Driving Through Altadena After the Fire

We check on our cleared lot from time to time. My daughter had seen a few blocks from the area but not this part of Altadena.

Before dropping her off at school, I wanted breakfast at Fair Oaks Burger, so we took a drive to see our lot. She was up for it, always is. She is eight. She knew we had a lot in the area and was curious to see it. She knows something happened but she does not fully understand what it all means.

We turned onto streets that used to be lined with houses. Now they are lined with lots. Empty lots. Some still have the frame of a home standing. Some have nothing at all. And in other spots, new construction is going up, studs and plywood going vertical for the first time in months.

She asked questions. I answered what I could.

We arrived at the lot. She knew this, not the details, just that Dad goes to see houses sometimes. She asked if the house was ours. I said no. A family lost their home here and we are helping them rebuild. She seemed to understand that much.

What she saw was a cleared lot. The Army Corps had already been through and removed the debris. What was left was raw land, sloped with natural drainage patterns, and in this case a good amount of slope that will require thoughtful engineering.

This is the starting point. Every project begins here with what is on the ground now and what the land is trying to do with stormwater. Some lots have shifted. Some drainage patterns have changed entirely.

Our job is to understand what is there and design a system that works with the land, not against it.

For this project, we are developing drainage plans and a hydrology report. The drainage plans will address how stormwater moves across the lot and where it needs to go. The hydrology report will calculate the flows based on the existing conditions and the proposed development.

This is the drainage plan we are working from. You can see the flowlines, lineweights, elevations, and slope arrows that make up the full picture of how stormwater moves across the site. This is what we start with, a technical document that tells the story of the land in a language that contractors and county officials can understand.

My daughter looked at the plan with me. She pointed at the slope arrows and asked what they meant. I told her those show which way the land slopes and where stormwater will naturally want to drain. She asked if that was important to know. I told her it is the most important thing. Without understanding how stormwater moves across the land, we cannot design anything that will work properly.

My jaw was still dropped at the destruction the fire caused.

She asked if we could go back when the house is being built.

Yes. I told her we would. As I am always up for Fair Oaks Burger breakfast burritos.

As we continue to check up on our lot in Altadena, I will continue to randomly drive through the neighborhood. I will keep posting updates as we move through the design phase and into construction.

If you have a property in Altadena, Pacific Palisades, or Malibu and need civil engineering for a fire rebuild, reach out. We are currently accepting new projects.