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Tag: california wildfires

  • California lawmakers ignore most state audit warnings, costing billions

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    For more than a decade, the California State Auditor has issued warnings to lawmakers about government waste, fraud, cost overruns, and broken oversight systems across state government. Again and again, audits called for changes in state law meant to fix those problems.

    In many cases, those fixes did not happen.

    CBS News California Investigates recently exposed how lawmakers ignored years of warnings from the California State Auditor about hidden traffic violation fees.

    That raised a broader question: What other audit warnings have lawmakers been ignoring, and at what cost?

    An exclusive CBS News California analysis of state audit recommendations dating back to 2015 found lawmakers failed to enact three out of every four recommendations that required legislative action. 

    The unresolved warnings span some of California’s most expensive and urgent problems, including unemployment fraud, homelessness spending oversight, public safety funding accountability, wildfire risk, and drinking water safety, just to name a few.

    These are audits the Legislature asked for. Audits Californians paid for. Audits with recommendations that remain unresolved, while California continues to lose money to potential waste and fraud. 

    California’s Unfinished Business

    CBS News California analyzed state audit recommendations dating back to 2015 and found the following.

    • California lawmakers failed to act on three out of every four state audit recommendations
    • There are more than 300 outstanding recommendations to the legislature
    • The outstanding recommendations impacted more than 100 different issues and agencies
    • Two out of three state audits include recommendations on which the auditor notes that lawmakers have taken “no action”
      at all. 

    CBS News California Investigates is now building a publicly searchable “Audit Accountability Tracker” to help viewers and voters track what lawmakers have not done and what that inaction costs Californians. 

    The database is not yet public, but the early findings reveal a series of patterns the Auditor has documented for years: the same problems, the same risks, the same inaction.

    Billions lost to fraud and broken oversight

    The analysis reveals that some of California’s most costly cases of fraud or untracked spending were the subjects of numerous prior audits. According to the auditor, state losses may have been mitigated if lawmakers had acted on earlier recommendations.

    “There would still be issues, but not as serious as we are now,” former California State Auditor Elaine Howle told CBS News California in 2021 while discussing two audits related to pandemic unemployment fraud.

    Prior audits warned lawmakers that the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD) left Californians vulnerable to fraud, but by the time lawmakers acted, it was too late.  

    It’s estimated that California lost more than $20 billion to pandemic unemployment fraud when EDD issued billions in fraudulent payments to criminals while out-of-work Californians struggled to get an EDD rep on the phone, let alone get paid. 

    Years later, new audits reveal that EDD fraud continues, along with outstanding recommendations to lawmakers.

    Homelessness spending offers another example of state audit warnings that lawmakers ignored. The Auditor repeatedly warned lawmakers that California lacks a statewide plan, outcome tracking and accountability for homelessness program spending. 

    The state spent more than $20 billion without uniform standards to measure effectiveness. Meanwhile, audit after audit repeated the same core warnings while the recommendations to the legislature appear to have stalled. 

    In many cases, recommended legislation died behind closed doors without a public vote revealing who killed it or why. 

    It is not just about money

    Outstanding audit recommendations also involve risks to public safety and public health that may have been mitigated if lawmakers acted sooner.

    For instance, the auditor found that water districts were failing to tell people that their drinking water was unsafe. It’s an issue CBS News California has been covering for years.

    The auditor pushed for more disclosure, and lawmakers failed to act.

    As wildfires continue to destroy communities, lawmakers take “no action” on auditor-recommended oversight laws and ignore other recommendations related to law enforcement,  courts, healthcare for pregnant women, hate crimes, untested rape kits,  affordable housing solutions and more. 

    Lawmakers even failed to act on polices that, according to the auditor, put child abuse victims at risk.

    In all, CBS News California identified more than 300 outstanding audit recommendations.

    New lawmakers, old warnings

    CBS News California Investigates shared some of our findings with Assemblymember John Harabedian, the new chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC). The JLAC committee decides which issues the auditor investigates.

    “When I hear that there are many audits and recommendations that haven’t been addressed, I think that’s a wake-up call, Harabedian said.”

    Harabedian is part of a large new class of lawmakers, many of whom were not in office when the recommendations were written.

    “I think that being new to the Legislature and now being the chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, I am keenly focused on oversight,” he said. “I do think investigative journalism, what you’re doing, is important. It keeps everyone accountable and highlights issues that might not be on my radar or (my colleagues’) radar.” 

    What comes next

    CBS News California Investigates is building an Audit Accountability Tracker, a public database designed to show in one place:

    • What the State Auditor told lawmakers to fix
    • Which recommendations required changes in state law
    • Which ones remain unresolved
    • Why they matter to Californians

    We are also waiting for additional financial records from the California State Auditor’s office to quantify the potential cost of inaction and potential future savings if lawmakers act. 

    The tracker will serve voters and viewers as well as the more than 30 new lawmakers who were not in office when many of these audits were issued.

    The warnings are written, solutions identified.

    The question is, will the new class of lawmakers finish what their predecessors started?

    In:

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  • City of L.A. has approved less than half of applications to rebuild after wildfires

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    City of L.A. has approved less than half of applications to rebuild after wildfires – CBS News









































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    This week marks one year since wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles region. At least 31 people were killed, and thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. Most have not been rebuilt. Andres Gutierrez reports.

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  • Eaton Fire victims: Insurance company won’t pay for toxin removals because our home ‘looks pristine’

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    After thousands of homes sustained smoke damage from the Palisades and Eaton fires, some families said sometimes they wish their properties had been destroyed in the fire. They described a frustrating process of trying to get coverage from their insurance companies for smoke damage.

    While the raging flames of the 2025 wildfires never reached their houses – leaving their structures physically intact – the toxic smoke did.

    Tim Szwarc and Claire Thompson, Altadena homeowners, were first relieved to see their home was still standing after the Eaton Fire. But their relief has turned into uncertainty and frustration.

    “It’s challenging because there’s not really a roadmap on how you remediate a home as toxicas ours,” said Thompson.

    The couple said one year after the Eaton Fire, they are still learning just how poisonous and contaminated their home is. 

    “This is the third type of mask that I’ve now owned,” Szwarc said while holding a chemical respirator. “Each time, I learn it’s not enough, and then I upgrade. Hopefully, this is safe enough now.”

    “When you use the term wildfire, to me, I think of Smokey the Bear … This is like a small city burning down to the ground,” Industrial hygienist Dawn Bolstad-Johnson said.

    Dawn Bolstad-Johnson, a certified industrial hygienist with four decades of experience, said smoke from the Palisades and Eaton fires carried a different chemical load compared to a wildland fire.

    “It went 24 days, and it was over 5,000 homes in the Palisades that were completely destroyed, and a bunch more that were partially burned, and then 9400 homes lost in the Eaton Fire,” she said. 

    Within the last year, she has tested more than 100 homes impacted by the LA fires, assessing environmental hazards and recommending ways to manage or eliminate health risks. 

    “When you use the term wildfire, to me, I think of Smokey the Bear,” said Bolstad Johnson. “This is a configuration of a neighborhood. This is like a small city burning down to the ground.”

    She explained the toxic load that the fires left behind is unparalleled based on the synthetic content of modern living, including burned lithium batteries, computers, cars, solar panels, plastics and furniture.

    “It’s a very petroleum-based fire, not so much a bio-mass fire,” Bolstad-Johnson said. “And that smoke is carrying a lot more with it than what you would see in a typical biomass fire.”

    She conducted research in the late 1990s on the risk of cancer-causing toxins among firefighters. She said she was among the first to recommend firefighters continue to wear their breathing apparatus after a fire is extinguished.

    “You have to look at the smoke as the bus. That’s the bus that carries all the chemistry, all the particulates, the acid gases, the aldehydes, the volatiles,” she said, explaining the harmful materials that seeped into homes through the attic and crawl spaces, but also through doors, windows and cracks in the homes.

    “Remember, these were hurricane-force winds. That air is pushed hard to come in. It’s coming through the chimney in that way, coming through the dryer vent that exhausts inside,” Bolstad-Johnson added.

    There are currently no state or federal standards when it comes to testing for or remediating toxins caused by smoke. California’s insurance commissioner established a “Smoke Claims and Remediation Task Force” in May 2025 to address that. But there are no environmental scientists or toxicologists on the 13-member panel. 

    In an interview with NBCLA, California insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara admitted that there are no clear standards but maintained that he’s trying to address the issue.

    “We’re going to draft legislation,” Lara said. “We’re going to make it retroactive to make sure that they’re covered. And hopefully the legislature has the guts to get this done and protect the Eaton and Palisades fire survivors.”

    Industrial hygienists like Bolstad Johnson said there is peer-reviewed, published research to use when testing and remediating, detailed in “The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland -Urban interface” compiled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

    “You have to look at the smoke as the bus. That’s the bus that carries all the chemistry, all the particulates, the acid gases, the aldehydes, the volatiles,” Bolstad-Johnson added.

    Szwarc and Thompson said they are experiencing the impact of toxic gasses and particulates firsthand.  Testing of their home revealed lead levels exceeding EPA limits by 800 times, along with cyanide and arsenic.

    The couple said their initial insurance adjuster told them they would need to remove their drywall, plaster and insulation while disposing of all porous materials. But their insurance replaced that adjuster months later. The new adjuster told them it wasn’t necessary to remove the items “based on the photos.”

    “You can’t see toxins in a photo,” Thompson said. “But he told us our house looked pristine. It didn’t need a lot of cleaning. They believe we can just superficially clean off our items and move back,” 

    The couple said they are waiting for the insurance company to send its own industrial hygienist to conduct an assessment. They said no one connected with their insurance has visited their property since January 2025.

    More than a dozen homeowners who are going through a similar experience spoke with NBC4 Investigates off camera because of concerns they could face ramifications from their insurance or landlords. 

    All said they have experienced insurance delays as well as denials for testing and cleaning of toxins in their homes.

    All of them told NBC4 Investigates they have had multiple adjusters assigned to their claims without resolution, something they see as a delay tactic by the insurance companies. 

    A year after the fires, two homeowners told NBCLA that they sometimes think it would have been easier if their homes had burned down.

    “We’re left in this very precarious position of deciding: is this family heirloom worth the risk to keep?” one victim said. “Now it just feels like we’re gambling with our long-term well-being. Our lives are in limbo.”

    Szwarc and Thompson echoed the sentiment, saying they don’t know what their future is going to look like,

    “We want (the insurance company) to follow the science,” Thompson said.

    ”Frankly, I’m concerned that we may not achieve the level of remediation necessary to make this home safe to live in again,” Szwarc said.

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    Carolyn Johnson

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  • Music helps family heal 1 year after devastating Los Angeles-area fires

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    Music helps family heal 1 year after devastating Los Angeles-area fires – CBS News









































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    At least 31 people were killed and thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed in the L.A.-area wildfires that started one year ago. Jonathan Vigliotti spoke with generations of one family hoping to rebuild as they heal through music.

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  • Worshippers hold memorial ceremony for Jewish temple destroyed in Eaton Fire

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    More than 400 people came together on Tuesday for a somber commemoration nearly a year after their place of worship was consumed by the Eaton Fire.

    Families from the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center gathered for a remembrance of the place where they once worshipped. The temple, which was previously on Altadena Drive in Pasadena, was destroyed by the Eaton Fire last January.

    The congregation returned to Pasadena for a memorial ceremony on the very ground where their synagogue once stood.

    “It’s a lot to lose, and at the same time, we’ve really grown in terms of the amount of solidarity we’ve shown one another,” said Rabbi Josh Ratner. “The way we’ve cared for one another, the way we’ve held one another, it has made our community stronger.”

    The emotional remembrance was filled with music, prayer and hope. Remarks were made by clergy and local leaders who acknowledged the pain of loss, as well as the strength their traumas revealed.

    “The spirit is still so vibrant,” said Andrea Mark, who lost her home to the Altadena fire. “… The community is still very much together.”

    Despite efforts from firefighters to save it, the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center was destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena. Tracey Leong reports for the NBC4 News at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.

    The Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center has served the community for more than 100 years. Although the building, which was constructed in 1941, was destroyed, members say their faith is stronger than ever.

    “I was given this blessing of all these kind people and kind strangers, so now it’s up to me to pay it forward, so I can be kind to others and hope they will pay it forward, too,” Mark said.

    According to Ratner, the temple is already under the process of planning its new center. It’s expected to be completed in the next several years.

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    Tracey Leong and Karla Rendon

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  • Then-and-now images show the Palisades and Altadena 1 year after wildfires

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    Two of the most destructive wildfires on record in California forever changed landscapes and lives when they burned into neighborhoods in the Palisades and Altadena one year ago in a ferocious windstorm.

    As the flames from the Eaton and Palisades fires were contained weeks after they ignited Jan. 7, 2025 and large-scale evacuation orders were lifted, property owners returned to see first-hand what was left behind and grapple with the uncertainty what came next.

    First came the two-phase cleanup process, which involved the clearing of household hazardous waste by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the removal of structural debris, a task handled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or through a contractor chosen by homeowners. According to the county, more than 10,000 properties opted in to the Corps of Engineers’ debris clearance program.

    Once debris was cleared, property owners who sought to rebuild embarked on a permitting process handled by various local governments, including Los Angeles County, the city of Los Angeles, and the cities of Malibu and Pasadena. The city of Los Angeles alone received more than 3,000 permit applications, 1,440 of which have been issued at the start of January, according to the city. Nearly 2,900 applications for rebuilding permits were received by Los Angeles County, 1,153 of which have been issued as of Jan. 2, 2026.

    Thousands of applications remain in review.

    The aerial images below show parts of the Palisades and Altadena after the January Palisades Fire and roughly one year later in later December 2025. Use the slider tool to view images from then and now.

    All images below are courtesy of Getty Images.

    Altadena and the Palisades, then and now

    Use the slider tool at the center of each image to switch views.

    In this first aerial image, the rubble of homes that burned in the Eaton Fire and a surviving palm tree are pictured on Jan. 19, 2025 in Altadena. The same area is pictured in December 2025 with a cleared lot and a remaining pool.

    In this aerial view, Bishop Charles Dorsey leads a prayer rally April 12, 2025 for the Altadena community and for his church in what remained of the Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center after the Eaton Fire. The same area is pictured in December 2025 with a cleared lot.

    Below, an aerial view of homes that burned in the Eaton Fire on Feb. 5, 2025 in Altadena and the same area as rebuilding continues on Dec. 28, 2025.

    An aerial view of an Altadena neighborhood that was mostly destroyed in the Eaton Fire on Jan. 19, 2025 and the same area with some homes rebuilt nearly one year later

    An aerial view shows homes that burned near two that were not destroyed in the Eaton Fire on Jan. 19, 2025 in Altadena and how the neighborhood looked at the end of December 2025.

    Below, an aerial view of homes near the Pacific Ocean that were destroyed in the Palisades Fire with some lots cleared of debris on March 15, 2025 in Pacific Palisades and the same area in December 2025.

    Below, a view of destroyed homes veiled in wildfire smoke as the Palisades Fire continued to burn in Los Angeles County on January 10, 2025 and the same area with vibrant green hillsides in December 2025.

    An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 27, 2025 in Pacific Palisades and the same area with cleared lots and construction in December 2025.

    An aerial view shows homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 27, 2025 in Pacific Palisades and how the area looks nearly one year later.

    An aerial view of trees and homes that burned in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 28, 2025 in Pacific Palisades with an aerial view of surviving trees and cleared lots on Dec. 22, 2025.

    The 23,700-acre Palisades Fre became the ninth-deadliest and third-most destructive wildfire on record in California. Twelve deaths were reported in connection with the Palisades Fire, which destroyed more than 6,800 structures.

    The Eaton Fire grew to 14,000 acres, leaving 19 people dead and destroying 9,400 structures. It is the fifth-deadliest and second-most destructive wildfire in California history.

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    Jonathan Lloyd

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  • Eaton Fire survivors band together to create community of support, healing

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    An Altadena neighborhood that was wiped out by the Eaton Fire last January led to the creation of a community of neighbors who’ve supported one another as they’ve navigated their grief and struggles since the blaze.

    The Alpine Villa Community lost most of its homes in the Eaton Fire – 29 out of 36, to be exact. But since then, residents from the community have gone from being just neighbors to close friends who are helping each other rebuild and heal.

    “It looked like a warzone, and sure enough, when we got to the property, it was nothing but the fireplace,” said Greg Apodaca, who lost his home of 15 years to the fire.

    “Acknowledging what had happened was also the acknowledgement of saying goodbye to the house,” said Alma Apodaca, Greg’s wife.

    In the days that followed, the couple and their neighbors were left with grief, shock and uncertainty. But it was this shared tragedy that brought them closer together. What started as virtual check-ins soon became in-person gatherings focused on resources, rebuilding, healing and support for one another.

    “We’ve heard stories since then, other homeowners had to go at this alone, but since we had this tight-knit community, it was safe,” Greg Apodaca said. “We could talk to people who had been through the same experience as us.”

    As flames ripped through homes in Pacific Palisades a year ago, firefighters acted on a moment of kindness amid the chaos. Karma Dickerson reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.

    As they near the one-year mark since the Eaton Fire, those who are part of the Alpine Villa Community have reflected on what they’ve gained and what they’ve lost, and how the trauma has reshaped them.

    “Not only do I want to show up to be there, I want to show up to see these people and having the shared experience like community,” Alma Apodaca said. “Community means you show up for people.”

    The Apodacas said they’re looking forward to rebuilding a more sustainable neighborhood with fireproof materials. They said when they return, it won’t just be a home: it will be a stronger and more meaningful place.

    “It feels a little bit like we are going to be rebuilding in a community of gratitude,” Alma said.

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    Tracey Leong and Karla Rendon

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  • How cutting-edge robots can help prevent wildfires

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    A Southern California couple became the first residents to return to a rebuilt home in the Eaton Fire burn zone outside Los Angeles. That home is designed to resist any future fires. Jonathan Vigliotti looks at how new robot technology is being used to prevent wildfires in the first place.

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  • Restored Volkswagen

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    Los Angeles — A vintage blue VW bus that became an unlikely symbol of resilience after it survived a California wildfire made its public debut this week, shiny and like-new after Volkswagen spent months restoring the damaged vehicle.

    The bus went viral in January when an Associated Press photographer captured it looking surprisingly unharmed by the deadly Palisades Fire, a spot of blue and white dwarfed by the charred remains of a Malibu neighborhood. Volkswagen saw the accompanying AP story and reached out to the owner, Megan Weinraub. Upon closer inspection, VW technicians discovered that while the bus had survived, it had smoke damage and blistered paint, rust and a window busted by the heat.

    In its restoration, the 1977 Type 2 Microbus named Azul – Spanish for the color blue – again brought people together as technicians consulted the broader community of VW enthusiasts in a shared mission to revive what was a quirky middle-aged vehicle.

    Megan Weinraub, right, looks at her restored VW bus, which survived the Pacific Palisades fire in January, at the LA Auto Show on Nov. 20, 2025, in Los Angeles.

    Mark J. Terrill / AP


    “It melted and Volkswagen saved it,” Weinraub said Thursday at the LA Auto Show, standing with the bus’s previous owner, Preston Martin. “It was a giant relief because it wasn’t my first priority with everything going on.”

    While Weinraub calls the microbus “Azul,” it became known as the “Magic bus” on social media, CBS News Los Angeles points out.

    “I was lucky and grateful to have the opportunity for them to restore it because I wouldn’t have been able to restore it myself,” she told the station.  

    Weintraub and Martin still can’t believe the bus they wrote off as a goner is now ready to take them on another surfing adventure. The last time they saw the pre-burned Azul was two days before the Palisades Fire broke out, when they parked the bus near Weinraub’s apartment after surfing.

    APTOPIX California Wildfire Blue Bus

    Megan Weinraub, left, and Preston Martin, the former owner, pose in front of her Volkswagen bus after seeing it for the first time om Oct. 27, 2025, in Malibu, Calif., after it was restored by VW.

    Mark J. Terrill / AP


    Mark J. Terrill, the AP photographer who captured the original image, was on hand when Weinraub and Martin saw the bus for the first time after its restoration in late October.

    Volkswagen hauled the microbus to its Oxnard facility west of Los Angeles where it houses historic VW vehicles. Vehicle technicians Farlan Robertson and Gunnar Wynarski sourced hard-to-find parts, got creative and reached out to a lot of people.

    “At the bottom of it it was to try to take the vehicle that everyone else saw and do what we could to improve upon it, but not change it,” said Robertson, “to actually have it come out and be the revived, resurrected vehicle returned to its former glory.”  

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  • Diving in on bulk buyer’s plans for burned lots in Malibu

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    Social media dragged the buyer of multiple Malibu lots through the mud after the deals were first reported back in August.

    Catcalls over the would-be builder’s bulk buys, and mistaken presumptions of the ethnicity, wasn’t the response El Segundo-based Zuru Tech US, expected.

    “I think what the general public doesn’t understand is the difficulties in going from an empty lot to a livable house,” Zuru Tech U.S. operations director Marcel Fontijn said. “Rebuilding is not for everyone.”

    Design times, selecting contractors, permit pulls and then the actual construction has led some residents in the fire-impacted areas to sell.

    For Zuru Tech, the lots they grabbed up — 15 at last count — will make for nice case studies for its technology. The company, founded by brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, makes design and manufacturing software that’s used to power robotic factories owned by its parent Zuru Group of Hong Kong.  

    After a bit of phone tag with Fontijn, The Real Deal snagged time with the executive to find out more about the company’s lot purchases as part of a broader story on the state of the rebuilding (stay tuned for the November issue of TRD’s magazine).

    “For us, we have a research project that focuses on factory-built homes, and we saw an opportunity,” Fontijn said. “If you imagine there being rebuilding efforts on 300 houses that burned down in terms of how many contractors, how many framers [and] how many roofers, where are you going to pack all these people? And that’s where we really saw that we can provide a solution to a problem.”

    Zuru Tech’s homes take between two to three months to install, with the company estimating work on the first of those structures to begin a year from now. 

    Fuzzy on the numbers

    Data sets can always be picked apart.

    That doesn’t help if you’re an agent in the burn areas looking for market comparables. That was made more challenging when, immediately following the fires, some lot sales were being entered into the Multiple Listing Service as standing, single-family homes. Chalk some of that up to certain software that didn’t upload land contracts. It made for skewed stats in the beginning, but that’s since been ironed out, according to Compass Altadena broker Teresa Fuller.

    Fuller told TRD recently MLS fines cracked down on the problem, making for improved numbers for those such as herself closely tracking the market. 

    Last year, over 350 homes were sold in Altadena. This year, there have been 69, Fuller said. Prices per square foot for standing structures dropped to as low as $738 a foot in May, and have since risen to $771.

    “It’s much more hopeful. We’re seeing housing starts if you drive around Altadena now,” Fuller said. “You see framing going up. Not a lot, but some. And I think as people are more and more comfortable with what’s being rebuilt, and people begin to trust more that Altadena will once again be the gorgeous mountain town that it was, prices will go back up.”

    More from the interview with Fuller will appear in the November issue of the magazine.

    Missed deadline

    After an Oct. 2 deadline to clear fire debris came and went, a Palisades mansion featured in HBO’s “Succession”, and seven other properties were deemed public nuisances.

    The properties include single-family homes, apartments and commercial real estate, per a report from the Los Angeles Times. 

    If the property owners can’t get rid of the toxic rubble, the city will step in to handle the cleanup. The owners, however, will have to pay up for the service.

    New record

    It’s been a while since the San Diego County residential market turned heads. 

    This past week, the Del Mar home at 2920 Camino Del Mar traded for $50 million to make for the county’s priciest-ever sale. 

    That edges past a $47 million deal that closed this year, about 11 miles south of Del Mar in San Diego’s La Jolla neighborhood. 

    Falling apart

    Sometimes you just have to walk away. At least, that’s what an increasing number of homebuyers are doing.

    August saw the highest share ever, or 15.1 percent, of signed contracts nationally falling out of escrow, according to Redfin data. The company’s data goes back to 2017.

    For Los Angeles, specifically, 14.9 percent of sales fell out of contract in August, which is down from 15 percent in the year-ago period.

    The biggest stated reason for buyers saying good-bye: inspection or repair issues.

    Read more

    Unmasked in Malibu: Buyer of multiple burned lots tied to Mowbray brothers


    Austin Russell’s “Succession” mansion among burned Pacific Palisades properties declared public nuisance


    Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty Rande Turner with 2920 Camino Del Mar in Del Mar

    $50M beach mansion sale sets San Diego record


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    Kari Hamanaka

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  • L.A. County resident on long path to recovery after wildfire

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    It has been over nine months since some of the worst wildfires in California’s history devastated parts of Los Angeles County. But even with all that time passed, it’s a slow road to recovery for most families. Garret Gray, who had to evacuate his home during the Palisades fire, joins “The Daily Report” to discuss.

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  • AI cameras are spotting wildfires across California — often before humans call 911

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    For generations, fire lookout towers stood as landmarks across the American West.

    Binoculars in hand, dedicated fire spotters scanned the landscape for smoke and radioed firefighters before flames grew out of control. But now, as California enters what is historically the most dangerous part of fire season — the end of summer before the first major rains — lone human sentries have largely given way to a new type of fire lookout on mountain tops: high-tech cameras.

    What began as a small research project at UC San Diego 25 years ago has grown into a powerful network of 1,211 cameras constructed on peaks and hilltops across the state with millions of dollars in state funding and oversight from Cal Fire.

    Built on towers, observatories and buildings, the cameras are part of a system called ALERTCalifornia. They turn 360 degrees every 2 minutes, taking 12 photos with each pass, 24 hours a day. Upgraded with artificial intelligence software two years ago, they can pan, tilt, zoom, detect smoke and alert fire dispatchers automatically — sometimes before humans call 911.

    Each can see 60 miles away on a clear day, and with near-infrared technology, gaze out 120 miles on a clear night.

    “Lookouts get up in the morning and work until dusk. But this is 24-7,” said Brian York, deputy chief for fire intelligence at Cal Fire.

    “We measure success in all the times that we respond and put out the fires that you never hear about,” he said. “Especially in rural areas at night when most people are sleeping.”

    Since 2019, the number of cameras has more than doubled.

    The AI lookouts are now on top of many of California’s most prominent peaks, including Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo and Mount Tamalpais in the Bay Area, Martis Peak at Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra, and the slopes of Mount Shasta.

    The cameras have been used to monitor atmospheric river storms, the recovery of California condors, even a tsunami warning along California’s coast in July after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia. They can be found on Southern California peaks like Mount Wilson near Los Angeles, Cowles Mountain in San Diego, and even on Catalina Island, along with the top of the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz and the roof of the Oakland Coliseum.

    Anyone can view the camera feeds live at alertcalifornia.org.

    “They are here to help during emergencies,” said Caitlin Scully, UC San Diego spokeswoman. “But they are used all the time by so many different groups. Because they are available for free, people use them to watch big storms, or even check the conditions up in the Sierra when they want to go for a hike.”

    The network is based at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, the Qualcomm Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It is run and maintained by UC San Diego, with Cal Fire, large utilities like PG&E, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and other partners contributing locations and camera equipment.

    From 2019 to 2024, Cal Fire contributed at least $24 million to expanding the system.

    New fire departments and other agencies sign up to be partners, and their officials are given access to pan and zoom in the cameras. Last month, East Bay Regional Park District, which has 126,809 acres of parkland across 73 parks in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, signed on.

    The network isn’t without its shortcomings.

    To address privacy concerns, UC San Diego blurs homes, parking lots and other nearby features that could track people in real time.

    The AI system, developed by a DigitalPath, a Chico company, also can’t always tell smoke from dust storms, clouds or other false positives. Its software had to be taught not to report steam from the Geysers geothermal fields in Sonoma County. And in big urban fires, like in Los Angeles in January, residents with cell phones report fires almost as soon as they begin.

    “The biggest advantage with them is that we can monitor fires now as they are ongoing,” said Craig Clements, director of the Fire Weather Lab at San Jose State University. “There are limitations with detection. The cameras can see smoke and sometimes hot spots. They can’t see through mountains. And if a fire starts at the bottom of a canyon, you aren’t going to see it. AI and smoke detection are still in their infancy.”

    Remote video cameras operated by the ALERTCalifornia network display live landscapes across California as CalFire communications operator Javier Garcia monitors from the CalFire Dispatch Center in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
    Remote video cameras operated by the ALERTCalifornia network display live landscapes across California as CalFire communications operator Javier Garcia monitors from the CalFire Dispatch Center in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. The ALERTCalifornia network is a system with over 1,200 remote cameras placed on mountains and hills throughout California, which scan their surroundings for smoke and automatically notify fire dispatchers. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) 

    Clements said the technology also may be overtaken in the years ahead by high-tech satellites.

    But for now, he said, it is very useful for fire commanders, meteorologists and researchers to learn about fire behavior in real time as huge fires are exploding across the landscape.

    “I look at it all the time,” Clements said. “You can’t get flame heights, spread rates and things like that. But I look at the plume structure, how thick the smoke plume is — things you can’t see on satellite. That shows you the state of the fire, and gives you a sense of the fire’s intensity.”

    The cameras don’t dispatch fire engines, helicopters or airplanes on their own.

    They send a message to dispatch centers across the state, which is then verified by humans.

    Last year, there were 7,553 wildfires in Cal Fire’s jurisdiction. Of those, 1,668 were picked up by the cameras, said Cal Fire’s York. And 38%, or 636, were detected by the cameras before any person called 911 to report them.

    In one such case on July 6, an AI camera posted an alert at 2:33 am of a fire near Auburn, in the foothills east of Sacramento. Nobody had called 911. Cal Fire’s Grass Valley Emergency Command Center verified it and sent engines. Fire crews found a fire and put it out before it spread beyond a 30 x 30 foot area.

    “It was a perfect example of a fire that doesn’t gain attention because it was detected early and extinguished while still small,” York said.

    Fire lookout towers with human fire spotters are going the way of the phone booth and fax machine. Where there were once more than 600 in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, today there are only 217 left in California, according to Forest Fire Lookout Association. Only about 50 of the sites are regularly staffed now, mostly with volunteers.

    Cell phones, automated cameras, more airplane flights and more people living in rural areas have reduced their effectiveness.

    Jamey Erikson, superintendent at Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton in the hills east of San Jose, said old paper directions are still posted in offices there telling people how to report the coordinates of fires. But the three ALERTCalifornia cameras at the observatory have made that largely obsolete, he said.

    “I use the cameras religiously to look for smoke, to check the weather,” he said. “They are essential.”

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    Paul Rogers

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  • California study: Wildfire defensible space, home hardening double number of homes saved

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    Some of California’s most destructive wildfires have changed the way homeowners think about their own space.  

    Marin County residents Anita Brock and her husband Steve Kaplan are among them. They live on a steep hill in Larkspur, in a heavily wooded area with tight, windy roads. They’ve cleared space and shrubs around their homes and replaced potential fuel loads with gravel. 

    “As you can see, I mean this type of area here, if embers do land here, you know they’re not going to catch a light or any dead leaves or anything like that,” Brock said. 

    “We realized that we’re here and we’re not immune to those same dangers,” Kaplan said. 

    A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, is providing some concrete data about the impacts of preparing one’s home to withstand a wildfire, particularly in the wildland-urban interface in California. 

    The first-of-its-kind study combined wildfire simulation tools with Cal Fire’s damage inspection data from five of the state’s most destructive fires before 2022. The models showed that home hardening, such as the use of fire-resistant materials on the roof, walls and decks, and increasing the amount of defensible space together can double the number of homes and other structures that survive a blaze. 

    All that mitigation work is the central focus of the study from the UC Berkeley Fire Research Lab. The study cited that between 2013 and 2018, California wildfires damaged or destroyed approximately 47,000 structures and killed 189 people.

    “All of the big fires we’ve had in California have really raised awareness about the risks involved,” said Brock. “We do everything that we can to mitigate the risks that are all around us.”

    The study concludes that simply clearing a 5-foot perimeter around homes, the subject of California’s controversial proposed Zone 0 regulations, can reduce structure loss by 17%.

    “It’s finally putting some quantitative data to show that the investments we’re making are actually going to have a payout,” said study co-author Michael Gollner.  

    The study also emphasizes the need for a community-wide mitigation strategy.  

    “We also see a really strong signal in what you do around the house, so that Zone Zero and that five feet was surprisingly a pretty strong signal, and it makes sense,” said Gollner. 

    For Brock and Kaplan, who had once lost their home insurance, part of this ongoing effort is to keep their coverage. 

    “All of the efforts to mitigate, I think or not mitigate, are going to be directly related to the future of being able to insure homes,” said Kaplan. 

    A few small steps by homeowners living in a California reality, and the threat of larger and more destructive wildfires. 

    “I do think that maintaining defensible space is one of the best ways that you can keep yourself and your family and your neighbors safe,” said Brock. “I absolutely believe it will make a difference.”

    The study found that the distance between buildings was the most influential factor in predicting loss. Exterior siding and year built were the next strongest predictors.

    Home hardening alone raised survival to 25%. Hardening and clearing defensible space closest to the home up to 5 feet improved survivability to 40%.

    Fire officials say there are grants and help available for cash-strapped homeowners to take advantage of through local FireSafe Councils and FireWise community groups. 

    Kenny Choi

    When Kenny Choi jumped into the backseat, he never thought he would be introducing his ride share driver to National Public Radio. The hour-long ride to the airport turned into a conversation that included politics, the economic divide, and the cultural differences between the East Coast and the West Coast.

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    Kenny Choi

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  • 5 years since Bay Area sky turned an eerie orange

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    Do you remember these apocalyptic scenes? Tuesday marks five years since the sky over the Bay Area turned orange.

    Several wildfires were burning across Northern California at the time, filling the air with thick smoke that turned the entire sky an orange hue.

    One of those wildfires remains the largest fire in California history. The August Complex Fire was sparked by lightning and burned more than 1 million acres.

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    NBC Bay Area staff

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  • California town hopes for Powerball luck after devastating wildfires

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    California town hopes for Powerball luck after devastating wildfires – CBS News










































    Watch CBS News



    Saturday’s Powerball jackpot soared to $1.8 billion, making it the second-largest jackpot in history. One town north of Los Angeles is looking for a little luck after a devastating year. Elise Preston has the story from Altadena.

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  • September Lightning Complex fires scorch nearly 14,000 acres in Central California; some evacuations downgraded

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    Some evacuation orders were downgraded as firefighters continue to battle several lightning-sparked wildfires in Central California.

    The major fires that forced people to flee included the 2-7 Fire just east in Calaveras County and the 6-5 Fire in Tuolumne County.  Evacuation orders for a third fire, the 2-2 Fire in the northern corner of Stanislaus County, have been lifted.

    Cal Fire’s Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit stated that those three fires are among 22 that comprise the TCU September Lightning Complex, which has combined to burn nearly 14,000 acres as of Friday. Cal Fire reported 22% containment.

    “Today, minimal fire activity was observed with smoldering pockets continuing to be found throughout the complex,” the agency said on Thursday.

    Crews continue to build containment lines and strengthen containment lines that were already established.

    As for damage, Cal Fire said 94 structures have been destroyed and seven were damaged. It’s unclear how many of those were homes. 

    Damage in California Gold Rush town of Chinese Camp  

    The 6-5 Fire exploded to more than 7,037 acres burned with no containment reported as of Thursday evening, according to Cal Fire. This fire was burning on the north end of Don Pedro Reservoir, causing “a lot of destruction” to the area of the historic Chinese Camp, according to Tuolumne County District 5 Supervisor Jaron Brandon.

    Surveillance video obtained by CBS Sacramento shows the Chinese Camp Cemetery caught fire. Additionally, a CBS Sacramento crew in the area captured images of burned homes and other buildings. No injuries have been reported.

    According to the Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit, the 2-2 Fire was first reported shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday near Highway 4 and Dunton Road, west of the town of Copperopolis in Calaveras County. The fire has burned more than 3,400 acres with 80% containment, according to Cal Fire.

    Around noon on Tuesday, authorities in Calaveras County announced the 2-7 Fire broke out near the Vallecito region off Highway 4. Traffic on the highway has not been impacted, according to the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office.

    The 2-7 Fire has burned approximately 606 acres with 20% containment reported, according to Cal Fire’s incident page. The 2-8 Fire has also burned around 1,326 acres in Copperopolis along Little John Road, with 15% containment.

    Crews were also battling a fire dubbed the 2-3 Fire, which was first reported around 7:20 a.m. Tuesday near O’Byrnes Ferry Road and Copper Cove Court southeast of Copperopolis. The fire has burned at least 290 acres with 15% containment.

    There were a handful of other fires that burned anywhere from 2 to 40 acres in the region.  

    The fires started as thunderstorms rolled through much of the Central Valley and the Bay Area. Cal Fire TCU said the fires were all believed to have been started by lightning.

    Evacuation orders and road closures for the 6-5 Fire

    A mandatory evacuation order was issued for the north end of Don Pedro Reservoir up north to Chinese Camp, where Highway 49 and Highway 108 meet. Here is a live map showing the affected area.

    Cal Fire said the Sonora Senior Center at 540 Greenley Road in Sonora is an acting evacuation shelter. Chicken Rancho Casino Resort in Jamestown said it is offering a complimentary night’s stay to evacuees with a valid ID.

    Caltrans said the Highway 120 and Highway 108 divide, known as Yosemite junction, is closed due to the fire with no estimated time for reopening. Highway 120 is closed from Chinese Camp to Jacksonville Road. 

    Evacuation orders for 2-7 Fire

    Four zones in evacuation orders were downgraded on Wednesday evening. Those zones include CCY-134-A, CCU-134-D, CCU-134-F and CCU-133-B. The latest on evacuations for the 2-7 Fire can be found online.

    Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for the following zones:

    CCU-134-B
    CCU-134-E

    Evacuation warnings are in place for the following zones:

    CCU-134-D    
    CCU-143-B
    CCU-134-A
    CCU-134-F
    CCU-134-D
    CCU-133-B

    Bret Harte High School at 364 Murphys Grade Road in Angels Camp is serving as an evacuation shelter.

    Evacuation orders and road closures for 2-2 Fire

    The 2-2 Fire prompted the closure of Highway 4 on Tuesday between Escalon Bellota Road in San Joaquin County and Telegraph Road in Calaveras County. It reopened in the afternoon.

    As of about 11:45 a.m., the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office announced an evacuation order for zones CCU-155 and CCU-152-A, near the Calaveras-Stanislaus county line. Deputies said the affected area includes the Diamond 20 Ranch Estates along the north side of Highway 4.

    As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, all orders for the 2-2 Fire were no longer in place.

    Tim Fang

    Tim Fang is a digital producer at CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a part of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for more than two decades and joined the digital staff in 2006.

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    Tim Fang

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  • Vineyard worker says he doused fireplace ashes tied to Pickett Fire

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    A winery contract worker told fire investigators that he put water on the ashes he discarded not long before the Pickett Fire broke out, according to the spokesman for the Calistoga winery at the center of the fire probe.

    NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit was first to report that investigators suspected discarded ashes may be the cause of the Aug. 21 wine country fire.

    That fire has since burned nearly 7,000 acres, but is now largely contained.

    The unidentified contract worker, who had long been employed as a handyman for the previous owner, had just prepared a newly built outdoor fireplace for routine use.

    To do that he set a small, “basketball sized” fire, said Sam Singer, spokesman for the LLC owned by Hundred Acre Wines vintners Jayson and Helen Woodbridge.

    “He [the contract worker] told firefighters that he removed the ashes from the outdoor fireplace, put them in a bucket and poured water on them,” Singer said. “He believed the ashes had been extinguished.”

    Singer acknowledged the fire broke out “relatively soon” after those ashes had been discarded on winery property. He noted the initial fire in the fireplace was intended to “temper” or cure the bricks for routine use. The outdoor fireplace had been fully permitted when work started in April, Singer said.

    Shawn Zimmermaker, Cal Fire’s Northern Region deputy chief of law enforcement, confirmed discarded ashes as one potential cause that remains under investigation. He did not detail other possible causes.

    Zimmermaker noted that treating ashes with water alone is considered insufficient to render any outdoor campfire site safe. Ashes should be checked to ensure they are cool to the touch and then buried to avoid restarting a fire.

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    Jaxon Van Derbeken

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  • Fire tears through California Gold Rush town of Chinese Camp, threatening homes and historic buildings

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    Firefighters are continuing to battle lightning-sparked fires in three Central California counties on Wednesday, including a fire that has caused extensive damage to a historic Gold Rush town.

    The fire, which has been dubbed the 6-5 Fire, broke out near Don Pedro Overlook Trail and Old Pedro Road in Tuolumne County on Tuesday. The fire quickly grew in size and forced the evacuation of the entire town of Chinese Camp and surrounding areas.

    As of Wednesday morning, the fire has scorched 6,473 acres and is 0% contained.

    “The 6-5 Fire in Tuolumne County has grown rapidly today and remains active with no containment,” said a statement from Cal Fire. “Mandatory evacuation orders are in place with widespread warnings extending further. Incident Command has requested significant resources, including engines, dozers, crews, and aircraft, as the fire burns at a dangerous rate of spread and threatens multiple structures.”

    CBS Sacramento reporter Claudette Stefanian reported from Chinese Camp on Wednesday and noted the extent of the damage.

    “A lot of what we’re seeing here has been reduced to ash,” Stefanian said.

    According to Stefanian, some homes in Chinese Camp and the historic post office in the town remained standing.

    Established by a group of miners from China in the 1850s, Chinese Camp eventually grew into a bustling town during the Gold Rush, with a population that reached 5,000 people at one point. The town, which now has a population of about 90 people according to Census figures, is listed as a California Historical Landmark.

    The 6-5 Fire is among several in the area that were sparked by lightning on Tuesday. Collectively known as the TCU September Lightning Complex, the fires have burned a combined 11,977 acres as of Wednesday morning. There are no immediate reports of injuries from the fires.

    After the fires broke out, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced that the state has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from FEMA.

    Tim Fang

    Tim Fang is a digital producer at CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a part of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for more than two decades and joined the digital staff in 2006.

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    Tim Fang

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  • Quick-moving wildfire scorches historic Northern California gold mining town

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    A quick-moving wildfire burned homes in a California Gold Rush town settled around 1850 by Chinese miners who were driven out of a nearby camp, and the blaze grew without containment on Wednesday.

    The fire rapidly expanded to about 10 square miles (26 square kilometers), in size, forcing the evacuation Tuesday of the Chinese Camp Town and surrounding highways, according to CalFire, the state’s chief fire agency. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

    It is one of several fires called the TCU September Lighting Complex, which has burned more than 12,473 acres, or 19 square miles (50 square kilometers), in multiple locations in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties as of early Wednesday with no containment, according to Cal Fire.

    At least five homes were burning in the rural town, which has a mix of freestanding and mobile homes.

    Outside one house on Tuesday evening, seven people quickly moved large tree branches away from the structure and shoveled sand onto the fire in a desperate attempt to keep the blaze from spreading from the house next door. They worked for about 30 minutes until firefighters arrived. An RV on the property was damaged by the fire.

    Fire officials have requested additional resources such as fire engines, dozers and an aircraft.

    The blaze, known as the 6-5 Fire, was caused by lightning, according to Cal Fire. It is one of more than a dozen blazes that erupted Tuesday across California, according to Cal Fire.

    Thousands of Chinese came to California during the Gold Rush and faced persecution that included an exorbitant Foreign Miners Tax designed to drive them away from mining.

    Chinese Camp Town, about 57 miles (92 kilometers) east of Stockton, was settled by Chinese miners after they were driven out of a nearby camp, according to Visit Tuolumne County. Originally called Camp Washington, its name was soon changed to reflect the thousands of people from China who settled there.

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    The Associated Press

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  • From ashes to assets: Who’s snapping up California’s fire-damaged land?

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    The buyer pool of burned lots in Southern California’s rebuild is rapidly growing.

    Last week saw a diverse group of investors, including traditional developers, toymakers and even a California Lottery winner.

    What’s at stake is laying claim to part of a historic, multi-community rebuild.

    So far, over $84 million has been pumped into Altadena, Malibu and the Palisades by investors, based on a comb through property and state records.

    Unlike Altadena and Malibu, the Palisades has yet to see a similar level of multi-lot purchasing. Palisades veteran Anthony Marguleas of Amalfi Estates last reported that multi-lot sales from syndicates are so far rare, with only one entity nabbing three lots, according to the broker’s July market report.

    Additional numbers may help make that picture clearer, with Marguleas finding Altadena lots are trading 2 percent over their asking price in contrast with 9 percent below list in the Palisades. 

    Additionally, Altadena lots of 9,965 square feet have been selling for $643,423 on average. Meanwhile, an 8,255-square-foot lot in the Palisades averages $2.3 million, Marguleas reported.

    What follows is a look at some of the larger players that have made moves in the market.

    Mowbray Brothers/Zuru Tech

    Total deals/volume: 9/$65 million

    Where: Malibu

    From a dollar standpoint, New Zealand serial entrepreneurs Nick and Mat Mowbray have so far invested the most in land.  

    It’s not easy to figure out why. The brothers, who made their fortune off toys and then consumer products, have focused on oceanfront parcels dotting Pacific Coast Highway.  

    The buys range from $5 million, which was five out of the nine deals, up to $13.8 million for a nearly 15,000-square-foot lot at 21348 Pacific Coast Highway on La Costa Beach.

    The deals were done through various limited liability companies, all of which trace back to Zuru Tech US, the El Segundo-based division of Zuru Group.

    In an interview with The Real Deal, their real estate agents, who declined to disclose the identity of their clients, said a team was being built to help expedite the process for when they’re ready to begin building. The identity of the Mowbrays was first revealed in a video by Kevin Shelburn, founder of Mar Vista-based Shelburn Realty Group.

    Adding to the intrigue is the Zuru Tech US business. While the brothers made their fortune off toys like Mini Brands and Bunch O Balloons, they see an even bigger business in high-tech development via prefabricated housing. Nick Mowbray told Bloomberg last year, “what we’re doing with this housing project is going to dwarf everything we’ve ever done.”

    Black Lion Properties

    Total deals/volume: 9/$6.3 million

    Where: Altadena

    What’s more interesting than two brothers, who built an over billion-dollar toy business, pushing their way into Malibu real estate? Some might say an Altadena Powerball winner turned real estate investor.

    Black Lion Properties, which is reportedly tied to Edwin Castro, is behind multiple lot sales in Altadena since January’s Eaton Fire.

    Castro had the winning ticket in the November 2022 California Lottery’s Powerball drawing, with a $2.04 billion jackpot.

    Reports began to surface in recent months that Black Lion intended to invest in Castro’s hometown of Altadena in a bid to rebuild for those who don’t have the means to do so and to keep ownership local.

    “Many people who were affected by the fires in Altadena cannot or do not want to rebuild and aspire to move on and start elsewhere,” the two brothers said in a joint statement published in a Lottery website. “These purchases will help some of them, while keeping ownership of the property local.”

    A state filing shows Black Lion Properties is tied to a Pasadena address managed by Jesse H. Castro, who is reportedly the brother of Edwin.

    The company was formed in August 2024 as a vehicle for real estate investments and began making moves in mid-December, according to property and state records. That’s when Black Lion purchased homes in Alhambra and South Pasadena.

    The purchases ramped post-fires, in March, when Black Lion scooped up its first two Altadena lots and now has nine buys so far in the community under its belt, based on records found in PropertyShark.

    New Pointe Communities Inc.

    Total deals/volume: 8/$5 million

    Where: Altadena

    San Diego building and development firm New Pointe Communities Inc. is already in the process of rebuilding, listing eight properties on its website that are currently under construction in Altadena.

    New Pointe made its buys through a limited liability company, according to property and state records.

    The company’s currently showing on its website a four-bed, three-and-a-half-bath Altadena floorplan that’s about 2,300 square feet.

    Altadena wouldn’t be the first time New Pointe, which was founded by president Scot Sandstrom, has gone into a fire-damaged area and been a part of the rebuilding. The company acquired lots to redevelop after 2007’s Witch Creek Fire in San Diego County.

    Bloom Capital Investments

    Total deals/volume: 5/$3.9 million

    Where: Altadena

    Records show Bloom Capital Investments made five on-market purchases, ranging from 9,757 square feet to 15,892 square feet.

    State records show the limited liability company is managed by Arman Narinyan, who is tied to a Glendale office on Glenoaks Boulevard. Narinyan appears to have his hands in a number of other entities registered in Glendale and Burbank that reflect a mix of business types, including a bakery.

    Ocean Development

    Total deals/volume: 3/$1.8 million

    Where: Altadena

    Ocean Development Inc. has made three plays in Altadena since the fires, according to records of on-market deals. There were two deals in March and another in April.

    Ocean Development, like New Pointe Communities, is one of the more experienced in real estate among the lot buyers.

    It’s helmed by founder and sole owner Amy Cyprus and says it’s built more than 2,000 units in South Los Angeles, with a focus on affordable housing. A sister company, called Ocean Properties Inc., handles property management of a portfolio that consists of four- and five-bedroom duplexes.

    Iron Rings Altadena

    Total deals/volume: 3/$1.8M

    Where: Altadena

    Iron Rings’ has picked up a few lots in Altadena ranging from 6,479 square feet to 11,729 square feet, paying anywhere from $550,000 to $675,000 for its investments.

    It’s managed by Jack Rose and Quynh Palomino of Alpharetta, Georgia, according to state records and declared its business a “jewelry shop” on its state filing. 

    That hardly matches with the other business Rose and Palomino are tied to in Virtua Capital Management. The Arizona company is registered as an investment advisor, which was charged in 2022 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for not disclosing conflicts of interest.

    The SEC said some of the company’s funds profited by pumping fund investments into real estate managed by other entities it oversaw without informing its investors, according to the SEC’s cease-and-desist order.

    In addition to individual penalties, Virtua paid $1.7 million, which went into a pot that was shared among investors. The company and its executives did not admit or deny the SEC’s assertions.

    Read more

    Unmasked in Malibu: Buyer of multiple burned lots tied to Mowbray brothers


    In Malibu, “signs of life” peek through fire scars of  Billionaire’s Beach, La Costa


    Amalfi Estates Founder: Palisades “Not Even Close” to Bottom

    Palisades values free fall “not even close” to hitting bottom


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    Kari Hamanaka

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