Trump signs executive order taking over Los Angeles County wildfire rebuilding process

Donald Trump has signed an executive order, promising to slash “bureaucratic red tape and speed up reconstruction in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon areas one year after devastating wildfires destroyed nearly 40,000 acres of homes and businesses,”  the White House confirmed this morning.

The order, titled “Accelerating rebuilding in wildfire-devastated Los Angeles,” was signed Friday, according to the White House.  It’s unclear what immediate impact the order will have and it will almost certainly be challenged in court.

RELATED: Infographic: How the land was cleared after the L.A. fires

In his new decree, Trump repeated his accusations that Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass are guilty of “catastrophic failures” in preparing for wildfires, fighting the massive blazes and managing the rebuilding process in L.A. County communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Newsom’s press office pushed back on the claim of failed leadership, noting that over 1,625 home permits had been issued, with hundreds of homes under construction and permitting processes occurring at least twice as fast as before the fires.

The governor’s team posted on social media Tuesday morning that an executive order “to rebuild on Mars” would be as useful as the president’s order. It called on Trump to release funding for rebuilding rather than taking over local permitting.

“Mr. President, please actually help us. We are begging you,” the post read. “Release the federal disaster aid you’re withholding that will help communities rebuild their homes, schools, parks, and infrastructure.”

Newsom for months has asked for approximately $34 billion in additional federal aid to build roads and water systems and help pay for other rebuilding efforts.

“Instead of finally sending to Congress the federal relief Los Angeles needs to rebuild from last year’s firestorms, Donald Trump continues to live in fantasy land,” Newsom wrote on social media.

The president, meanwhile, accused local and state leaders of ignoring forest management needs, managing water systems poorly and failing to smooth out the permitting process for rebuilding. A small percentage of destroyed homes and businesses have been rebuilt a year later, according to the order.

It’s unclear what impact Trump’s order will have, but many property owners have complained about the pace of permitting and rebuilding in the hardest hit wildfires zones.

The new decree is similar to a January 2025 order that leveled many of the same accusations and directed federal agencies to override state water rules, ease environmental waivers and speed water deliveries to fire agencies.

The order aims to “preempt State or local permitting processes” and move the procedures to the federal level.

In his order, Trump declares: “It is the policy of my Administration that federally funded reconstruction projects for homes and businesses in the wildfire-impacted neighborhoods of the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon areas proceed with the maximum speed consistent with public safety, and that Federal assistance not be frustrated by unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive permitting requirements that prevent families and businesses from rebuilding.”

The Eaton fire destroyed more than 6,000 homes and devastated the community of Altadena. The Palisades fire burned roughly 5,000 houses.

According to a Los Angeles County online dashboard, 2,994 rebuild applications have been received in the unincorporated areas of both fire areas as of Tuesday morning. So far, 1,619 building plans have been approved, 1,328 building permits have been issued and construction is underway on 648 lots. Only 13 of those construction projects are taking place in the Palisades fire area. Eight residential construction rebuilds have been completed to date, according to the county, all in the Eaton fire area.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement that she welcomes any effort to “responsibly accelerate rebuilding. Barger said the county already has a local self-certification process to expedite rebuilding along with streamlined approvals for modular, factory-built homes and pre-approved plans.

“The most urgent need in the Altadena region is financially driven. Families lack the capital to kick start or continue their rebuilding plans,” Barger said. “Our County will soon face a mass sheltering crisis as survivors’ insurance and emergency relief funds run out.”

Barger hoped that the federal government would collaborate with L.A. County to implement a mass housing and sheltering program as well as offer local disaster aid, such as Community Development Block Grant Disaster recovery funds, to accelerate recovery.

“All survivors deserve full support from all levels of government so they have a fair shot at rebuilding their lives,” Barger said.

Trump’s order promises to “preempt State or local permitting processes, and other similar pre-approval requirements, that each agency has found to have unduly impeded the timely use of Federal emergency-relief funds by homeowners, businesses, or houses of worship in rebuilding such structures following a disaster.”

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Newsom, called Trump “a clueless idiot who believes that the state and federal governments can issue local rebuilding permits.” She further blasted the president for only visiting the Palisades once after the fire while “completely ignoring Altadena.”

“While Trump is picking out gaudy gold décor and new flooring for his unnecessary remodel, this community is STILL waiting for him to grant disaster recovery funding,” she said in a statement, making an apparent reference to Trump’s conversion of the East Wing of the White House into a ballroom.

“He should keep L.A. out of his mouth unless he is planning to grant them the federal disaster funding they need,” Gallegos added.

Trump’s executive order says that because of his actions during the January wildfires, the federal government is already empowered to supervise water delivery to fight fires, but additional steps may be taken.

Within 90 days, a collection of Trump appointees and department heads are compelled to deliver legislative proposals “that enable FEMA and SBA to address situations in which States or local governments are not enabling timely recovery after disasters, including through appropriate regulation.”

Leaders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration will create their own rules, the order says, to preempt the state and local permitting processes. Builders will be able to “self-certify” via federal authorities, affirming that have complied with all health, safety and construction codes.

Trump also vowed to audit how $3 billion in state aid dollars have been distributed.

City News Service contributed to this report.