Palisades Fire victims faced $35K bill for new fire hydrant

Two Pacific Palisades residents trying to rebuild their longtime home destroyed in last year’s historic wildfires were told they must foot the massive bill for a new $35,000 fire hydrant before breaking ground.

The home belonging to Chris and Jeff Spitz for 34 years was gutted in the blaze last January, and the pair have been trying to put their life back together ever since.

But in an infuriating roadblock on their path back to normalcy, they were told their lot is too far from the nearest hydrant, meaning they’d have to put up the funds before building can commence.

“Fire department came back and said, ‘Well, before we approve this permit, we need a new hydrant to be put in because you guys are more than twice the legal limit from the closest fire hydrant,” Jeff Spitz told ABC 7.

“And ‘please contact [Los Angeles Department of Water and Power] to get a cost estimate for what you’ll have to pay to build and install this new hydrant.’”

Chris Spitz said he was “nauseated” over the response, and that the couple’s insurance wouldn’t cover the exorbitant cost.

“We didn’t just tear this down willy-nilly and say we want to build a brand-new house. This is just trying to come back,” he told the outlet.

The Spitzs entire neighborhood was burned in the Palisades Fire, including those closest to the nearest fire hydrant to the couple’s home, roughly 1,000 feet away.

After the reconstruction progress ground to a halt for nearly three months, the Spitzs were told by LA Councilwoman Traci Park — who represents Pacific Palisades — that LADWP would cover the cost after all.

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“My level of outrage is through the roof. I really can’t imagine something much more insulting to someone who has lost their home … that they need to pay to put in a new fire hydrant,” Park told the outlet.

During the fire, the utility said, demand for water in Pacific Palisades spiked to four times the normal usage, which resulted in some of the water pressure issues that plagued fire departments during the blaze.

“They’re aware fires happen here all the time. In all that time, nobody did anything about the fire hydrants,” Chris Spitz said.

LADWP told the outlet that the Los Angeles Fire Department determines where hydrants are placed, and that a planned water mainline upgrade in their neighborhood will improve its flow rate.

DWP said it “doesn’t anticipate that additional fire hydrants will be needed,” but who’s on the hook for paying for them is “determined on a case-by-case basis.”