PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As if losing your home of 34 years wasn't bad enough, the rebuilding process for Pacific Palisades residents Chris and Jeff Spitz has been anything but smooth.
"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. And please contact LADWP to get a cost estimate for what you'll have to pay to build and install this new hydrant,'" Jeff Spitz recalled.
Imagine losing your home of decades in a fire and then being asked to cough up $35,000 to pay for a fire hydrant before rebuilding. ABC7 reporter Josh Haskell breaks down the victim's story.
"It was so shocking that I was nauseated by it because our insurance certainly wouldn't have covered that," said Chris Spitz.
The Spitzs felt they were being punished for wanting to rebuild. Adding to the confusion, this hydrant issue didn't come up for their neighbors who built new homes within the last ten years before the fire.
"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," said Chris.
The closest fire hydrant to the Spitz's home is roughly 1,000 feet away. All of the homes in the neighborhood, especially the homes closer to the fire hydrant, burned in the Palisades Fire.
There are currently two fire hydrants near the Spitz's home. One at Lombard Avenue and Via de Las Olas and one at Lombard Avenue and Friends Street.
"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," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park.
Park represents Pacific Palisades and arranged a meeting with the Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power last month to resolve this issue.
After being stalled in the rebuilding process for 11 weeks, the Spitzs were told by their councilwoman the issue had been resolved.
The LADWP tells Eyewitness News they will cover the cost of installing a new fire hydrant at the price tag of $35,000. During the Palisades Fire, LADWP says demand for water in the Palisades reached four times normal use, resulting in water pressure issues that prevented water from coming out of some hydrants.
"They're aware fires happen here all the time. In all that time, nobody did anything about the fire hydrants," said Chris Spitz.
The LADWP told Eyewitness News "placement of hydrants is determined by the LAFD" and that a future water mainline upgrade in the Spitz's neighborhood "will increase the hydrant's flow-rate." Based on discussions with the LAFD, DWP doesn't "anticipate that additional fire hydrants will be needed" in the Palisades, but if they are, who pays for "it will be determined on a case-by-case basis."
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