WASHINGTON \u2013 Help is on the way!<\/p>\n
President Trump is sidestepping thumb-twiddling California Democrats with an executive order aimed at fast-tracking the rebuilding of Los Angeles a year after devastating wildfires<\/a> torched entire city blocks and left thousands homeless.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to see if we can take over the city and state and just give the people their permits they want to build,\u201d Trump told The California Post Friday in an exclusive Oval Office interview where he signed the seven-page order.<\/p>\n Palisades fire Victims Nina Made and her son Andrew stand on the family plot in the Pacific Palisades. Toby Canham for The California Post<\/p>\n Trump pointed the finger at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for the painfully slow rebuilding of homes ravaged by the January 2025 Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires, two of the most destructive blazes in LA history.<\/p>\n Wildfires destroyed an estimated 16,000 structures, but Los Angeles city and county officials have only issued 2,600 permits so far to rebuild. In all, less than 15% of all homes destroyed by the fires have received necessary approvals to move forward, according to the Trump administration<\/a>. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s order is designed to \u201cpreempt\u201d the building permit process \u2013 and empower the federal government to maneuver around the needless obstacles imposed by Democratic leaders.<\/p>\n The order calls out the \u201cnightmare\u201d of delays and \u201cbureaucratic malaise\u201d at the California state and local level \u2014 and it will almost certainly be challenged by Democrats in power in the Golden State, despite displaced residents literally crying out to be made whole again.<\/p>\n Jessica Rogers, a Pacific Palisades resident who lost everything in the wildfires, burst into tears of joy when she learned the federal government was stepping in to pick up the slack.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re so desperate. We really need the help. We cannot do this on our own. Our state\u2019s not capable, our city\u2019s not capable, this is not something that requires a village, it requires the nation. We need our federal government to come in,\u201d she told The Post.<\/p>\n Rogers not only lost her home, she also lost her income, and even found out her insurance company had illegally dropped her after the deadly blaze.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city of Los Angeles is completely broke, incapable of managing their own city, and they cannot possibly be tasked with this disaster on their own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The federal government and the Newsom administration are already embroiled in a spate of legal battles, including over sanctuary state policies<\/a> and restarting oil pipelines.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump, the former real estate developer, said he was compelled to step in after touring the fire damage a year ago with first lady Melania Trump and seeing the devastation firsthand. He said he was shocked to see that even a year later, \u201cthere\u2019s nobody building.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after taking office for his second term, Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up all hazardous materials in the wake of the deadly California wildfires within 30 days. The largest ever EPA wildfire cleanup in history was done in 28 days and gave way to a Phase 2 debris removal.<\/p>\n President Trump signs an executive order to help Californians rebuild after the wildfires Tamara Beckwith \/ NY Post<\/p>\n Impressed by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin\u2019s response, Trump now wants him in charge of executing his latest order to bypass the local permitting red tape.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLee is so competent,\u201d Trump told The Post. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine anybody could have done it better than him.\u201d<\/p>\n The president wasn\u2019t alone in being impressed by the feds\u2019 ability to get the work done in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n \u201cI really think that the federal government has shown their ability to expedite everything. They were the people who actually came in and pressured the county after they said it was going to take six months to a year to just do the cleanup, the debris removal. They moved that to six weeks,\u201d displaced Pacific Palisades resident Nina Madok told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to, again, do what the EPA did. Throw bodies at it. Get more people involved. They have the people to do it,\u201d she said of the city\u2019s limited number of people who can do site inspections or plan checks. <\/p>\n \u201cHaving the federal government, especially with somebody like Donald Trump who is Mr. Let\u2019s-Get-it-Done \u2014 who moves at the speed of light \u2014 makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump signed the executive order in front of The Post, seated at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. When he finished adding his name, he held it up and noted, \u201cno auto pen\u201d in a jab at President Biden\u2019s notable use of the mechanical signature.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n President Trump said expressed shock at how little has been rebuilt in California after the fires Tamara Beckwith \/ NY Post<\/p>\n Under the order, the heads of FEMA and the SBA will issue regulations to preempt state and local permitting requirements and allow builders to self-certify to a federal agency that they have complied with health, safety and building standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n Any federal requirements should be expedited, the order states. The rule applies to those who received federal funds to rebuild.<\/p>\n FEMA, additionally, will examine what remains unspent in the nearly $3 billion Hazard Mitigation Grant Program fund given to the state to help recovery efforts.<\/p>\n California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. The agency will also audit California\u2019s use of the funds to see if they were awarded arbitrarily or contrary to law.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need capital. We need resources. We need a real plan to get people back home and rebuild the infrastructure,\u201d said Mike Furnari, who along with his wife, Jenna, and the couple\u2019s three children lost their Pacific Palisades dream home in the fire.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy haven\u2019t we learned from past fire rebuilds? The capital is here. The infrastructure is here. Look at where we are, this is one of the most incredible places in the world. Highest value per square-foot, highest land value per square-foot in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom day one, the goal has been to get our family back home.\u201d<\/p>\n The devastating Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed nearly 40,000 acres of homes and businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fewer than a dozen homes have been rebuilt<\/a> in Los Angeles County since Jan. 7, 2025, when the fires erupted, killing 31 people officially \u2014 though the wildfires contributed to 440 deaths, according to a public health study published last year.<\/a> <\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n