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Emergency Management outlines wildfire recovery phases; consultant Hagerty working alongside city
Summary
City emergency management staff reported that recovery from January wildfires has moved from short-term to overlapping intermediate and long-term phases, that debris removal remains a bottleneck, and that contractor Hagerty Consulting is providing recovery coordination; Hagerty mobilized 22 staff and its contract was signed Feb. 14.
City emergency management officials told the Budget and Finance Committee on March 11 that recovery from the January 2025 wildfires and windstorms has shifted from immediate response to a complex period where short-, intermediate- and long-term recovery work overlap.
"We are now in the most complex [phase] because this is where all three phases actually overlap," said Jim Featherstone, the recovery coordinator introduced by Carol Parks, general manager of the Emergency Management Department (EMD). Officials said the city stood up a recovery unit immediately and has been coordinating with county, state and federal partners, nonprofit groups and private contractors.
Why it matters: Officials said debris removal is a prerequisite for most reconstruction and that topography and repeated rain events have complicated work in the Palisades burn scar. EMD estimated phase‑2 debris work remains incomplete for many parcels; prior events of similar scale have taken months to a year to finish depending on parcel count and terrain.
Hagerty contract and role: EMD explained that Hagerty Consulting was hired to support planning, response, recovery, mitigation, financial management, operations and community engagement. The contract was signed on Feb. 14; Hagerty staff began work on February 4 at risk and had roughly 22 people mobilized in the field as of the committee briefing. EMD said Hagerty is working "shoulder to shoulder" with city staff to bring expertise for a disaster of this complexity and to help document recovery work in ways that support federal cost recovery and public communications.
Reimbursement and cost-tracking: Officials told the committee that the CAO typically handles cost accounting for FEMA reimbursements, and EMD said it expects a significant portion of consultant work to be eligible for FEMA reimbursement. EMD said it is structuring recovery activities using the National Disaster Recovery Framework (recovery support functions such as infrastructure, housing, health and social services, economic recovery and natural resources) to align with county and state structures and to support federal reimbursement processes.
Operational constraints and outlook: EMD described ongoing challenges including an emergency evacuation order in segments of the Palisades, 14 traffic-control points for controlled property access, and the need for rights-of-entry (ROE) from parcel owners to access and clear burned properties. Officials did not give a firm timeline for completing all debris removal and said some past events with roughly 1,600 parcels took about a year to clear, although the department cautioned that comparisons vary by terrain and parcel size.
No committee vote was required for the verbal update; officials said they will continue to coordinate with CAO for FEMA cost recovery and with Hagerty on recovery planning and community communications.
