One year after Los Angeles firestorms, California continues all-of-government community recovery efforts

The Governor also issued his first executive order on January 7 to help streamline state laws and make resources more quickly available. Over the next 12 months, this order would be followed by 26 additional executive orders based on feedback from survivors, local communities, and first responders to help target resources, accelerate recovery, and remove red tape.

While the state does not issue residential building permits, the Governor’s actions are directly enabling historic local results that far outpace any previous major wildfire recovery in California. The Governor continues pressing local governments and insurers to move faster. Local governments are now issuing rebuilding permits nearly three times faster than comparable single-family and ADU permits issued in the five years before the fires. Reviews are averaging under 30 days — the benchmark the Governor set at the outset. 

As of this week, out of 6,191 applications received, 2,617 rebuilding permits have been issued by agencies across the city and county, with 3,487 currently in review. For comparison, one year after the Camp Fire — which destroyed a similar number of homes — just 385 permits had been issued. Following the 2023 Maui fire, construction on the first home did not begin until more than a year after the fire. The state has also funded pre-approved, low-cost home designs tailored to the architectural character of affected communities — allowing permits to be issued in a fraction of the time.