Long-Awaited Reports Outline Problems with Palisades Infrastructure

Why It Matters

By fixing critical safety gaps that amplified the 2025 tragedy, the $1 billion plan will set a new benchmark for wildfire‑resilient infrastructure and influence standards across fire‑prone regions.

Key Takeaways

• $1 billion infrastructure plan targets fire resilience by 2033.
• $650 million allocated for undergrounding power lines.
• $150 million earmarked for water‑system upgrades.
• Most Palisades streets fail fire‑code evacuation standards.
• Residents face evacuation warning fatigue and bottleneck risks.

Pulse Analysis

The Pacific Palisades fire of January 2025 exposed how densely built hillside communities can become tinderboxes when infrastructure falls short of modern fire‑code standards. Narrow streets, dead‑end cul‑de‑sacs, and aging water mains hampered emergency response and left residents vulnerable to evacuation warning fatigue. In the wake of that disaster, Los Angeles commissioned AECOM to produce a triad of reports that diagnose these deficiencies and prescribe a comprehensive, multi‑year recovery roadmap.

The AECOM findings translate into a $1 billion investment plan extending to 2033, with $650 million earmarked for undergrounding electrical distribution and $150 million for water‑system repairs and upgrades. Key engineering measures include larger pipelines, pressure‑monitoring sensors, remote‑controlled valves, and expanded water‑storage capacity to prevent dry hydrants during future blazes. Brush‑clearance initiatives, defensible‑space creation, and native‑vegetation restoration are also slated, addressing both immediate fire‑line access and long‑term ecological resilience. By consolidating these projects under the city’s Long‑Term Recovery Plan, officials aim to eliminate evacuation bottlenecks and bring street widths into compliance with fire‑code requirements.

Beyond the Palisades, the plan serves as a template for municipalities grappling with climate‑driven wildfire threats. The public‑private partnership model—leveraging AECOM’s technical expertise and Hagerty Consulting’s logistics support—demonstrates how cities can marshal substantial capital while maintaining community‑led oversight. As other coastal and mountainous regions confront similar risk profiles, the Palisades blueprint may accelerate adoption of underground utilities, robust water infrastructure, and proactive vegetation management, reshaping the national conversation on urban fire resilience.

Long-awaited reports outline problems with Palisades infrastructure

By Noah Haggerty, Noah Goldberg, and Ian James · Feb. 19, 2026 10:46 AM PT

Construction workers build homes off Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades on Dec. 17. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

• The reports will inform the city’s “Long‑Term Recovery Plan” for rebuilding infrastructure and improving wildfire resilience after the Palisades fire.

• They were commissioned by the city from the global infrastructure firm AECOM at a cost of $5 million.

• Some Palisades residents have questioned whether the reports would contain an honest assessment of the situation.

A long‑awaited set of reports on how to build a fire‑resilient Pacific Palisades, commissioned by Los Angeles city officials for $5 million, found that much of the hilly enclave remains out of compliance with standards for evacuating during a disaster.

The reports, prepared by the city and AECOM, also recommended that the city complete significant brush‑clearance work, bolster its water system and move electrical wires underground. All of the recommendations are frequent asks from Palisades residents and have already been discussed at length by independent experts. They will inform the city’s “Long‑Term Recovery Plan” for rebuilding infrastructure and improving wildfire resilience after the Palisades fire killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in January 2025.

The reports outlined nearly a billion dollars in infrastructure projects through 2033, including more than $650 million for electrical undergrounding and $150 million for water‑system repairs.

“Full recovery is a long‑term, multi‑year effort that requires sustained coordination — and it must continue to be community‑led,” Mayor Karen Bass wrote in a Tuesday newsletter to Palisades residents that included links to the reports. “This past year has been unimaginable for the Palisades community, but I remain committed to supporting you through every step of the recovery.”

She noted that the Long‑Term Recovery Plan would be finalized “in the months ahead.”

A month after the fire, Bass selected Illinois‑based Hagerty Consulting to work on fire recovery under a year‑long contract for up to $10 million.

In June, Bass announced that AECOM would develop a recovery plan for the city. Hagerty, which had struggled to explain its role at community meetings, ultimately focused on debris‑removal logistics and finished its work in December, billing the city $3.5 million.

The three AECOM reports consist of recommendations for improving the Palisades’ fire resiliency, a plan for rebuilding public infrastructure destroyed in the fire, and guidance on coordinating traffic and other logistics as the area becomes a construction zone.

Key findings from the resiliency report:

• “Almost all” local streets within the Palisades are narrower than permitted by the city fire code, especially in the Alphabet Streets, Rustic Canyon and Castellammare areas.

• A “majority” of long dead‑end streets do not meet fire‑code sections that ensure fire engines have enough space to turn around.

• Residents experience “evacuation warning fatigue” from routine false alarms, making them hesitant to evacuate.

• Many intersections could serve as bottlenecks during evacuations, leading to significant delays.

A lawsuit filed in December alleged that the city has routinely failed to comply with similar state regulations when it approved new construction in the city’s “very high fire hazard” areas.

“These codes directly impact the ability to fight fires and for civilians to safely evacuate,” said Jaime Hall, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, who are a group of resident associations in the Santa Monica Mountains and a fire‑safety advocacy organization. “They’re not just regulations on a piece of paper.”

The report also noted that requirements to clear vegetation around homes, including the state’s upcoming Zone Zero regulations, are not enough to meaningfully reduce wildfire risk in the Palisades, given its steep topography and dense vegetation. The city should work with land managers—including the state and county—on measures such as cutting gaps in vegetation for firefighter access, maintaining defensible space around community infrastructure, and restoring native vegetation.

Public‑infrastructure findings

• $150 million is earmarked for “wet” infrastructure repairs, including replacing aging and leaky water‑main pipelines.

• The resiliency report outlined further improvements to provide more water for firefighting, such as building larger pipelines and additional tanks, improving connections between local water systems, and tapping stormwater, treated wastewater, or even seawater from the Pacific.

During the Palisades fire, hillside tanks ran out of water and many fire hydrants—particularly in higher‑elevation areas—lost pressure and ran dry. The report recommends installing pressure‑monitoring systems that could “ensure water availability and prevent dry hydrants by streaming live data to fire crews,” as well as remote‑controlled valves to maintain water pressure during a fire.

Water‑system upgrades

The city’s Department of Water and Power is already considering options for improving the Santa Ynez Reservoir, which was empty and awaiting repairs of its floating cover when the Palisades fire erupted. The city has also committed to placing power lines underground in the Palisades where feasible.

The infrastructure report laid out six undergrounding projects that would cost the city $664 million, after nearly 57 % of all electric service points—from power‑distribution poles to transmission lines—were completely destroyed in the fire.