Accountability: Hundreds demand it at Palisades fire anniversary rally

On the one-year anniversary of the Palisades fire, hundreds of residents rallied Wednesday in Pacific Palisades to demand accountability from city and state officials over what they described as a preventable wildfire that killed 12 people and displaced thousands.

The demonstration, organized by Palisades Fire Residents Coalition, comes as questions about how the Palisades fire began and whether it could have been prevented remain a focal point of debate and ongoing legal proceedings, including a federal arson case tied to an earlier brush fire that investigators say may have smoldered before the deadly blaze erupted.

Speakers at the rally — including Palisades and Altadena fire survivors, business owners, attorneys involved in fire-related lawsuits, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Councilmember Traci Park – addressed the crowd from a temporary stage set against the backdrop of a fire-damaged retail building, calling for greater accountability from government agencies.

Jaimie Geller, a Palisades fire survivor and local business owner, said the past year has been defined not only by the loss of her home and livelihood, but what she described as a deeper loss of stability.

“Beyond the loss of our community, our belongings and our income, the hardest part of this grief is the loss of our sense of stability,” she said, adding that she believes the fire was preventable. “That is why we are all here today. We are here to hold our city, state and federal government accountable.”

Geller said the failures exposed by the fire cut across political lines.

“This is not a right-versus-left issue. This is about an inherent flaw in our entire government,” Geller said. “And we the tax-paying people are paying a price, and so now we are demanding change.”

Los Angeles Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes the Pacific Palisades, told the crowd the fire was the result of systemic breakdown, not an unavoidable disaster.

“What happened on Jan. 7 was a catastrophic failure,” Park said. “To pretend otherwise is just insulting.”

Park argued that the fire was not an act of nature, but the result of decades of ignored warnings, inadequate infrastructure and flawed evacuation planning. She pointed to what she described as dry hydrants, an empty reservoir and gridlocked evacuation routes, saying firefighters were “left helpless to fight fire without water” on the day the systems were needed most.

Some Palisades residents at the rally described ongoing struggles rebuilding their lives.

Annette Alexakis, a Palisades homeowner since 1972, whose home and pet-care business were destroyed, said she is still facing rising property assessments, insurance disputes and housing instability, adding that she has relied on friends and former clients for temporary housing.

“The city came in and reassessed my property, too high, I can’t afford to build,” she said.

Alexakis added: “I tried everything, I tried to build, I tried to buy, which I can’t do anymore because I don’t have my property tax break… And then I went to rent, and I found that places in Santa Monica are affected by all the smoking clearing and they’re waiting for their insurance company to clean, so we couldn’t even rent.”

During the rally, scheduled speaker and reality television personality Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, announced he is running for mayor of Los Angeles, drawing a mix of cheers from the crowd.

Rally organizers outlined 10 demands aimed to ease rebuilding and preventing future disasters, including eliminating sales taxes and permit fees on rebuilding, suspending property taxes until homes receive certificates of occupancy, granting a five-year ULA tax holiday, restoring a Palisades police presence, undergrounding electrical infrastructure, improving evacuation planning and addressing insurance access and coverage.

While rebuilding is underway, progress has been uneven. Although the first certificates of occupancy have recently been issued in the Palisades and Altadena, many survivors remained in temporary housing, and some elderly residents have been unable to rebuild.

Questions about accountability persist as a former Uber driver faces federal arson charges in connection with the Palisades fire, while the cause of the Eaton fire remains under investigation.

In a statement Tuesday marking the anniversary, Mayor Karen Bass said the city would honor the 12 lives lost and acknowledged ongoing trauma, insurance disputes and delays facing residents, while emphasizing resilience and long-term recovery.

“Full recovery is a long-term, multi-year effort,” Bass said, adding that the city must continue working with residents and other stakeholders to support rebuilding.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Jan. 7 a statewide day of remembrance for the Los Angeles fires, ordering flags at state buildings to be flown at half-staff and honoring the 31 people killed in the Palisades and Eaton fires.

Speaking to SCNG at a campaign event last month about concerns from Palisades residents that rebuilding has moved too slowly, L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said “no matter how fast you go, it’s never fast enough” for people who have lost their homes.

He said the Palisades recovery has moved faster than many wildfire recoveries in the US and abroad, while acknowledging there’s still room for improvement.

“That’s not to say we can’t do better. I think we can,” he said.