Lifestyle
They lost their homes to fire. Now they’re rebuilding with all-electric.
No one is forcing fire survivors in Altadena and Pacific Palisades to rebuild their new homes all-electric. But many of them want to, for health reasons, cost savings, or because they’re worried about climate change.
Burning gas and propane for cooking, water heating and space heating in California homes and businesses creates 10% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. It also releases pollutants indoors.
That’s why, in recent years, state policy has pushed toward electrification, and about 39% of new homes in California in 2024 went in without gas lines. Only 8% of all homes were all-electric in 2020.
Yet after last year’s fires, Gov. Gavin Newsom waived a 2025 building code that strongly encouraged electric heat pumps in new construction, allowing residents in the burn zones to build back to older, less efficient standards.
The city of L.A. also waived a requirement that new homes be all-electric.
Climate experts called these rollbacks a missed opportunity. Early figures show 1,300 residents have already have applied for reconnections through SoCalGas, which serves most of Los Angeles.
Yet some determined groups of neighbors are building all-electric anyway, even without the requirements. Here are some of their reasons:
Neighbors building passive homes in Altadena
Leo Cheng is part of a group of about 10 Eaton fire survivors working together to build passive homes in Altadena.
Felipe Jimenez, a construction foreman, reads plans for a new home on East Mariposa Street in Altadena on Friday.
(Gary Coronado / For The Times)
A passive house is airtight and highly insulated, designed to reduce the need for air conditioning and heating to the highest extent possible.
Cheng, who previously lived in a home with a gas stove, furnace and water heater, became interested in the concept when he learned that it could keep out more smoke and toxic ash during a fire.
He sees passive homes as going hand in hand with all-electric appliances, because “with airtight construction, having a gas stove in the house especially doesn’t make sense” for indoor air quality.
Cheng was one of the western Altadena residents who received evacuation orders late on Jan. 7, 2025. He remembers rushing out of his house in the middle of the night without time to turn off the gas, so he also likes the idea of reducing fire risk by eliminating it all together.
Leo Cheng, 60, on the site where he lived with his wife in a 1960s California ranch home on East Calaveras Street in Altadena.
(Gary Coronado / For The Times)
After going on a passive house tour led by his neighbor Jaime Rodriguez, whom he credits with sparking the passive house movement in Altadena, Cheng became part of a small but growing group that meets once a week to support one another with rebuilding energy-efficient, all-electric homes. A former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer, he has decided to become a passive house consultant.
Besides indoor air quality, climate change is a big concern.
“I’m a firm believer that climate change played a big role in how intense and how widespread these fires were,” Cheng said. “Using fossil fuel in this day and age is not a good idea.”
Companies building all-electric catalog homes
Building a custom-designed home can bring an array of hurdles. For those looking for a simpler and more affordable approach, the Foothill Catalog Foundation offers pre-approved, all-electric home designs in styles that honor the architectural legacy of Altadena.
Local architects Cynthia Sigler and Alex Athenson took inspiration from early 20th century Sears catalogs that sold homes as kits when they founded the nonprofit last year.
They’re already working with 11 families with homes under construction, and have 50 more signed on to build their catalog homes.
Athenson said they didn’t set out to design their models all-electric but decided to go that route for health and safety reasons. Another factor was the money and time they could save clients by cutting out the need for two utility hookups.
A sign in front of the home of Leo Cheng announcing that an all-electric home will be built where his home burned down during the Eaton fire.
(Gary Coronado / For The Times)
According to the Building Decarbonization Coalition, an electrification advocacy group, all-electric homes cost $3,000 to $10,000 less to build than mixed fuel homes in Los Angeles. That savings helps when it comes to buying appliances like heat pumps, which are the most efficient but tend to be more expensive up front.
The heat pump will yield lower utility bills for summer cooling because they use far less electricity than traditional air conditioners. They create winter heat bill savings in L.A. too.
The biggest question Athenson gets from clients is about electric cooking, especially when they’re used to cooking with gas. But he said concerns usually fall away when they learn more about induction stoves. “If you ask most chefs, that’s the most dialed-in, precise way to cook,” he said.
Genesis Builders LA is also offering fixed-price, pre-approved catalog homes in Altadena, with models that can be all-electric or use gas. Builder Devang Shah said he’s working with about 30 fire survivors, half of whom opted for all-electric.
“Some people have preferences for gas cooking and the look of a gas-lit fireplace,” said Shah. But all his clients will use electric heat pumps for space and water heating. Although the state waived a requirement that all new homes have solar for the burn areas, they still must be solar-ready. Shah’s models all come with solar and that, he said, helps heat pumps pencil out every time.
An incentive program for all-electric rebuilds
After a long delay, a $22-million incentive program launched on April 6 to support residents rebuilding all-electric in California disaster areas served by investor-owned utilities like Southern California Edison. Customers can qualify for $7,000 to $10,000 in subsidies, with more available for low-income fire survivors and bonuses for batteries and passive homes.
In just the first 10 days, 116 people from Altadena applied.
A plan for a new home along East Altadena Drive.
(Gary Coronado / For The Times)
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which serves most of the Palisades, also has a rebate program for electric wildfire rebuilds, with subsidies for all-electric homes or individual appliances.
Reza Akef, a builder in the Palisades and chair of the Pacific Palisades Community Council’s Infrastructure Committee, said people do consider these incentives in deciding what appliances to buy. On the other hand, SoCalGas offers wildfire rebates for more energy-efficient gas appliances. More than 1,100 households have enrolled.
About 90% of Akef’s 45 Palisades clients will keep gas. He said the fuel is faster for pool and spa heating, where electric heat pumps are more energy-efficient than gas but heat the water more slowly. Some of his clients feel a gas line will boost the resale value of their home, he said, and others have concerns about relying on one electric utility if the power goes out.
A spokesperson for Newsom said California is “aggressively pursuing widespread electrification” but would not burden survivors with “additional mandates and red tape.” Mayor Karen Bass’ office said she was giving Palisadians “options of how they want to rebuild,” with fire resiliency at the forefront.
Kari Weaver is an interior designer who lost her home in the Palisades fire and a member of Resilient Palisades, a group that’s advocating all-electric rebuilds. She plans to build an all-electric home with a solar and battery system in case of blackouts. But she’ll keep a gas line on the property and is still deciding if she’ll connect it to her pool. She’s looking into options like a cover that insulates the water, hybrid heaters and new electric heating models.
“These types of appliances are getting better all the time,” she said.
Phil Pritchard of the Hockey Hall of Fame works the 2019 NHL Awards at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on June 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, judge and guest scorekeeper Alzo Slade, Not My Job guest Phil Pritchard and panelists Alonzo Bodden, Adam Burke, and Dulcé Sloan. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
Who’s Alzo This Time
The Don Vs The Poppa; World’s Worst Doctor; Should We Eat That?
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Our panelists tell three stories about someone missing a huge opportunity in the news, only one of which is true.
Not My Job: Phil Pritchard, the NHL’s Keeper of the Stanley Cup, answers three questions about the other NHL, National Historic Landmarks
Peter talks to Phil Pritchard, the NHL’s Keeper of the Stanley Cup. Phil plays our game called, “Let’s Go Visit The NHL” Three questions about National Historic Landmarks.
Panel Questions
The Trump Dump and Air Traffic Control Becomes Animal Control
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Alzo Slade reads three news-related limericks: Spice Up Your Spring Cleaning; A Fizzy Meaty Drink; The Right Way to Eat Peeps.
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Our panelists predict the next big AirBnB story in the news
Paul W. Downs can’t help it that even on the weekends, his life intersects with “Hacks,” the HBO comedy he co-created and co-showruns with his wife, Lucia Aniello, and their friend Jen Statsky. (He also appears on the show as Jimmy LuSaque Jr., the besieged manager of its two stars, played by Emmy winners Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder.) The fifth and final season of “Hacks” premiered last week, but on Downs’ days off, he often finds himself at its previous filming locations or hanging out with cast members who have become like family.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Downs moved to Los Angeles in 2011, but soon after, he and Aniello were hired to write (and for him to act) on the über-New York show “Broad City,” keeping them away from the West Coast for years. Now the couple live in Los Feliz, which they enjoy with their young son.
“I love Los Feliz because it’s a real neighborhood with restaurants and bars, but also feels close to nature with Griffith Park,” Downs says. “Also it’s very central to my Eastside friends and Westside agents.”
And if he had to live at a local mall, like the character Ava Daniels did in the third season of “Hacks,” which would he choose?
“It would be the Americana, obviously.”
Here’s how he’d spend a perfect day in L.A.
10 a.m.: A late rise and a li’l barista
I’m sleeping in if I can, which I can’t because I have a toddler, but let’s say I can sleep ’til 10. That would be insane.
Then I’m making coffee at home. I’m making it with my 4-year-old because he likes to make my coffee now. He always wanted to help, now he really wants to do it on his own. I’m still there to supervise, but he does do a lot of it.
I do batch brew. I’m doing Verve Coffee that I’m grinding there, and then I’m brewing four cups because I need my coffee. I had a Moccamaster for a long time, but I recently got a Simply Good Coffee. There’s no plastic — it’s all glass and metal.
11 a.m.: Chocolate croissants for everyone
We’re driving to Pasadena and we’re going to [Artisanal Goods by] CAR, which is the place to get the best chocolate croissant, I think, in the world. I don’t just think in L.A., I think they’re better than Paris. I’m going there with my wife and my kid and I’m having another coffee and some pastry. We’re ordering three [chocolate croissants]. We’re not doubling up.
11:45 a.m.: The family business
We’re driving to Fair Oaks in Pasadena. There’s a place called T.L. Gurley. We shot “Hacks” there, actually. Not only in Season 1, but also full circle in Season 5. We’re going to shmay around and look at antiques. My kid is going to want to play a vintage pinball machine. We’re going to find a little piece of art for the house or what have you. It’s not necessarily that I’m on the hunt. It’s to pass the time and to have some fun. If I could do anything and have a leisurely day and take my mind off work, that’s what I’m doing.
People love to interact with my kid when he’s there. We’re really training him to appraise things at a young age. My parents are part-time dealers of antiques. My grandmother bought and sold antiques. It’s kind of a family business.
1:30 pm.: Baguettes and books
We’re driving to Larchmont and we’re getting a sandwich at Larchmont Village Wine, Spirits & Cheese. I’m doing prosciutto-mozzarella-basil on a baguette.
Then we’re going to Chevalier’s Books. What’s sad is that I’m often not looking for leisure material. I’m looking for something that I’m interested in learning more about or writing about, or that they’re turning into a show I want to audition for. But we’re also doing Little Golden Books for my son. He’s obsessed. We’re not huge on screen time, so we really encourage the book-buying.
2:30 p.m.: Cast pool party
We’re having some family fun in the pool and we’re doing that until evening. We invite people over all the time. My sister-in-law is a New Yorker, but she actually wrote last season on “The Rooster” and she’s often writing on shows in L.A., so she’s often here and she’ll have a couple friends come over. I know this sounds like a piece of PR or something, but we’ll really literally have Hannah [Einbinder] and maybe Mark Indelicato from “Hacks” come over to swim. Jen, our co-creator of “Hacks,” will come over.
6:00 p.m.: Family dinner
Sometimes we’ll order Grá to the house, which is a pizza place in Echo Park — excellent sourdough crust pizza. But if we don’t do that, an ideal evening is an early dinner at All Time on Hillhurst in Los Feliz. We’re ordering the ceviche and my son is having all of it and not sharing with anybody at the table.
8:45 p.m.: A thrilling ending to the day
After putting my kid to bed, my wife and I, in an ideal world (full disclosure: we haven’t done this in two years), we’ll watch something together that we’ve been meaning to watch. We have a long list of movies and we either want to revisit or that we haven’t seen that we need to watch.
We don’t watch a lot of comedies. It’s a dream to watch a “Black Bag” or a little espionage thriller. We really like that because it’s so different than the stuff that we’re working on in the day.
Often the things we watch are things that we admire. We like deconstructing it as fans of film and television. We do like talking about the making of it, but it’s less of a critique and more of a listing of the things we appreciated about it.
10:30 p.m.: No work tomorrow
And then it’s lovemaking ’til morning on a perfect Sunday. If it’s a perfect Sunday, there’s also a Monday that’s off.
Jay (not pictured) found himself alone and hopeless in a jail cell when a fellow inmate’s unexpected words of comfort changed his life.
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When Jay was 22 years old, he was a self-described loner. In this story, he is being identified by his nickname to allow himself to speak candidly about the following experience and his mental health. He says the few people he did hang out with at the time had questionable morals.
”I chose my friends poorly, and your friends have a tendency to rub off on you. And so I started making poor decisions,” Jay said.
One evening, when he and his friends were out drinking, someone suggested they should try to break into the chemistry building on his college campus. Most of the group shrugged the suggestion off, deeming it impossible, but Jay was convinced he could pull it off.
“The next night I made a plan of how to do it, and I did it,” Jay remembered. “And I didn’t get caught doing it, [but] I got caught afterwards.”
At around 1 that morning, Jay was placed in the county detention center. Sitting alone in his cell, reality began to sink in.
“I pretty much thought that my life as I knew it was going to be over, and I had decided that the world would be better off without me in it.”
Jay made a plan to end his life. As he prepared himself, he began to cry.
“But just in that moment when I was ready to do it, I heard a voice coming from the top left corner of my cell, from a little vent. And someone called out to me and said, ‘Hey, is this your first time?’”
The man who called out was an inmate in the cell next door.
“I collected myself a little bit, and I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘Can I pray for you?’”
Jay had grown up religious, but had stopped going to church years before. In that moment, though, he knew he needed support. He said yes, and listened as the man began to pray.
“I wish I could tell you that I remember the [exact] words that he said to me, but what I remember is that his words landed with me, and instead of wanting my life to be over, suddenly I saw hope,” Jay said.
The interaction happened nearly ten years ago, but it was a pivotal moment in Jay’s life, and one he thinks about all the time.
“[Now], I have a good job. I have a girlfriend who loves me. I have a life. But I have a life because somebody who was in the same situation I was in had the courage to talk to a fellow inmate and be kind.”
Jay says that he wishes he could meet that man again and express his appreciation.
“[I would] shake that guy’s hand, give him a hug, and tell him what his small gesture meant for me, how he changed the course of my life.”
My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.
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