Contact this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com.
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