LA’s Wildfire Recovery Shifts to Costly and Chaotic Rebuilding

Across the fire-ravaged neighborhoods around Los Angeles, the Army Corps of Engineers has deployed battalions of excavators to topple chimneys, uproot trees and scrape away the ashes of thousands of homes, preparing the ground for new construction. Signs for contractors offering their services dot burned-out lots.

For homeowners who lost their residences, the attention has turned to rebuilding—quickly and affordably.

In Altadena, where the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and nearly wiped out the community, a half-dozen neighbors met a contractor on Glenrose Avenue this month to discuss building new houses from the rubble. A separate group of ...