"They Let Us Burn" - Palisades Fire victims protest

Palisades Residents: They Let Us Burn

Nearly 1,000 people showed up in Pacific Palisades on the fire’s one-year mark. They came to grieve. They came to complain. They came to demand answers.

The message was short and sharp. People want rebuilding. They want faster permits. They want clear action from leaders.

FOX News reports: ‘They let us burn’: Palisades Fire victims protest leadership one year after catastrophic wildfires. Organizers and residents said the response last January felt slow and unprepared. Jeremy Padawer, who helped set up the rally, put it bluntly:

“We didn’t have water, we didn’t have reservoirs, we didn’t have personnel, and there was no emergency response,” said Jeremy Padawer, organizer of the “They let us burn” rally.

People at the rally pointed to city and state leadership. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were named specifically. Some speakers said this wasn’t about party politics. It was about basic readiness.

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The Eaton and Palisades fires scorched a combined 37,728 acres — an area larger than California's Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios combined — destroying more than 16,200 buildings in their path.

Of those homes and businesses lost, construction has begun on fewer than 600, leaving more than 96% still untouched.