Monday, April 27, 2026

Altadena Forum Puts Three County Agencies in One Room Before This Year’s Fire Season Opens

[photo credit: LA County]

A free Zoom meeting Tuesday gives residents a direct line to county officials on brush clearance, crime, and rebuilding — with inspections starting in three days

Fire season’s paperwork deadline is 72 hours away, and Tuesday night, the county agencies that hold the answers are all scheduled to show up at once.

The Altadena Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (ACONA) has organized a 90-minute public Zoom forum for Tuesday, April 28, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., bringing representatives from LA County Fire, the LA County Sheriff’s Department, and LA County Regional Planning and Public Works before an open community audience. The meeting arrives three days before the county’s annual defensible space inspection season opens for inland communities on May 1, and just weeks before the May 31 deadline to apply for the Measure E parcel tax’s low-income senior exemption.

According to ACONA’s agenda, LA County Fire’s presentation will cover three subjects that have generated steady questions in Altadena since January 2025: the specifics of brush clearance compliance, an update on Zone Zero — a pending state rule that would restrict combustible material within five feet of residential structures — and the newly enacted Measure E parcel tax. Measure E, passed by Los Angeles County voters in November 2024, levies a tax of six cents per square foot of structural improvements to fund the county’s fire department, according to the LA County Fire Department. Properties destroyed or damaged in the Eaton Fire at more than 25 percent have been exempted from the 2026 defensible space inspection fee program, according to the county. Separately, low-income seniors who own and occupy their homes may apply for a Measure E exemption; the deadline is May 31, 2026.

The Sheriff’s portion of the agenda focuses on Flock Safety cameras, which the LA County Sheriff’s Department deployed across Altadena beginning in spring 2025 after residential burglaries in the community climbed approximately 450 percent in the first months following the Eaton Fire, according to department data. The AI-enabled cameras capture license plate numbers, vehicle make and model, and send real-time alerts to deputies. Capt. Ethan Marquez of the Altadena Sheriff’s Station, who is listed as a presenter, said when the cameras were deployed that they are “one of the most effective tools we have to reduce property crimes and support successful prosecutions,” according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department. Marquez is expected to address the current status of the program and broader crime suppression efforts Tuesday.

Regional Planning and Public Works will round out the evening with an update on infrastructure improvements, the rebuilding permitting process, and changes to the Altadena Community Standards District. The two departments presented a dual-track infrastructure plan to the Altadena Town Council just last week — on April 21 — outlining a faster-moving Conceptual Infrastructure Recovery Plan expected to be finished this summer, alongside a longer-range Capital Improvement Plan that won’t be finalized until the first half of 2029, according to Pasadena Now. More than 2,600 residential permits had been issued across Altadena and Pacific Palisades combined as of January, with another 3,340 under review, according to CalMatters.

ACONA, a volunteer umbrella group founded in 2010 to connect Altadena’s neighborhood associations and Neighborhood Watch organizations, has been meeting more frequently since the fire, according to prior coverage. The group’s format Tuesday will allow residents to submit questions directly in the Zoom chat after each presentation, which will then be consolidated and posed at the end of the session by the order in which presenters appeared.

If You Go: The ACONA public forum takes place Tuesday, April 28, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom. The meeting is free and open to all Altadena residents. Join at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86093728345. The pre-submission question deadline has passed, but live questions will be accepted through the Zoom chat. The next ACONA meeting is scheduled for June 23, 2026. More information is available at aconaonline.org.

Zone Zero, formally established by Assembly Bill 3074 in 2020, has been working through the State Board of Forestry’s rulemaking process; as of the LA County Fire Department’s February 2026 notice, final implementation requirements had not yet been determined. The state board anticipated completing that determination in 2026.