I'm Kate Kegel, host of Rebuilding L.A., a new podcast from LA Times Studios.

Through conversations with journalists at the Los Angeles Times, experts, residents, and leaders,

we will try to answer some of these questions as we assess the path forward.

Rebuilding L.A. launches June 11th.

Find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Life changed on January 7th for all of us.

I know that there are a lot of people who feel like Altadina was just left to burn.

Part of the trauma and part of the PTSD is this really deep-seated loss of a sense of safety

and trust in institutions that you thought you could trust to keep your family safe.

But I think for some folks, that sense of safety is never going to return.

My name is Kelsey Zemet. I was born and raised in Altadena. This is my childhood home. A beautiful,

smoke-filled, toxic standing structure in the burn zone. My parents bought it in 1980,

and I've lived here with my husband and two daughters since 2018.

It's a really beautiful, quiet neighborhood with birds chirping.

Our dear neighbor next door calls it Changrela.

And that's what it feels like you're in the foothills.

You can walk up our street and go on hikes.

A woman across the street who lost her house was with her for 50 years, and she's a retired

public school art teacher. Families who love this neighborhood never had any intention of leaving,

never had any intention of selling their homes,

really plan to live out the rest of their lives on this street.

On the morning of the 8th, we learned after the fact that we were lucky enough to have fire engines show up

...