[yesfitz]

"The LADWP tells Eyewitness News they will cover the cost of installing a new fire hydrant at the price tag of $35,000."[1]

The median sale price in the Pacific Palisades is ~$2 Million.[2]

The homeowners said "Our insurance certainly wouldn't have covered [a new hydrant]." And according to them, the LAFD said "please contact LADWP to get a cost estimate for what you'll have to pay to build and install this new hydrant." Emphasis mine.

Even if the homeowners had to bear the entire cost, assuming they had a median home, a new hydrant would be 1.75% of the value of the house, equivalent to a $7,175 expense for a home valued at the US median price of $410,000.

I feel for these people. No matter who you are, losing your home is a terrible experience. But it's ridiculous to choose to rebuild in a clearly fire-prone area, and then complain that the city needs to you install fire protection as part of the building.

This should have been a matter between the homeowners and their insurance company.

1: https://abc7.com/post/palisades-fire-victims-told-had-pay-ne... 2: https://www.zillow.com/home-values/19810/pacific-palisades-l...

[estimator7292]

It shouldn't be an out of pocket cost unless the fire department isn't publicly funded.

This is what taxes are for. You pay your locality tax, you get service from the fire department. If some plot of land within city limits doesn't have infrastructure for firefighting, that's the city's problem. If a plot of land can't be serviced by firefighters, it shouldn't be zoned and permitted for residential construction.

[seanmcdirmid]

Fire departments are funded via property taxes, and prop 13 messes up what per house pays. They probably have no choice but to charge home owners for improvements that would typically come from property taxes due to dumb decisions made by Reaganites 50 years ago, but at least they have cheap property taxes