Business

They lost their home insurance policies. Then came the fires

Published

12 months ago

January 12, 2025

They lost their home insurance policies. Then came the fires

Last year, Francis Bischetti said he learned that the annual cost of the homeowners policy he buys from Farmers Insurance for his Pacific Palisades home was going to soar from $4,500 to $18,000 — an amount he could not possibly afford.

Neither could he get onto California FAIR Plan, which provides fewer benefits, because he said he would have to cut down 10 trees around his roof line to lower the fire risk — something else the 55-year-old personal assistant found too costly to manage.

So he decided he would do what’s called “going bare” — not buying any coverage on his home in the community’s El Medio neighborhood. He figured if he watered his property year round, that might be protection enough given its location south of Sunset Boulevard.

It wasn’t. The home he lived in for nearly all his life burned down Tuesday along with more than 10,000 other homes and structures damaged or destroyed in the worst fire event in the history of Los Angeles. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed countywide.

“It was surrealistic,” he said. “I’ve grown up and lived here off and on for 50 years. I’ve never in my entire time here experienced this.”

Farmers Insurance declined to comment, saying it does not discuss individual policyholders.

‘A train wreck coming down the track’

Bischetti was far from the only homeowner living in Pacific Palisades, Altadena or other fire-prone hillside neighborhoods who struggled to maintain their insurance amid sharply rising costs and the decision by many insurers to reduce their exposure to catastrophic wildfire claims by not renewing the policies of even longtime customers. Many fire victims reported that insurers had dropped their policies last year.

The fires — expected to be among the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history — have deepened a crisis in the state’s home insurance market that was already reeling before the devastation came.

The state’s largest home insurer, State Farm General, announced in March it would not renew 30,000 homeowner and condominium policies — including 1,626 in Pacific Palisades — when they expired.

Chubb and its subsidiaries stopped writing new policies for high-value homes with higher wildfire risk. Allstate has stopped writing new policies, and Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co. pulled out of the state, though Mercury Insurance offered to take their customers.

Liberty Mutual was sued last month by a homeowner who accused the insurer of dropping her over a bogus claim that her roof had mold damage.

“Driven by a desire to maximize profits, property casualty insurance companies … have engaged in a troubling trend of dropping California homeowners’ insurance policies like flies,” said the complaint, filed in San Diego County Superior Court. A spokesperson for Liberty Mutual declined to comment on the litigation.

The inability to get coverage is reflected in the number of policies picked up by California FAIR Plan, which as of September had about 452,000 policies, up from a little over 203,000 four years ago. FAIR Plan’s website says its claims exposure is nearly $6 billion in Pacific Palisades alone.

“The situation has been a train wreck coming down the track for a while,” said Rick Dinger, president of Crescenta Valley Insurance, an independent brokerage in Glendale.

Not enough insurance money to rebuild

Peggy Holter spent decades as a television journalist, a peripatetic career that took her all over the world, but there was one place she called home and always returned to: the Pacific Palisades condo she moved into on Jan. 1, 1978. That all changed after Tuesday’s firestorm, when her condo burned to the ground along with the rest of the 36 units in the Palisades Drive complex.

Holter, 83, who only retired last year, is now facing uncertainty after she said State Farm didn’t renew her individual condo insurance, citing the condition of her roof.

But with the loss of her documents she isn’t sure if and when the policy lapsed — and she hadn’t yet secured a new carrier. The insurance typically covers personal belongings and a unit’s interior and provides benefits such as living expenses if a condo becomes unusable.

“I’m not a big keeper of things, but what I did have was a whole wall of pictures and albums of all the places I had been, family photos. I had a picture of my mother on a camel when she was 52 in front of the Sphinx,” Holter recalled. “The only thing I am concerned about is the future, because that is what you have to do.”

Her biggest question is whether she can rebuild. The homeowners association had a master policy from FAIR Plan, which totaled only $20 million. That would pay out only about $550,000 per unit if the complex were not rebuilt — far below the $1 million-plus the condos commanded in recent sales. The land could be sold off to a developer.

Holter, who is now living with her son in the Hollywood Hills, had paid off her condo.

She went back to the complex after the fires died down to get a closer look at the damage. There was nothing left of her unit, but the complex’s koi pond survived, along with the fish.

State Farm has declined to comment on its non-renewals, saying in a recent statement: “Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees impacted by the fires and assisting our customers in the midst of this tragedy.”

‘We don’t cover anything in California’

Matt Knight considers himself fortunate: He and his family could have lost it all in the Eaton fire, just like Bischetti and Holter in the Palisades fire.

The trouble started last year he said when he received a notice from Safeco Insurance that the policy on his Sonoma Drive home in Altadena, where he lives with his wife and three children, would not be renewed due to a tree overhanging his garage.

The 45-year-old Covina elementary school teacher said he dutifully trimmed the tree only to be told the ivy growing on the garage also was a problem. After removing that, he said he was told he had to fix his damaged stucco, which forced him to paint his house and in the process replace his old roof. Yet he said he still couldn’t get insurance after spending $30,000 on the repairs.

A spokesperson for Safeco, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, said the carrier does not comment on individual policyholders.

“So we went looking company after company after company, and some of them would say, ‘No, we don’t cover anything in California.’ Some said, ‘We’re not doing any new policies.’ Some said, ‘No, we don’t do 91001 because it’s in a fire zone, and we were were like, ‘That’s crazy.’”

Just a day before his policy was set to expire last summer, Knight said he finally managed to secure similar coverage with Aegis Insurance. But in the haste to get the policy in force, the home he has lived in for 16 years was left wildly under-insured for less than $300,000. The home is valued at $1.13 million on Zillow.

The ferocious winds that fanned the Eaton fire started a power outage Tuesday evening, so Knight decided to drive his children over to his parents’ home on the other side of Altadena where they could do their homework. From there, he saw the fire start on a street hugging the mountains near what appeared to be a power line.

“Within minutes it was taken up the hillside. It was unbelievable,” he said.

His parents’ home on Roosevelt Avenue escaped the devastation, and throughout the night he drove over to check on his home. By 6 a.m., he had joined a brigade of homeowners to fight the encroaching flames on Sonoma Drive. “The whole neighborhood was there grabbing hoses and fighting fires,” he said.

In the late afternoon, he said, the water ran out for the homeowners and firefighters alike, forcing him and his neighbors to pack up and go. He was sure he would lose his home, but the winds died down.

“I think that was the ultimate good fortune,” he said, though some other neighbors were not so lucky.

Bischetti was not so lucky either.

On Tuesday, when the fires started in the hills and all of his Palisades neighbors started to pack their cars, Bischetti stayed behind to keep hosing down his property, including his lawn, roof, rafters and walls.

“I thought everything would be relatively safe,” he said. “I was sticking around trying to protect the house with water.”

He gradually started packing his car with a change of clothes, one of his guitars, tax papers, property deeds and hard drives from his computer. He left his computer itself back in the house, along with his amps, music equipment and tools.

His entire street was a ghost town by 5 p.m. By then, Bischetti had already watered down his property multiple times. It was dusty and smoky, and a voice in his head told him it was time to go. “I’m going to come back for this tomorrow,” he recalled thinking. “I don’t want to weigh down my car.”

It didn’t work out that way.

Bischetti drove near Palisades High School and saw a house on the corner of the street start to burn down. He then tried going on El Medio Avenue and drove into black smoke, with flames on both sides of his car. He started panicking and realized he couldn’t get through.

After making it to his sister’s home in Mar Vista, he found out from a neighbor that all of the homes on his block had been leveled.

Bischetti said his siblings lost family mementos and photos and he lost thousands of dollars’ worth of tools and musical instruments. They also had spent nearly $4,000 fixing up the home in order to rent out some of the rooms.

Bischetti and his family have signed up for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief funds and are trying to get help with cleaning up the property, which he said could cost at least $10,000.

“I was getting ready for this,” he said of his one-man firefighting efforts. “That was the last hurrah.”

Business

In-N-Out Burger outlets in Southern California hit by counterfeit bill scam

Published

6 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

In-N-Out Burger outlets in Southern California hit by counterfeit bill scam

Two people allegedly used $100 counterfeit bills at dozens of In-N-Out Burger restaurants in Southern California in a wide-reaching scam.

Glendale Police officials said in a statement Friday that 26-year-old Tatiyanna Foster of Long Beach was taken into custody last month. Another suspect, 24-year-old Auriona Lewis, also of Long Beach, was arrested in October.

Police released images of $100 bills used to purchase a $2.53 order of fries and a $5.93 order of a Flying Dutchman.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Lewis with felony counterfeiting and grand theft in November.

Elizabeth Megan Lashley-Haynes, Lewis’s public defender, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Glendale police said that Lewis was arrested in Palmdale in an operation involving the U.S. Marshals Task Force. Foster is expected in court later this month, officials said.

”Lewis was found to be in possession of counterfeit bills matching those used in the Glendale incident, along with numerous gift cards and transaction receipts believed to be connected to similar fraudulent activity,” according to a police statement.

A representative for In-N-Out Burger told KTLA-TV that restaurants in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties were also targeted by the alleged scam.

“Their dedication and expertise resulted in the identification and apprehension of the suspects, helping to protect our business and our communities,” In-N-Out’s Chief Operations Officer Denny Warnick said. “We greatly value the support of law enforcement and appreciate the vital role they play in making our communities stronger and safer places to live.”

The company, opened in 1948 in Baldwin Park, has restaurants in nine states.

An Oakland location closed in 2024, with the owner blaming crime and slow police response times.

Company chief executive Lynsi Snyder announced last year that she planned to relocate her family to Tennessee, although the burger chain’s headquarters will remain in California.

Business

Newsom’s budget includes $200 million to make up for Trump’s canceled EV rebates, among other climate items

Published

18 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Newsom’s budget includes 0 million to make up for Trump’s canceled EV rebates, among other climate items

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday doubled down on California’s commitment to electric vehicles with proposed rebates intended to backfill federal tax credits canceled by the Trump administration.

The plan would allocate $200 million in one-time special funds for a new point-of-sale incentive program for light-duty zero-emissions vehicles. It was part of a sweeping $348.9-billion state budget proposal released Friday, which also included items to address air pollution and worsening wildfires, amid a projected $3-billion state deficit.

EVs have become a flashpoint in California’s battle against the Trump administration, which moved last year to repeal the state’s long-held authority to set strict tailpipe emission standards and eventually ban the sale of new gas powered cars.

Last year, Trump ended federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for EV customers that were part of President Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. In September, his administration also let lapse federal authorization for California’s Clean Air Vehicle decal program, which allowed solo EV drivers to use carpool lanes.

“Despite federal interference, the governor maintains his commitment to protecting public health and achieving California’s world leading climate agenda,” Lindsay Buckley, spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, said in an email. “This incentive program will help continue the state’s ZEV momentum, especially with the federal administration eliminating the federal EV tax credit and carpool lane access.”

Newsom had previously flip-flopped on this idea, first vowing to restore a state program that provided up to $7,500 to buy clean cars and then walking it back in September. That same month, a group of five automakers including Honda, Rivian, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Audi wrote a letter urging Newsom and state legislators to establish a $5,000 EV tax rebate to replace the lost federal incentives, Politico reported.

During his State of the State speech Thursday — one year after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles — Newsom said California “refuse[s] to be bystanders” while China and other nations take the lead on electric vehicles and the clean energy transition. He touted the state’s investments in solar, hydrogen, wind and nuclear power, as well as its recent move away from the use of any coal-fired power.

“We must continue our prudent fiscal management, funding our reserves, and continuing the investments Californians rely on, from education to public safety, all while preparing for Trump’s volatility outside our control,” the governor said in a statement. “This is what responsible governance looks like.”

Several environmental groups had been urging Newsom to invest more in clean air and clean vehicle programs, which they say are critical to the state’s ambitious goals for human health and the environment. Transportation is the largest source of climate and air pollution in California and is responsible for more than a third of global warming emissions, said Daniel Barad, Western states policy manager with the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists.

“As federal attacks threaten California’s authority to protect public health, incentives are more essential than ever to scale up clean cars and trucks,” Barad said. “The governor and legislative leaders must act now to fully fund zero-emission transportation and pursue new revenue to grow and sustain climate investments.”

Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California senior director with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, called it “an essential step to save money for Californians, cut harmful pollution, spur innovation, and support the global competitiveness of our auto industry.”

While the budget proposal does not include significant new spending proposals, it contains other line items relating to climate and the environment. Among them are plans to continue implementing Proposition 4, the $10-billion climate bond approved by voters in 2024 for programs geared toward wildfire resilience, safe drinking water, flood management, extreme heat mitigation and other similar efforts.

Among $2.1 billion in climate bond investments proposed this year are $58 million for wildfire prevention and hazardous fuels reduction projects in vulnerable communities, and nearly $20 million to assist homeowners with defensible space to prevent fire. Water-related investments include $232 million for flood control projects and nearly $70 million to support repairs to existing or new water conveyance projects.

The proposal also lays out how to spend money from California’s signature cap-and-trade program, which sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions and allows large polluters to buy and sell unused emission allowances at quarterly auctions. State lawmakers last year voted to extend the program through 2045 and rename it cap-and-invest.

The spending plan includes a new tiered structure for cap-and-invest that first funds statutory obligations such as manufacturing tax exemptions, followed by $1 billion for the high speed rail project, $750 million to support the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and finally secondary program funding such as affordable housing and low-carbon transit options.

But while some groups applauded the budget’s broad handling of climate issues, others criticized it for leaning too heavily on volatile funding sources for environmental priorities, such as special funds and one-time allocations.

The Sierra Club called the EV incentive program a crucial investment but said too many other items were left with “patchwork strategies that make long-term planning harder.”

“Just yesterday, the Governor acknowledged in his State of the State address that the climate risk is a financial risk. That is exactly why California needs climate investments that are stable and ongoing,” said Sierra Club director Miguel Miguel.

California Environmental Voters, meanwhile, stressed that the state should continue to work toward legislation that would hold oil and gas companies liable for damages caused by their emissions — a plan known as “Make Polluters Pay” that stalled last year amid fierce lobbying and industry pressure.

“Instead of asking families to absorb the costs, the Legislature must look seriously at holding polluters accountable for the harm they’ve caused,” said Shannon Olivieri Hovis, California Environmental Voters’ chief strategy officer.

Sarah Swig, Newsom’s senior advisor for climate, noted that the state’s budget plan came just days after Trump withdrew the United States from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a major global treaty signed by nearly 200 countries with the aim of addressing global warming through coordinated international action.

“California is not slowing down on climate at a time when we continue to see attack after attack from the federal government, including as recently as this week with the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the UNFCCC,” Swig told reporters Friday. “California’s leadership has never mattered more.”

Business

Abandoned shops and missing customers: Fire-scarred businesses are still stuck in the aftermath

Published

1 day ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Abandoned shops and missing customers: Fire-scarred businesses are still stuck in the aftermath

The charred remains of the historic Pacific Palisades Business Block cast a shadow over a once-bustling shopping district along West Sunset Boulevard.

Empty lots littered with debris and ash line the street where houses and small businesses once stood. A year since the Palisades fire roared through the neighborhood, only a handful of businesses have reopened.

The Starbucks, Bank of America, and other businesses that used to operate in the century-old Business Block are gone. All that remains of the Spanish Colonial Revival building are some arches surrounding what used to be a busy retail space. The burned-out, rusty remnants of a walk-in vault squat in the center of the structure.

Nearby, the Shade Store, the Free-est clothing store, Skin Local spa, a Hastens mattress store, Sweet Laurel Bakery and the Hydration Room are among the many stores still shuttered. Local barbershop Gornik & Drucker doesn’t know if it can reopen.

“We have been going back and forth on what it would take to survive,” co-owner Leslie Gornik said. “If we open, we have to start over from scratch.”

Hundreds gathered around Business Block on the anniversary of he fire on Wednesday to witness a military-style white-glove ceremony to pay respects to the families who lost loved ones. Photos of those killed from the neighborhood were placed at the Palisades Village Green next door.

The Palisades fire burned for 24 days, destroying more than 6,800 structures, damaging countless others and forcing most of the neighborhood’s residents to move elsewhere. About 30 miles northeast, the Eaton fire burned more than 9,400 structures. Combined, the fires killed 31 people.

Remnants of the the Pacific Palisades Business Block, which was completed in 1924 and burned in the Palisades fire.

The few businesses that are back in Palisades serve as a beacon of hope for the community, but owners and managers say business is down and customers haven’t returned.

Ruby Nails & Spa, located near the Business Block, was closed for eight months before reopening in September. Now business is only half of what it was before the fires, owner Ruby Hong-Tran said.

“People come back to support but they live far away now,” she said. “All my clients, their houses burned.”

Ruby Hong-Tran, owner of Ruby Nails & Spa in Pacific Palisades, says her business is half of what it was since reopening.

It took months to clean all the smoke damage from her shop. The front is still being fixed to cover up burn damage.

The firestorms destroyed swaths of other neighborhoods, including Malibu, Topanga, Sierra Madre and Altadena, where businesses and homeowners also are struggling to build back.

Some are figuring out whether it is worth rebuilding. Some have given up.

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation estimated last year that more than 1,800 small businesses were in the burn zones in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, impacting more than 11,000 jobs.

Businesses say they often have been on their own. The Federal Emergency Management Agency tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clean up debris at private residences, some public buildings and places of worship — but not commercial properties.

Business owners had to clean up the charred debris and toxic waste on their properties. Many had to navigate complicated insurance claims and apply for emergency loans to stay afloat.

Rosie Maravilla, general manager of Anawalt’s Palisades Hardware, said damage to her store was limited, and insurance covered the cleaning, so she was able to open quickly. The store reopened just one month after the fire.

Rosie Maravilla, general manager of Anawalt Palisades Hardware, in front of of the store in Pacific Palisades.

Still, sales are 35% lower than what they used to be.

“In the early days, it was bad. We weren’t making anything,” Maravilla said. “We’re lucky the company kept us employed.”

The customer base has changed. Instead of homeowners working on personal projects, the store is serving contractors working on rebuilding in the area.

An archival image of the area in Pacific Palisades hangs over the aisles in Anawalt Palisades Hardware.

Across the street from the Business Block, the Palisades Village mall was spared the flames and looks pristine, but is still closed. Shop windows are covered with tarps. Low metal gates block entry to the high-end outlets. The mall is still replacing its drywall to eliminate airborne contaminants that the fire could have spread.

All of its posh shops still are shut: Erewhon, Lululemon ,Bay Theater, Blue Ribbon Sushi, athletic apparel store Alo, Buck Mason men’s and Veronica Beard women’s boutiques.

Mall owner and developer Rick Caruso said he is spending $60 million to reopen in August.

The need to bring back businesses impacted by the fires is urgent, Caruso said, and not just to support returning residents.

“It’s critical to bring jobs back and also for the city to start creating some tax revenue to support city services,” he said. ”Leaders need to do more to speed up the rebuilding process, such as speeding up the approval of building permits and stationing building inspectors closer to burn areas.”

Pedestrians walk past the Erewhon market in Palisades Village that plans to reopen this year.

Wednesday, on the anniversary of the fire, Caruso sent three light beams into the sky over the mall, which met in one stream to honor the impacted communities of Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Malibu.

The nighttime display will continue through Jan. 31.

Business Block’s history dates to 1924, when it served as a home for the community’s first ventures. In the 1980s, plans to tear it down and build a mall sparked a local uprising to save the historic symbol of the neighborhood’s vibrancy. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984.

Tiana Noble, a Starbucks spokesperson, said the landlord terminated the company’s lease when the building burned down. Bank of America said it secured a new lease to rebuild nearby.

Business Block’s fate is still unclear. Some people want to preserve its shell and turn it into a memorial.

This week, it was ringed by a fence emblazoned with the words “Empowering fresh starts together.”

Caruso said the ruins should be torn down.

“It needs to be demolished and cleaned up,” he said. “It’s an eyesore right now and a hazard. I would put grass on it and make it attractive to the community.”

Twisted and scorched remnants of the the Pacific Palisades Business Block still are there a year after the fire.

A short walk from the Business Block and near a burned-down Ralphs grocery store is the Palisades Garden Cafe, one of the few places in the neighborhood to get food and drink. The small, vibrant cafe was closed for two months after the fire, during which the employees went without pay.

Manager Lita Rodriguez said business is improving, but misses the regulars.

“We used to get tons of students and teachers who live and work here,” she said. “Our customers are mostly contractors now.”