The Malibu Times follows the recovery and rebuild process of locals who lost their homes due to the Woolsey Fire in the “Rising from the Ashes” series. This week, we spoke to Michael and Linda Weisberg, who lost their home located on Yerba Buena Road in unincorporated Malibu, in the hills above the coastline. We met Linda, on her way back from exercising, at the base of the property and walked to find Michael while construction crew members hammered away.
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“Well, we looked out and we could see this mountain ridge, which is only maybe a half a mile away, on fire,” Michael said, describing their experience on Nov. 9, the day the Woolsey Fire arrived in Malibu. “And so we had no idea. We thought we were coming to the house once the fire was done. We never thought we were going to lose the house.”
The approximately 5,000-square-foot home—a three bed, two-and-a-half bath property with two garages—was finally completed in July 2018, just months before the fire. Between plans and permitting and the actual construction, the process took nearly three years. All that work went up in flames.
“You know, 10 minutes later, we got down to PCH and looked up and we could see the house engulfed in flames,” he described.
The couple also had a Ring video doorbell installed in their home and saw the destruction of their house in real time, an experience Michael called “troubling.”
“Once you get over the part of, you know, ‘it’s gone, you can’t change it’—you know—‘it is what it is’ kind of thing, then you stop focusing on things you can’t control … You just gotta focus on what you can change,” he said.
The couple was able to get onto the property a day later on Saturday, Nov. 10, to turn off the propane tank and see the damage. All that was left—similar to the Blakes in the last installment of Rising from the Ashes—was their patio.
Though numerous people had difficulties with the LA County Sheriff’s Department, Michael said they were able to get through fine in the midst of the initial chaos. “[In] hindsight, we probably wouldn’t have gotten in,” he admitted.
There was no question about whether they would rebuild, the couple said, so they immediately moved forward, starting with debris removal.
When asked about public versus private removal, Michael said, “Well, the biggest thing when we started looking at that was that if we did the public debris removal, we knew that they would remove the foundation.”
They were able to test the slab—which was still in good condition—and decided to opt out of public debris removal.
According to the couple, the amount of debris from their home filled 14 dumpsters, each measuring 40 cubic yards.
They were able to secure a building permit within three weeks, a process made easier by the fact that the Weisbergs deal with the Ventura County Building and Safety Division based on their property location across county line. Michael guessed the process may have also been streamlined by their up-to-date property documents.
As for the fire department regulations, especially in regard to water flow, the property is not on public utilities. Instead, it is connected to a water well that holds 10,000 gallons of water and runs on solar power.
While the Weisbergs faced relatively little challenge from officials in the rebuild process, the heavy rain did affect the area around their home.
“You thought you were done with the fire, but then … we’d have three- and four-feet-deep mud,” he explained, adding, “I’d be out there on a tractor for five to six hours after the rain, digging us out so we could get through again.”
Luckily, the construction had not fully begun at that time. The main rebuilding began on Feb. 11. In a little more than a month, the Ketter Construction crew was able to install the framing and is now working on running electrical and plumbing through the house.
“You never really can prepare for losing everything,” Michael described, but he spoke about the importance of his and his wife’s health. Currently, the two live in a trailer located just outside of the construction zone.
“And the rest, we’ll figure out, but thank goodness we didn’t try to stay here because it could’ve, you know, cost us our lives, trying to save the house, and it’s not worth it,” he reflected.
