A house fire in western Jefferson County started a small wildfire Thursday morning, causing pre-evacuation warnings for people living in Golden Gate Canyon after flames spread to nearby trees and grass.
The Geneva fire burned less than an acre after it was first reported in the 10600 block of Ralston Creek Road at 11:35 a.m., according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Jefferson and Gilpin county officials sent out pre-evacuation warnings for a 3-mile radius around the fire and for homes in Golden Gate Estates, Braecher Ranchettes and the surrounding area.
The fire also briefly caused evacuations for the southern part of Golden Gate Canyon State Park and visitor center, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose said in an email to The Denver Post.
Fire crews stopped forward progress on the fire by 12:34 p.m., and county officials lifted pre-evacuations for the surrounding area just after 1 p.m.
The Geneva fire was fully contained as of Thursday afternoon, according to the wildfire dispatch program WildCAD.
The trash truck dropped “a hot load” at an unspecified location south of Franktown, which sparked the 1,081-acre Dahlberg fire, according to an update from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The update did not specify why the truck dropped the load.
Dry vegetation and up to 20 mph winds allowed the flames to spread quickly, county officials said. The fire was first reported near Dahlberg and Lake Gulch roads at 12:39 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 8 miles south of Franktown and 8 miles east of Larkspur.
More than a dozen homes and the nearby Cherry Valley Elementary School were evacuated, but no property damage was reported and residents were able to safely return home, sheriff’s officials said.
The fire was fully contained Tuesday evening, sheriff’s officials said in a 4:54 p.m. post on social media. Crews remained on scene overnight to mop up hotspots and ensure high winds didn’t rekindle the flames.
A second day of powerful, gusty winds hit the Front Range and Eastern Plains on Wednesday, fueling at least two wildfires in metro Denver and northeastern Colorado and snarling travel at Denver International Airport.
More than 100 firefighters from across the metro area responded to a grass fire that sparked at 11:30 a.m. near Pinnacle Charter High School, 8412 Huron St. in Thornton.
The fire burned across 10 acres of dry, grassy fields and charred vehicles as it produced billows of black smoke visible across the Denver area. Smoke reduced visibility on Interstate 25 to the point that state transportation officials closed the highway in both directions for more than an hour.
Four firefighters and one other person were injured by the fire, Thornton Fire Chief Stephen Kelley said at a briefing at City Hall. Their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, but no further information on the nature or severity of the injuries was available, Kelley said.
Police officers went door to door Wednesday afternoon to evacuate people after the fire started, and city officials sent out evacuation notices through the statewide Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, Kelley said. Pinnacle Charter High School and several nearby businesses also were evacuated.
Thornton is in the process of switching to a different city emergency alert system and does not have one in place currently, Kelley said.
City leaders could not say how many homes were evacuated and did not provide a map of affected neighborhoods, although officials confirmed most evacuations occurred northeast of the fire.
Flames burned for more than two hours before fire crews gained full containment at 2:07 p.m. Thornton officials lifted evacuations at 3:30 p.m. Kelley said firefighters were to remain in the area overnight to put out hot spots and prevent the fire from rekindling. Continued road closures were likely because of firefighting activity, he said.
No homes were destroyed by the fire, which started on a greenbelt between a residential neighborhood and businesses, Kelley said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and crews are evaluating fire damage to businesses. Although none of the businesses’ buildings appear to be damaged, rows of cars in nearby lots were burned.
“It is our intent to get ahead of these fires so we don’t have the spread … experienced during the Marshall fire,” Kelley said. “I think we’re very fortunate today that we did not have an outcome similar.”
A firefighter rakes smoldering wood chips in an outdoor exercise area where the Huron Fire burned on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, near West 84th Avenue and Huron Street in Thornton, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
High winds fueled the fire’s “rapid spread” as most of the Front Range and Eastern Plains remained under a red flag warning, Kelley said.
“These are conditions that we continue to face on a daily basis here on the Front Range,” he said.
Grass fire that sparked near Pinnacle Charter High School, 8412 Huron Street in Thornton, on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The fire prompted evacuations at the high school and nearby businesses and closed lanes of Interstate 25. (Courtesy of Thornton Fire Department via X.com)
More than 3,000 Xcel Energy customers lost power because of the fire on Wednesday afternoon, but most outages were resolved by the evening, according to the utility’s outage map.
A grass fire burning near 84th Avenue and Huron Street in Thornton forced evacuations of Pinnacle Charter High School and nearby businesses on Feb. 25, 2026. (Courtesy of the Thornton Police Department)
A second wildfire charred at least an estimated 3,500 acres of grassland in Logan County on Wednesday afternoon, threatening the small town of Padroni and forcing the population of about two dozen residents to evacuate.
The fire was started by a crash on Colorado 113 near Logan County Road 66 at 1:20 p.m. and spread quickly as wind gusts reached 50 mph, emergency officials said.
Logan County officials ordered evacuations between County Road 66 south to Colorado 138 and Colorado 113 east to County Road 65, including Padroni, Peetz, Iliff and the Caliche School.
Fire crews gained 80% containment as of 4:26 p.m., allowing county officials to lift evacuation orders, emergency management officials said on Facebook.
State and local agencies responded to fight the fire, including two air tankers and several farmers with tractors. No damage to structures or injuries to people or livestock was reported, Logan County officials said.
Wind-related problems extended to the skies Wednesday, when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground delay at Denver International Airport because of the weather, delaying nearly 900 flights as gusts peaked at 55 mph.
United Airlines reported 316 delays and four cancellations as of Wednesday night. Southwest had 254 delays, and SkyWest had 218 delays and one canceled flight, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
High winds may continue to plague Colorado through Friday, although forecasters are not confident about what the next few days will bring, National Weather Service officials said Wednesday night.
Uncertain wind conditions and borderline low humidity levels are enough for forecasters to continue a fire weather watch for communities along the I-25 corridor and the Eastern Plains, forecasters wrote.
A watch means conditions are “favorable for rapid fire spread,” and people should avoid outdoor burning or any activity that produces a spark, according to the agency.
Residents in a small town on Colorado’s Eastern Plains were ordered to evacuate Wednesday afternoon after a grass fire sparked from a vehicle crash nearby, fueled by strong winds and dry vegetation, according to fire officials.
The fire burned between 3,500 to 4,000 acres and drew responses from departments in eastern Colorado and Nebraska.
The fire ignited at roughly 1:20 p.m. near the intersection of Colorado 113 and Logan County Road 66, according to a news release from the Logan County Office of Emergency Management. Winds at that time were between 25 and 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph, driving the fire through rough, dry terrain.
The fire was 80% contained as of 4:26 p.m., the release stated.
The first orders were issued just before 2 p.m. Wednesday for the town of Padroni, home to roughly two dozen people in northeast Colorado, according to the Sterling Fire Department. The town is about 11 miles north of Sterling.
By 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, the evacuation zone had expanded to include parts of Peetz and Iliff, according to the Logan Office of Emergency Management. The zone included residents along Colorado 113 between County Road 62 and County Road 67.5, and in the area south to U.S. 138, according to the office.
Colorado 113 in Logan County reopened between County Road 56 north of Padroni and County Road 74 in Peetz as of 3:59 p.m., according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The closure, from milemarker 9 to 16, was caused by fire activity, according to the agency.
A wildfire scorched more than 1,000 acres of dry, grassy terrain south of Franktown on Tuesday, forcing evacuations as gusty winds pushed flames toward nearby homes.
The Dahlberg fire was first reported near Dahlberg and Lake Gulch roads at 12:39 p.m., Douglas County sheriff’s officials said. The area is roughly 8 miles south of Franktown and 8 miles east of Larkspur.
Tinder-dry fuels, drought and winds up to 20 mph allowed the fire to grow quickly, county Emergency Management Director Mike Alexander said at a briefing.
Douglas County sheriff’s deputies began evacuating nearby homes immediately, Patrol Division Chief Joel White said. Deputies contacted 20 homes threatened by the fire, and 17 of those evacuated, he said.
The nearby Cherry Valley Elementary School was ordered to hold students in place and released them from school early so parents and guardians could pick up their children, White said. The school was fully evacuated as of 4 p.m.
Firefighters from across metro Denver, including an air tanker from Colorado Springs and a helicopter from Broomfield, responded to the scene and gained full containment on the 1,081-acre fire just before 5 p.m., sheriff’s officials said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and no building or property damage was reported.
Dahlberg Road remained closed on Tuesday night for firefighting operations.
High winds also impacted operations at Denver International Airport on Tuesday, with the Federal Aviation Administration ordering a ground stop and airlines delaying 385 flights and canceling 25 flights as of 6 p.m.
Gusty winds are expected to return to the region on Wednesday, and most of the Front Range and Eastern Plains will be under a red flag warning for critical fire weather conditions from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Sustained winds up to 35 mph and gusts up to 50 mph are possible, forecasters said, and people should avoid outdoor burning and any activity that may produce a spark.
California was walloped Monday by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas.
Millions of Los Angeles County residents faced flash flood warnings as rain pounded the region and people in some areas scarred by last year’s devastating wildfires were under an evacuation warning through Tuesday because of the potential for mud and debris flows.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered emergency crews and city departments to be ready to respond to any problems.
The storm wreaked havoc on roadways spanning from Sonoma County to the Sierra Nevada. Traffic was halted temporarily in both directions on I-80 near the Nevada state line due to spinouts and crashes, the California Department of Transportation reported. In Santa Barbara County, a large tree toppled onto US-101, shutting down southbound lanes.
Forecasters said the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, northern Shasta County — including portions of Interstate 5 — and parts of the state’s Coast Range could see up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday. The heavy snow, wind and low visibility could also make travel conditions dangerous to near impossible, forecasters added.
“It has seemed ‘springlike’ for a large part of 2026, but winter is set to show it’s not quite done yet,” the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post urging residents to stay aware of the storm.
California’s Office of Emergency Services said it was placing fire and rescue personnel and resources in areas most at risk for flooding, mud and debris flows.
In Southern California, Six Flags Magic Mountain was closed Monday due to the storm, and Knotts Berry Farm amusement park shut its doors early. But the winter weather was celebrated by local ski resorts that have waited weeks for snow.
Other states on Monday braced for different threatening weather events. Residents in parts of eastern Colorado received warnings that they could be in fire danger due to a combination of abnormally high temperatures, gusty winds and dry conditions. The risks were expected to continue further into the week as gusts up to 60 mph (96 kph) are likely to hit the Colorado eastern plains on Tuesday. Parts of Texas, New Mexico and Kansas were also under red flag warnings.
The latest storm comes amid a snow drought across much of the American West, with snow cover and depth measuring at the lowest levels scientists have seen in decades. Most states saw half their average precipitation or less in January, though California fared better others due to heavy rains in December.
It was the first of several days of stormy weather forecast for California. A coastal flood advisory was in effect for San Francisco until Tuesday afternoon, with cooler showers and a chance of hail on Tuesday, while nearby mountains were expecting snow, the National Weather Service in Monterey reported.
Kashawna McInerny, a Realtor in the mountain community of Wrightwood, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, on Monday said she was still dealing with several tons of rock and debris on her property from Christmas and New Year’s storms that pummeled the community. After the last one, she said she got help trenching part of her side yard to direct stormwater down the street and placed a barrier of metal and wood by a door in hopes of keeping out mud and debris.
“We’re not panicking yet. At least I’m not,” she said with a laugh.
___
Associated Press writers Amy Taxin from Santa Ana, California, and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
California was walloped Monday by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas.
Millions of Los Angeles County residents faced flash flood warnings as rain pounded the region and people in some areas scarred by last year’s devastating wildfires were under an evacuation warning through Tuesday because of the potential for mud and debris flows.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered emergency crews and city departments to be ready to respond to any problems.
The storm wreaked havoc on roadways spanning from Sonoma County to the Sierra Nevada. Traffic was halted temporarily in both directions on I-80 near the Nevada state line due to spinouts and crashes, the California Department of Transportation reported. In Santa Barbara County, a large tree toppled onto US-101, shutting down southbound lanes.
Forecasters said the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, northern Shasta County — including portions of Interstate 5 — and parts of the state’s Coast Range could see up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday. The heavy snow, wind and low visibility could also make travel conditions dangerous to near impossible, forecasters added.
“It has seemed ‘springlike’ for a large part of 2026, but winter is set to show it’s not quite done yet,” the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post urging residents to stay aware of the storm.
California’s Office of Emergency Services said it was placing fire and rescue personnel and resources in areas most at risk for flooding, mud and debris flows.
In Southern California, Six Flags Magic Mountain was closed Monday due to the storm, and Knotts Berry Farm amusement park shut its doors early. But the winter weather was celebrated by local ski resorts that have waited weeks for snow.
Other states on Monday braced for different threatening weather events. Residents in parts of eastern Colorado received warnings that they could be in fire danger due to a combination of abnormally high temperatures, gusty winds and dry conditions. The risks were expected to continue further into the week as gusts up to 60 mph (96 kph) are likely to hit the Colorado eastern plains on Tuesday. Parts of Texas, New Mexico and Kansas were also under red flag warnings.
The latest storm comes amid a snow drought across much of the American West, with snow cover and depth measuring at the lowest levels scientists have seen in decades. Most states saw half their average precipitation or less in January, though California fared better others due to heavy rains in December.
It was the first of several days of stormy weather forecast for California. A coastal flood advisory was in effect for San Francisco until Tuesday afternoon, with cooler showers and a chance of hail on Tuesday, while nearby mountains were expecting snow, the National Weather Service in Monterey reported.
Kashawna McInerny, a Realtor in the mountain community of Wrightwood, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, on Monday said she was still dealing with several tons of rock and debris on her property from Christmas and New Year’s storms that pummeled the community. After the last one, she said she got help trenching part of her side yard to direct stormwater down the street and placed a barrier of metal and wood by a door in hopes of keeping out mud and debris.
“We’re not panicking yet. At least I’m not,” she said with a laugh.
___
Associated Press writers Amy Taxin from Santa Ana, California, and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES — California’s top prosecutor announced a civil rights investigation Thursday into how delayed evacuations impacted a historically Black community ravaged by one of last year’s deadly wildfires near Los Angeles.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said the investigation was spurred by months of conversation with community members and fire survivors concerned about the disparate impact of the fire on the west side of Altadena, an unincorporated town in LA County. The Eaton Fire was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, 2025. It killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures.
The overarching question is whether “unlawful race, disability, or age-based discrimination in the emergency response result in a delayed evacuation notification that disproportionately impacted west Altadena,” Bonta said.
All but one of the deaths occurred in west Altadena, which received evacuation orders hours after the east side of town and well after homes were already burning, the Los Angeles Times first reported.
By midnight, roughly six hours after the fire sparked, none of the neighborhoods west of Altadena’s North Lake Avenue had been issued an evacuation warning, The Associated Press found. Orders expanded significantly after 3 a.m. One West Altadena resident told AP she didn’t receive alerts to leave until hours after she’d already packed up and fled.
Bonta said most of the investigation’s attention will be focused on the LA County Fire Department, looking at whether the existing systems contributed to the delayed evacuation notices and possible disparities in emergency response. He expects officials to voluntarily comply in sharing information with investigators.
“The families forever changed because of the Eaton Fire deserve nothing less than our full commitment,” he said.
The LA County Fire Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Altadena for Accountability, a group of fire survivors that campaigned for an investigation into the county’s fire response over the past year, called Bonta’s announcement a “trailblazing move” in a press release.
“Losing my home and seeing my parents lose theirs was devastating. I’m heartened today knowing that we have a real pathway to answers and accountability for what went wrong,” fire survivor Gina Clayton-Johnson said in a statement. “This is a big day for all fire survivors today and victims of climate change disasters in the future.”
A confusing patchwork of alert systems and delays in people getting critical information has been an issue after other major fires including the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, the 2023 Lahaina Fire in Hawaii and the 2021 Marshall Fire that destroyed more than 1,000 homes outside of Denver. Experts have pointed out inherent flaws in such systems that rely on cellphones and other technology to alert people, particularly older residents and those with disabilities.
A grass fire at the entrance of Coal Creek Canyon in Arvada burned more than 100 acres, prompted pre-evacuation warnings and closed two state highways on Saturday.
The Candelas neighborhood was under a pre-evacuation warning for several hours after the Plainview fire sparked near Colorado 93 and Colorado 72 at 8:35 am., Arvada Fire Rescue spokesperson Brady Johnson said.
The fire, which charred an estimated 130 acres, was mostly contained by 10 a.m. fire officials said. Law enforcement lifted pre-evacuation orders at 11:40 a.m. at reopened Colorado 93 and Colorado 72 just before 1 p.m.
No one was injured and no structures were threatened by the fire, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Plainview Fire is at 80% containment and does not appear to be related to the train tracks. Great team work from @ArvadaFire, @ArvadaPolice, @boulder_fire, Boulder Open Space, Coal Creek Fire & @ColoradoDOT. Please avoid the area due to the ongoing fire suppression efforts… pic.twitter.com/zGB2jVQeO3
The fire was largely boxed in on the northwest side of the two highways, Johnson said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and does not appear to be related to the nearby railroad tracks, according to the sheriff’s office.
President Donald Trump marked his first year back in office Tuesday by presiding over a meandering, nearly two-hour press briefing to recount his accomplishments, repeating many false claims he made throughout 2025.
Among the topics about which he continued to spread falsehoods were the 2020 election, foreign policy, the economy and energy.
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The fire was reported near the intersection of Colorado 59 and I-76, just before 6 p.m., the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.
“The wildfire at Interstate 76 and Highway 59 has been knocked down, and fire crews from multiple agencies have successfully contained the blaze,” sheriff’s officials said. “We are now in the final mop-up stages.”
Colorado’s Eastern Plains are currently under a red flag warning for extreme fire danger from high winds and low humidity, according to the National Weather Service.
After thousands of homes sustained smoke damage from the Palisades and Eaton fires, some families said sometimes they wish their properties had been destroyed in the fire. They described a frustrating process of trying to get coverage from their insurance companies for smoke damage.
While the raging flames of the 2025 wildfires never reached their houses – leaving their structures physically intact – the toxic smoke did.
Tim Szwarc and Claire Thompson, Altadena homeowners, were first relieved to see their home was still standing after the Eaton Fire. But their relief has turned into uncertainty and frustration.
“It’s challenging because there’s not really a roadmap on how you remediate a home as toxicas ours,” said Thompson.
The couple said one year after the Eaton Fire, they are still learning just how poisonous and contaminated their home is.
“This is the third type of mask that I’ve now owned,” Szwarc said while holding a chemical respirator. “Each time, I learn it’s not enough, and then I upgrade. Hopefully, this is safe enough now.”
“When you use the term wildfire, to me, I think of Smokey the Bear … This is like a small city burning down to the ground,” Industrial hygienist Dawn Bolstad-Johnson said.
Dawn Bolstad-Johnson, a certified industrial hygienist with four decades of experience, said smoke from the Palisades and Eaton fires carried a different chemical load compared to a wildland fire.
“It went 24 days, and it was over 5,000 homes in the Palisades that were completely destroyed, and a bunch more that were partially burned, and then 9400 homes lost in the Eaton Fire,” she said.
Within the last year, she has tested more than 100 homes impacted by the LA fires, assessing environmental hazards and recommending ways to manage or eliminate health risks.
“When you use the term wildfire, to me, I think of Smokey the Bear,” said Bolstad Johnson. “This is a configuration of a neighborhood. This is like a small city burning down to the ground.”
She explained the toxic load that the fires left behind is unparalleled based on the synthetic content of modern living, including burned lithium batteries, computers, cars, solar panels, plastics and furniture.
“It’s a very petroleum-based fire, not so much a bio-mass fire,” Bolstad-Johnson said. “And that smoke is carrying a lot more with it than what you would see in a typical biomass fire.”
She conducted research in the late 1990s on the risk of cancer-causing toxins among firefighters. She said she was among the first to recommend firefighters continue to wear their breathing apparatus after a fire is extinguished.
“You have to look at the smoke as the bus. That’s the bus that carries all the chemistry, all the particulates, the acid gases, the aldehydes, the volatiles,” she said, explaining the harmful materials that seeped into homes through the attic and crawl spaces, but also through doors, windows and cracks in the homes.
“Remember, these were hurricane-force winds. That air is pushed hard to come in. It’s coming through the chimney in that way, coming through the dryer vent that exhausts inside,” Bolstad-Johnson added.
There are currently no state or federal standards when it comes to testing for or remediating toxins caused by smoke. California’s insurance commissioner established a “Smoke Claims and Remediation Task Force” in May 2025 to address that. But there are no environmental scientists or toxicologists on the 13-member panel.
In an interview with NBCLA, California insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara admitted that there are no clear standards but maintained that he’s trying to address the issue.
“We’re going to draft legislation,” Lara said. “We’re going to make it retroactive to make sure that they’re covered. And hopefully the legislature has the guts to get this done and protect the Eaton and Palisades fire survivors.”
Industrial hygienists like Bolstad Johnson said there is peer-reviewed, published research to use when testing and remediating, detailed in “The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland -Urban interface” compiled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
“You have to look at the smoke as the bus. That’s the bus that carries all the chemistry, all the particulates, the acid gases, the aldehydes, the volatiles,” Bolstad-Johnson added.
Szwarc and Thompson said they are experiencing the impact of toxic gasses and particulates firsthand. Testing of their home revealed lead levels exceeding EPA limits by 800 times, along with cyanide and arsenic.
The couple said their initial insurance adjuster told them they would need to remove their drywall, plaster and insulation while disposing of all porous materials. But their insurance replaced that adjuster months later. The new adjuster told them it wasn’t necessary to remove the items “based on the photos.”
“You can’t see toxins in a photo,” Thompson said. “But he told us our house looked pristine. It didn’t need a lot of cleaning. They believe we can just superficially clean off our items and move back,”
The couple said they are waiting for the insurance company to send its own industrial hygienist to conduct an assessment. They said no one connected with their insurance has visited their property since January 2025.
More than a dozen homeowners who are going through a similar experience spoke with NBC4 Investigates off camera because of concerns they could face ramifications from their insurance or landlords.
All said they have experienced insurance delays as well as denials for testing and cleaning of toxins in their homes.
All of them told NBC4 Investigates they have had multiple adjusters assigned to their claims without resolution, something they see as a delay tactic by the insurance companies.
A year after the fires, two homeowners told NBCLA that they sometimes think it would have been easier if their homes had burned down.
“We’re left in this very precarious position of deciding: is this family heirloom worth the risk to keep?” one victim said. “Now it just feels like we’re gambling with our long-term well-being. Our lives are in limbo.”
Szwarc and Thompson echoed the sentiment, saying they don’t know what their future is going to look like,
“We want (the insurance company) to follow the science,” Thompson said.
”Frankly, I’m concerned that we may not achieve the level of remediation necessary to make this home safe to live in again,” Szwarc said.
LOS ANGELES — On the first anniversary of the most destructive wildfires in the L.A. area, the scant home construction projects stand out among the still mostly flattened landscapes.
Fewer than a dozen homes have been rebuilt in Los Angeles County since Jan. 7, 2025, when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted, killing 31 people and destroying about 13,000 homes and other residential properties.
For those who had insurance, it’s often not enough to cover the costs of construction. Relief organizations are stepping in to help, but progress is slow.
Among the exceptions is Ted Koerner, whose Altadena home was reduced to ash and two chimneys. With his insurance payout tied up, the 67-year-old liquidated about 80% of his retirement holdings, secured contractors quickly, and moved decisively through the rebuilding process.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, Koerner was among the first to finish a rebuild in the aftermath of the fires, which were fueled by drought and hurricane-force winds.
But most do not have options like Koerner.
The streets of the coastal community of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, a community in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, remain lined with dirt lots. In the seaside city of Malibu, foundations and concrete piles rising out of the sand are all that’s left of beachfront homes that once butted against crashing ocean waves.
Neighborhoods are pitch black at night, with few streetlamps replaced. Even many homes that survived are not inhabited as families struggle to clear them of the fire’s toxic contaminants.
Koerner was driven in part by fear that his beloved golden retriever, Daisy Mae, now 13 years old, might not live long enough to move into a new home, given the many months it can take to build even under the best circumstances.
He also did not have to wait for his insurance payout to start construction.
“That’s the only way we were going to get it done before all of a sudden my dog starts having labored breathing or something else happens,” Koerner said.
Once construction began, his home was completed in just over four months.
Daisy Mae is back lying in her favorite spot in the yard under a 175-year-old Heritage Oak. Koerner said he enjoys his morning coffee while watching her and it brings tears to his eyes.
“We made it,” he said.
About 900 homes are under construction, potentially on pace to be completed later this year.
Still, many homeowners are stuck as they figure out whether they can pay for the rebuilding process.
Scores of residents have left their communities for good. More than 600 properties where a single-family home was destroyed in the wildfires have been sold, according to real estate data tracker Cotality.
“We’re seeing huge gaps between the money insurance is paying out, to the extent we have insurance, and what it will actually cost to rebuild and/or remediate our homes,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, a group of 10,000 fire survivors mostly from Altadena.
By December, less than 20% of people who experienced total home loss had closed out their insurance claims, according to a survey by the nonprofit Department of Angels.
About one-third of insured respondents had policies with State Farm, the state’s largest private insurer, or the California FAIR plan, the insurer of last resort. They reported high rates of dissatisfaction with both, citing burdensome requirements, lowball estimates, and dealing with multiple adjusters.
In November, Los Angeles County opened a civil investigation into State Farm’s practices and potential violations of the state’s Unfair Competition law. Chen said the group has seen a flurry of substantial payouts since then.
Without answers from insurance, households can’t commit to rebuilding projects that can easily exceed $1 million.
“They’re worried about getting started and running out of money,” Chen said.
Jessica Rogers discovered only after the Palisades fire destroyed her home that her coverage had been canceled.
The mother of two’s fallback was a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration, but the application process was grueling. After losing her job because of the fire and then having her identity stolen, her approval for $550,000 came through last month.
She is still weighing how she’ll cover the remaining costs and says she wonders: “Do I empty out my 401(k) and start counting every penny in a penny jar around the apartment?”
Rogers — now executive director of the Pacific Palisades Long Term Recovery Group — estimates there are hundreds like her in Pacific Palisades who are “stuck dealing with FEMA and SBA and figuring out if we could piecemeal something together to build our homes.”
Also struggling to return home are the community’s renters, condo owners, and mobile homeowners. Meanwhile, many are also dealing with their trauma.
“It’s not what people talk about, but it is incredibly apparent and very real,” said Rogers, who still finds herself crying at unexpected moments.
That so few homes have been rebuilt a year after the wildfires echoes the recovery pattern of a December 2021 blaze that erupted south of Boulder, Colorado, destroying more than 1,000 homes.
“At the one-year mark, many lots had been cleared of debris and many residents had applied for building permits, said Andrew Rumbach, co-lead of the Climate and Communities Program at Urban Institute. “Around the 18-month mark is when you start to see really significant progress in terms of going from handfuls to hundreds” of homes rebuilt.
Time will bring the scope of problems into focus.
“You’re going to start to see some real inequality start to emerge where certain neighborhoods, certain types of people, certain types of properties are just lagging way far behind, and that becomes the really important question in the second year of a recovery: Who’s doing well and who is really struggling and why?” Rumbach said.
That’s a key concern in Altadena, which for decades drew aspiring Black homeowners who otherwise faced redlining and other forms of racial discrimination when they sought to buy a home in other L.A.-area communities. In 2024, 81% of Black households in Altadena owned their homes, nearly twice the national Black homeownership rate.
But recent research by UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute found that, as of August, 7 in 10 Altadena homeowners whose property was severely damaged in last year’s wildfire had not begun taking steps to rebuild or sell their home. Among these, Black homeowners were 73% more likely than others to have taken no action.
Al and Charlotte Bailey have been living in an RV parked on the empty lot where their home once stood.
The Baileys are paying for their rebuild with funds from their insurance payout and a loan. They’re also hoping to receive money from Southern California Edison. Several lawsuits claim its equipmentsparked the wildfire in Altadena.
“We had been here for 41 years and raised our family here, and in one night it was all gone,” said Al Bailey, 77. “We decided that, whatever it’s going to cost, this is our community.”
There was none of the strong winds that whipped embers into hungry flames at the place where the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center once stood. But on Tuesday night, on the eve of Jan. 7, about 400 people gathered under big white tent on North Altadena Drive, the first time the synagogue’s congregants have been together at the site.
“Tonight is our time to grieve for the loss we endured one year ago,” the temple’s Rabbi Joshua Ratner said. “This space is for all of us to mourn together, pay tribute to those we lost, and acknowledge the depth of our sorrow.”
Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center Rabbi Joshua Ratner speaks during a commemoration ceremony at the site of the temple which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Lanterns made by children from the Louis B. Silver Religious School sit outside a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Members of the Louis B. Silver Religious School carry lanterns to a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center Rabbi Joshua Ratner, bottom right, speaks alongside Cantor Ruth Berman Harris during a commemoration ceremony at the site of the temple which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Community members gathered with officials and faith leaders for a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Taylor Berke, 10, bottom left, wraps an arm around Noah Sandoval, 10, as they attend a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Children from the Louis B. Silver Religious School carry lanterns to a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Community members gathered with officials and faith leaders for a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Children from the Louis B. Silver Religious School carry lanterns to a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Heather Sandoval Feng, 42, of Altadena, attends a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Rabbi Ed Feinstein, center, speaks during a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger speaks during a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Vicky Balmot, 72, of Arcadia, right, attends a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center Rabbi Joshua Ratner speaks during a commemoration ceremony at the site of the temple which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Luca Shulman, 12, left, of Pasadena, wraps an arm around Connor Richardson, 10, of Arcadia as they attend a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
The empty lot where the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center stood before it was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Noah Sandoval, 10, helps carry a lantern into a commemoration ceremony at the site of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
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Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center Rabbi Joshua Ratner speaks during a commemoration ceremony at the site of the temple which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Pasadena on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Ratner, who began his tenure at the temple in July, invited his congregation to rededicate the hallowed ground of their longtime sanctuary in many ways, including collecting colored stones to place at a Tree of Life, collecting testimonials of memories from the old campus, and having congregants grow trees that they can later replant when the synagogue and campus is rebuilt in three to four years.
The communal memorial gathering marks the one-year anniversary of the Eaton fire, which burned thousands of homes and killed at least 19 people.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who received an award at the event, acknowledged the next day’s anniversary will be a difficult one for her, even as she thanked the Jewish community for making her a better leader.
“Tonight, I look at this as a time of hope, of what can be done when we work together,” she said.
Mournful Kaddish were sung to tally the losses: the synagogue and campus, including the B’nai Simcha Community Preschool, which served 400 families, and the original building, which was constructed in 1941. About 15 member families lost their homes in the blaze, and many remain displaced.
“Many people haven’t even been able to handle driving by before tonight,” Melissa Levy, executive director of the temple, said of the temple’s 430 member units, which include individuals or families. The sacred space they knew looks different now, she added, but they can look at it as a clean slate.
Without its buildings, congregants celebrated Shabbat at donated spaces, such as Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena, before renting offices at First United Methodist Church in Pasadena. The preschool has found new quarters at Frostig School down the street from their original site. Jewish holidays were celebrated in members’ homes or rented locations such as Caltech in Pasadena.
Cantor Ruth Berman Harris, her husband and a team of temple members saved the temple’s 13 Torah scrolls the night the blaze exploded. The Torah scrolls are now safely in the keeping of the Huntington Library in San Marino.
According to the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, between 45,000 and 59,000 Jewish households were affected bv the fires, or a total of about 147,000 people. The federation raised just over $9 million for its Wildfire Crisis Relief Fund, with about 70% of that total coming from out of state donors.
Theresa Brekan of Pasadena, is the operations manager for the temple. Her job now includes juggling two sites and any rentals they need for events and programs. Returning to the cleared lot of the temple for the first time since the fires, Brekan said she got chills.
“There were so many memories in this place, and I can still feel the love,” she said.
More than 400 people came together on Tuesday for a somber commemoration nearly a year after their place of worship was consumed by the Eaton Fire.
Families from the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center gathered for a remembrance of the place where they once worshipped. The temple, which was previously on Altadena Drive in Pasadena, was destroyed by the Eaton Fire last January.
The congregation returned to Pasadena for a memorial ceremony on the very ground where their synagogue once stood.
“It’s a lot to lose, and at the same time, we’ve really grown in terms of the amount of solidarity we’ve shown one another,” said Rabbi Josh Ratner. “The way we’ve cared for one another, the way we’ve held one another, it has made our community stronger.”
The emotional remembrance was filled with music, prayer and hope. Remarks were made by clergy and local leaders who acknowledged the pain of loss, as well as the strength their traumas revealed.
“The spirit is still so vibrant,” said Andrea Mark, who lost her home to the Altadena fire. “… The community is still very much together.”
Despite efforts from firefighters to save it, the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center was destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena. Tracey Leong reports for the NBC4 News at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
The Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center has served the community for more than 100 years. Although the building, which was constructed in 1941, was destroyed, members say their faith is stronger than ever.
“I was given this blessing of all these kind people and kind strangers, so now it’s up to me to pay it forward, so I can be kind to others and hope they will pay it forward, too,” Mark said.
According to Ratner, the temple is already under the process of planning its new center. It’s expected to be completed in the next several years.
Two of the most destructive wildfires on record in California forever changed landscapes and lives when they burned into neighborhoods in the Palisades and Altadena one year ago in a ferocious windstorm.
As the flames from the Eaton and Palisades fires were contained weeks after they ignited Jan. 7, 2025 and large-scale evacuation orders were lifted, property owners returned to see first-hand what was left behind and grapple with the uncertainty what came next.
First came the two-phase cleanup process, which involved the clearing of household hazardous waste by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the removal of structural debris, a task handled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or through a contractor chosen by homeowners. According to the county, more than 10,000 properties opted in to the Corps of Engineers’ debris clearance program.
Once debris was cleared, property owners who sought to rebuild embarked on a permitting process handled by various local governments, including Los Angeles County, the city of Los Angeles, and the cities of Malibu and Pasadena. The city of Los Angeles alone received more than 3,000 permit applications, 1,440 of which have been issued at the start of January, according to the city. Nearly 2,900 applications for rebuilding permits were received by Los Angeles County, 1,153 of which have been issued as of Jan. 2, 2026.
Thousands of applications remain in review.
The aerial images below show parts of the Palisades and Altadena after the January Palisades Fire and roughly one year later in later December 2025. Use the slider tool to view images from then and now.
All images below are courtesy of Getty Images.
Altadena and the Palisades, then and now
Use the slider tool at the center of each image to switch views.
In this first aerial image, the rubble of homes that burned in the Eaton Fire and a surviving palm tree are pictured on Jan. 19, 2025 in Altadena. The same area is pictured in December 2025 with a cleared lot and a remaining pool.
In this aerial view, Bishop Charles Dorsey leads a prayer rally April 12, 2025 for the Altadena community and for his church in what remained of the Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center after the Eaton Fire. The same area is pictured in December 2025 with a cleared lot.
Below, an aerial view of homes that burned in the Eaton Fire on Feb. 5, 2025 in Altadena and the same area as rebuilding continues on Dec. 28, 2025.
An aerial view of an Altadena neighborhood that was mostly destroyed in the Eaton Fire on Jan. 19, 2025 and the same area with some homes rebuilt nearly one year later
An aerial view shows homes that burned near two that were not destroyed in the Eaton Fire on Jan. 19, 2025 in Altadena and how the neighborhood looked at the end of December 2025.
Below, an aerial view of homes near the Pacific Ocean that were destroyed in the Palisades Fire with some lots cleared of debris on March 15, 2025 in Pacific Palisades and the same area in December 2025.
Below, a view of destroyed homes veiled in wildfire smoke as the Palisades Fire continued to burn in Los Angeles County on January 10, 2025 and the same area with vibrant green hillsides in December 2025.
An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 27, 2025 in Pacific Palisades and the same area with cleared lots and construction in December 2025.
An aerial view shows homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 27, 2025 in Pacific Palisades and how the area looks nearly one year later.
An aerial view of trees and homes that burned in the Palisades Fire on Jan. 28, 2025 in Pacific Palisades with an aerial view of surviving trees and cleared lots on Dec. 22, 2025.
The 23,700-acre Palisades Fre became the ninth-deadliest and third-most destructive wildfire on record in California. Twelve deaths were reported in connection with the Palisades Fire, which destroyed more than 6,800 structures.
The Eaton Fire grew to 14,000 acres, leaving 19 people dead and destroying 9,400 structures. It is the fifth-deadliest and second-most destructive wildfire in California history.
LOS ANGELES — A year after twin infernos tore across opposite ends of Los Angeles County, the scars are still visible. Thousands of homes were reduced to rubble, with rebuilding slow, and the death toll showed how a wildfire under extreme weather conditions can turn catastrophic.
The Palisades and Eaton fires ignited within hours of each other on Jan. 6, 2024. These figures show how fast the disaster unfolded and the toll it left behind:
The speed of predicted wind gusts in mountain areas, equivalent to 145 kilometers per hour. Red Flag warnings were issued Jan. 6 for severe wildfire danger as Southern California was buffeted by the region’s notorious Santa Ana winds. Grass and brush were tinder dry after months with little or no rain. The National Weather Service warned it could be a life-threatening wind event. Firefighting assets were pre-positioned in areas deemed to be at especially high risk for fires.
How long it took for a small wildfire to explode in size. At 10:30 a.m. reports began coming in about a small blaze on a ridge in LA’s upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, in the same area where crews had responded to a previous fire on New Year’s Day. Before long, a large plume of dark smoke was visible from miles away. Shortly after 11 a.m., the fire was reported to be about 10 acres (4 hectares), located near Palisades Drive on the coastal neighborhood’s western edge.
Over the next two hours, roads were jammed with motorists trying to flee as flames roared down streets and decimated homes. Officials issued an evacuation order for the Palisades while warning residents of surrounding areas that they should also get ready to leave. Within hours, the blaze had rapidly grown.
As firefighting resources were focused on the Palisades, another blaze was sparked about 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the east in Altadena, on the other end of Los Angeles County. The Eaton Fire started at 6:17 p.m. and all firefighting aircraft in the county were soon grounded because of high winds. By 8 p.m. it had doubled in size.
The amount of land charred by the two infernos, equivalent to 155 square kilometers. That’s roughly the size of the entire city of San Francisco.
The number of people who died — 19 in the Eaton Fire and 12 in the Palisades Fire.
How long the Palisades Fire burned before it was extinguished. Investigators determined the 37-square-mile (95-square-kilometer) blaze had actually grown out of the earlier fire that started on Jan. 1.
The number of days it took for the Eaton Fire to be extinguished. It burned 22 square miles (57 square kilometers).
The amount of federal disaster aid requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Trump administration and Congress have yet to approve it.
How many structures were destroyed in both blazes. In Altadena, 9,418 homes and other buildings were flattened. In Pacific Palisades and neighboring areas including Malibu, 6,837 buildings, mostly homes, were gone.
The number of homes rebuilt so far, according to city and county data. Most are in the Altadena area, with one in Pasadena and two in Pacific Palisades. None are finished in Malibu. Hundreds more are under construction across the region.
The total charitable commitments to LA fire relief is between at least $860 million to $970 million, according to a study by the Milken Institute. Most was raised in the first month after the fires, and individual donations through GoFundMe brought in $265 million.
An Altadena neighborhood that was wiped out by the Eaton Fire last January led to the creation of a community of neighbors who’ve supported one another as they’ve navigated their grief and struggles since the blaze.
The Alpine Villa Community lost most of its homes in the Eaton Fire – 29 out of 36, to be exact. But since then, residents from the community have gone from being just neighbors to close friends who are helping each other rebuild and heal.
“It looked like a warzone, and sure enough, when we got to the property, it was nothing but the fireplace,” said Greg Apodaca, who lost his home of 15 years to the fire.
“Acknowledging what had happened was also the acknowledgement of saying goodbye to the house,” said Alma Apodaca, Greg’s wife.
In the days that followed, the couple and their neighbors were left with grief, shock and uncertainty. But it was this shared tragedy that brought them closer together. What started as virtual check-ins soon became in-person gatherings focused on resources, rebuilding, healing and support for one another.
“We’ve heard stories since then, other homeowners had to go at this alone, but since we had this tight-knit community, it was safe,” Greg Apodaca said. “We could talk to people who had been through the same experience as us.”
As flames ripped through homes in Pacific Palisades a year ago, firefighters acted on a moment of kindness amid the chaos. Karma Dickerson reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
As they near the one-year mark since the Eaton Fire, those who are part of the Alpine Villa Community have reflected on what they’ve gained and what they’ve lost, and how the trauma has reshaped them.
“Not only do I want to show up to be there, I want to show up to see these people and having the shared experience like community,” Alma Apodaca said. “Community means you show up for people.”
The Apodacas said they’re looking forward to rebuilding a more sustainable neighborhood with fireproof materials. They said when they return, it won’t just be a home: it will be a stronger and more meaningful place.
“It feels a little bit like we are going to be rebuilding in a community of gratitude,” Alma said.
ALTADENA, Calif. — ALTADENA, Calif. (AP) — “DANGER: Lead Work Area” reads a sign on a front door of an Altadena home. “May damage fertility or the unborn child. Causes damage to the central nervous system.”
Block after block there are reminders that contaminants still linger.
House cleaners, hazardous waste workers and homeowners alike come and go wearing masks, respirators, gloves and hazmat suits as they wipe, vacuum and power-wash homes that weren’t burnt to ash.
It’s been a year of heartbreak and worry since the most destructive wildfires in the Los Angeles area’s history scorched neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people. Two wind-whipped blazes that ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, killed at least 31 people and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures, including homes, schools, businesses and places of worship. Rebuilding will take years.
The disaster has brought another wave of trauma for people afraid of what still lurks inside their homes.
Indoor air quality after wildfires remains understudied, and scientists still don’t know the long-term health impacts of exposure to massive urban fires like last year’s in Los Angeles. But some chemicals released are known to be linked to heart disease and lung issues, and exposure to minerals like magnetite has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Ash in the area is a toxic soup of incinerated cars, electronics, paints, furniture and every other kind of personal belonging. It can contain pesticides, asbestos, plastics, lead or other heavy metals.
Many with homes still standing are now living with the hazards left by the fires.
Nina and Billy Malone considered their home of 20 years a safe haven before smoke, ash and soot seeped inside, leaving behind harmful levels of lead even after professional cleaning. Recent testing found the toxin is still on the wooden floors of their living room and bedroom.
They were forced to move back home in August anyway, after insurance cut off their rental assistance.
Since then, Nina wakes up almost daily with a sore throat and headaches. Billy had to get an inhaler for his worsening wheezing and congestion. And their bedroom, Nina said, smells “like an ashtray has been sitting around for a long time.” She worries most about exposure to unregulated contaminants that insurance companies aren’t required to test.
“I don’t feel comfortable in the space,” said Nina, whose neighbors’ homes burned down across the street.
They’re not alone.
According to a report released in November by the Eaton Fire Residents United, a volunteer group formed by residents, six out of 10 homes damaged from smoke from the Eaton Fire still have dangerous levels of cancer-causing asbestos, brain-damaging lead or both. That’s based on self-submitted data from 50 homeowners who have cleaned their homes, with 78% hiring professional cleaners.
Of the 50 homes, 63% have lead levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard, according to the report. The average lead levels were almost 60 times higher than the EPA’s rule.
Even after fires were extinguished, volatile organic compounds from smoke, some known to cause cancer, lingered inside of people’s homes, according to a recent study. To mitigate these risks, residents returning home should ventilate and filter indoor air by opening windows or running high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifiers with charcoal filters.
Zoe Gonzalez Izquierdo said she can’t get her insurance company to pay for an adequate cleanup of her family’s Altadena home, which tested positive for dangerous levels of lead and other toxic compounds.
“They can’t just send a company that’s not certified to just wipe things down so that then we can go back to a still contaminated home,” Gonzalez said, who has children ages 2 and 4.
Experts believe the lead, which can linger in dust on floors and windowsills, comes from burned lead paint. The University of Southern California reported that more than 70% of homes within the Eaton Fire were built before 1979, when lead paint was common.
“For individuals that are pregnant, for young children, it’s particularly important that we do everything we can to eliminate exposure to lead,” said pediatrician Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and a member of the climate group Science Moms.
The same goes for asbestos, she added, because there is no safe level of exposure.
People who lived in the Pacific Palisades, which was also scorched, face similar challenges.
Residents are at the mercy of their insurance companies, who decide on what they cover and how much. It’s a grueling, constant battle for many. The state’s insurer of last resort, known as the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, has been scrutinized for years over its handling of fire damage claims.
Homeowners want state agencies to enforce a requirement that insurance companies return a property to pre-fire condition.
Julie Lawson won’t take any risks. Her family paid about $7,000 out of pocket to test the soil in their Altadena home, even though their insurance company had already agreed to pay to replace the grass in their front yard. They planned to test for contaminants again once they finished remediating the inside, the process of making a home contaminant-free after a fire. If insurance won’t cover it, they’ll pay for it themselves.
Even if their home is livable again, they still face other losses — including equity and the community they once had.
“We have to live in the scar,” she said. “We’re all still really struggling.”
They will be living in a construction zone for years. “This isn’t over for us.”
Annie Barbour with the nonprofit United Policyholders has been helping people navigate the challenges, which include insurance companies resisting to pay for contamination testing and industrial hygienists disagreeing on what to test for.
She sees the mental health toll it’s having on people — and as a survivor herself of the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Northern California, she understands it.
Many were at first joyful to see their houses still standing.
“But they’ve been in their own special kind of hell ever since,” Barbour said.
Now residents like the Malones are inspecting their belongings, one by one, fearing they may have absorbed toxins.
Boxes, bags and bins stuffed with clothes, chinaware and everything in between fill the couple’s car, basement, garage and home.
They have been painstakingly going through their things, assessing what they think can be adequately cleaned. In the process, Nina is cleaning cabinets, drawers, floors and still finding soot and ash. She wears gloves and a respirator, or sometimes just an N-95 mask.
Their insurance won’t pay to retest their home, Billy said, so they’re considering paying the $10,000 themselves. And if results show there’s still contamination, their insurance company told them they will only pay to clean up toxins that are federally regulated, like lead and asbestos.
“I don’t know how you fight that,” said Nina, who is considering therapy to cope with her anxiety. “How do you find that argument to compel an insurance company to pay for something to make yourself safe?”
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AP staff writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.
Near the refrigerator, the lead level was 27 times the federal limit. And that wasn’t all.
Jeff Van Ness is constantly cleaning.
Every day, he vacuums, mops and wipes every surface in his house, which stands on one of the blocks in Altadena, Calif., that survived the flames of the Los Angeles wildfires, but not the smoke.
He works in deliberate lines across the kitchen tile, then along the baseboards, then into the corners where the smoke pooled nearly a year ago — following a map only he can see.
It’s the only way to quiet his thoughts: Is it safe for his children, 6-year-old Sylvia and 9-year-old Milo, to walk barefoot on the kitchen tiles? Should he wash the toys they drop on the floor with bleach, or with soap and water? The darkest thoughts are about his wife, Cathlene Pineda, 41, a jazz pianist who is on medication for cancer. If the toxins were in the house, he wonders, could they bring the cancer back?
The family reluctantly returned home in August, eight months after the Los Angeles fires and two months after a consultant they hired found lead — a dangerous neurotoxin — inside the house. After their insurer, Farmers Insurance, dismissed those findings and cut off payments for their hotel, the Van Nesses had little choice but to return and do the only thing they could: clean.
“We don’t have the means to pay our mortgage and live somewhere else,” said Mr. Van Ness, 44, a waiter at a five-star hotel. “It’s a feeling of helplessness that is indescribable.”
Lead level in the dining area: 7 times the federal limit
Source: New York Times testing from Sept. 26Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
For nearly every house reduced to ash by the fires that blackened the Los Angeles sky last January, another was left standing but steeped in smoke, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
These homes sit at an uncomfortable juncture: intact but potentially contaminated.
Like most insurance policies in California, the Van Nesses’ contract with Farmers — the second largest home insurer in the state — covers smoke damage, but it doesn’t spell out how the damage should be repaired. That’s because there are no state or federal standards for how an insurer should remediate a smoke-damaged home after a fire. In May, the California Department of Insurance created a task force to establish such standards, but until its recommendations are announced, families like the Van Nesses are caught in a regulatory no man’s land.
A growing body of research shows that smoke from urban wildfires, like the ones that engulfed Altadena and Pacific Palisades, is more dangerous than smoke produced when vegetation alone burns. Ordinary objects become poisons when extreme heat turns them into gases. The button you push to start your car often contains beryllium — harmless when sealed in metal but highly toxic once airborne. A car’s tires can melt into a cloud of benzene, as can the foam in a sofa. The handle of a kitchen faucet can give off chromium.
Microscopic particles carried by the smoke slip into a home’s insulation, lodge in the seams of hardwood floors and pass through the mesh in kitchen tiles, contaminating the space with carcinogens and other toxins. Industrial hygienists and toxicologists insist that removing the contamination requires tearing out nearly every surface the smoke touched — not just the insulation, but the hardwood floors, tiles, plaster and stucco.
By contrast, the insurance industry is relying on what experts interviewed by The Times describe as outdated or incomplete research, endorsing cleanups based only on what can be seen and smelled. If insurers test at all, it is for a small subset of contaminants.
According to more than two dozen scientists, insurance adjusters and consumer advocates interviewed for this article, as well as a review of thousands of pages of internal insurer documents, this approach is supported by a small roster of industry consultants who cite research papers that have not been peer-reviewed, or were funded by the insurance industry.
“We call it the tobacco playbook because it was done for so long and so successfully by an industry that was making a deadly product,” said David Michaels, who served as the assistant secretary of labor directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from 2009 to 2017, and who has written two books detailing this strategy. “This is absolutely the latest iteration of ‘science for hire.’”
The Exposure
To understand what happened to the Van Ness home and whether it was safe to return over the summer, The Times asked the family for permission to have a certified professional test for lead and other heavy metals in each room, and to submit strands of hair so scientists could measure family members’ exposure to these metals over time.
Jan. 8: Smoke from the Eaton fire looming over the Van Ness home.Photo by Jeff Van Ness
By then, the house had already been extensively cleaned.
In February, a contractor hired by the family carried out the remediation that Farmers Insurance had recommended: The attic insulation was ripped out, floors were vacuumed and mopped, countertops and other surfaces were wiped, carpets and drapes were laundered and air scrubbers were left roaring in every room.
Feb. 18: Furniture wrapped in plastic during the remediation.Composite image from video taken by Jeff Van Ness
By March, dangerous chemicals were being found inside neighboring homes. But Farmers’ tests concluded that the Van Ness house was safe inside, finding hazardous levels of lead only outdoors.
Those findings were contradicted by an independent test the family paid for in June, which showed lead above the federal threshold in the living room and in the attic — results that Farmers dismissed. That was when Mr. Van Ness repainted the walls and began his obsessive cleaning.
The readings commissioned by The Times were taken in September — a month after the family had moved back in — and allowed reporters to see whether the home remained contaminated, and whether the Van Nesses had been exposed to harmful substances.
Six of the 11 samples collected in the house showed unsafe levels of contaminants, including extremely high levels of lead which is known to metabolize quickly, leaving the blood and entering bones and tissue. No metals were found in the other five samples taken from the bedrooms, the living room, the piano and a wooden toy.
Sept. 26: Where testing by The Times found lead and other metals after the house was remediated.
Source: New York Times testing from Sept. 26
The readings showed 27 times the federal hazard limit of lead on the floor next to the refrigerator, and more than seven times the limit where the kitchen tile meets the dining room floor.
A sample taken from the HVAC in the attic found lead levels close to 8,000 micrograms per square foot. Although the Environmental Protection Agency does not set lead-dust standards for attic surfaces, a rule change passed during the Biden administration holds that any reportable level of lead dust inside a home is considered a hazard. The concentrations found in the attic were “sky high,” said Joe L. Nieusma, a toxicologist who was one of 10 experts who reviewed the results.
“There are multiple carcinogens in the house and extremely high levels of lead,” Dr. Nieusma said. “It’s not safe for humans — or animals — to live in that residence.”
To determine whether the toxins inside the Van Ness home had made their way into their bodies, The Times commissioned Manish Arora, vice chairman of environmental medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and the creator of a technology that uses strands of hair to measure a person’s exposure to chemicals in the environment.
One centimeter of hair represents approximately one month in a person’s life.
“Every other test is like a snapshot,” Dr. Arora told the family, explaining why their blood tests were negative. “Hair has the ability to map back in time. It’s like a molecular movie.”
After reviewing the family’s hair samples, Dr. Arora concluded that the Van Nesses had been exposed to dangerous levels of toxins.
Each family member’s strand of hair showed “measurable spikes in heavy metals after they returned to the home in August, indicating a period of elevated exposure,” he said. The results revealed that Milo had elevated levels of all 11 chemicals that Dr. Arora’s lab tested for, including lead, a potent neurotoxin with no safe level of exposure in children. Sylvia’s hair showed elevated levels of nine chemicals compared with the exposure levels of 1,000 children in California who are participants in an ongoing statewide study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
But he also found that the continued cleaning was working — at least for lead. For both parents and children, the levels of lead in their hair began to decline after they returned home and as they steadily moved bags of contaminated belongings to the curb and Mr. Van Ness continued his compulsive cleaning.
The presence of these metals does not mean the family will necessarily become ill, Dr. Arora, the founder and chief executive of LinusBio, which analyzed the hair, cautioned. “But it does show that their bodies absorbed contaminants during that period, exposure that scientists associate with increased risks of neurological and developmental harm and, in the case of arsenic, cancer,” he said.
All 10 experts who reviewed the testing results from the house expressed concern about the level of contamination and said that the insurance-led remediation effort was not sufficient. Several of them highlighted the risk in the attic, where testing by The Times detected beryllium, chromium and cadmium, all known to cause cancer in humans.
Especially concerning is beryllium, said Dr. Michaels, who issued the standard for beryllium during his tenure as the longest-serving administrator of OSHA. “There is no safe level of beryllium exposure,” he said, describing how, at the Department of Energy, an accountant had developed the debilitating lung condition known as chronic beryllium disease after handling files stored in a building where beryllium had been processed years before.
“The most shocking thing is that this is after the home was remediated,” said Joseph G. Allen, the director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a former scientific adviser to the White House, who reviewed the results.
“Junk Science”
What happened to the Van Ness family is unfolding across the Los Angeles basin, as homeowners navigate a narrow range of options: accept a modest cleanup or shoulder the cost themselves. Or, most fraught of all: move back in and accept their insurers’ assurances that the air is breathable, the walls are clean and the home is safe, according to responses to a Times survey of more than 500 survivors of the recent fire, as well as interviews with three dozen affected families.
For nearly every house destroyed by the fires, another was left standing but steeped in smoke, according to a Times analysis.Philip Cheung for The New York Times
Evidence showing that the remediation approved by insurers is inadequate is mounting: Data from 45 homes tested after professional cleaning showed that 43 of them still tested positive for unsafe levels of lead, according to Eaton Fire Residents United, a coalition of concerned residents.
Farmers ultimately paid for the Van Ness family’s hotel accommodation for seven months and approved a budget of $25,900 to have the home professionally cleaned — a fraction of what it would have cost to follow the advice of experts who insisted that the only way to remove the contaminants was to strip away every surface the smoke touched. That kind of renovation would have cost upward of $500,000, according to data from the real estate tracking firm Cotality.
Scale those numbers across the Los Angeles burn zone, and the math is staggering: Doing only a surface-level cleanup of the nearly 10,000 homes that likely had smoke damage would save insurers over $8.5 billion, according to a Times analysis using Cotality data.
“The first commandment of an insurance company is, ‘Pay as little as possible and as late as possible,’” said John Garamendi, a Democratic congressman who represents Northern California and who was the state’s first insurance commissioner in 1991.
Dylan Schaffer, a lawyer who is representing more than 500 policyholders whose homes were damaged by toxic smoke from the Los Angeles fires, agreed that the insurers are driven by the bottom line. “There is no other explanation. The science is against them.”
It was when the Van Nesses started asking about the science that they ran into problems with Farmers.
Ms. Pineda was diagnosed with cancer five years ago, leaving her immunocompromised.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
Five years ago, Ms. Pineda was diagnosed with Stage 3B cancer. Concerned that she could be exposed to carcinogens inside her house after the fire, her oncologist wrote a letter to Farmers urging the insurer to replace all the soft goods — including mattresses, bedding and carpets — according to correspondence reviewed by The Times.
The adjuster texted back: “Did the oncologist perform any type of testing of these soft goods to support their recommendation?”
The question landed like a blow — as though her doctor’s warning didn’t count unless it came with results from the very tests the family had asked the insurer to perform.
“It felt like when you have those dreams that something’s happening,” she said, “and you’re screaming at the top of your lungs in your dream to wake someone up or to alert someone, and nothing is coming out.”
In California, insurers began trying to limit payouts for smoke damage more than a decade ago, after a series of devastating wildfires, according to Dave Jones, a former state insurance commissioner who was the top regulator when carriers first started inserting policy language that excluded toxic smoke.
When those exclusions were struck down in court, the carriers turned to something more subtle: They downplayed the science by relying on in-house experts, whose studies are often not peer-reviewed and whose methods are increasingly at odds with the emerging science of urban wildfires, according to interviews with two former insurance commissioners, insurance industry whistleblowers, attorneys and consumer advocates.
The initial settlement letter that Farmers sent to the Van Nesses, which was reviewed by The Times, referred to “scientific studies” that it said showed that household materials exposed to the smoke could be cleaned. According to these studies, it said, soot, char and ash have “no inherent physical or chemical properties that will cause physical damage to common household materials,” and that “routine laundering” and “everyday cleaning methods” were enough to restore the home to its pre-fire state.
In a single footnote, the letter referred to only one source: a three-page paper from 2019. It appeared on the website of a private company specializing in hazardous materials that once employed Richard L. Wade, the paper’s author.
Contacted by The Times, Dr. Wade confirmed that the document was never published nor peer-reviewed and described it not as a study but as “a research summary,” contradicting how Farmers characterized it.
“This report is not objective science,” said Dr. Michaels, currently a professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, after reviewing the paper. “It makes unsupported and unverifiable assertions,” he said, adding, “It’s science for hire.”
Dr. Wade did not respond to questions regarding the criticism of his research paper.
In an email, Luis Sahagun, a spokesman for Farmers Insurance, wrote: “Every claim is evaluated and reviewed on an individual basis. Our goal is to pay claims quickly and fairly, taking into account the circumstances of the loss and the terms of the policy.”
The company did not address detailed questions from The Times about the contamination found inside the Van Ness home after the insurer-led remediation, or about the carcinogens detected in the family’s hair, saying that “we cannot comment on individual claims or customers.”
Jeff Van Ness is nervous about turning on the HVAC which sits inside a contaminated attic. So he opens the window.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
When the family sent their independent results to Farmers in June, the insurer turned to Safeguard EnviroGroup, a company that is advising the leading insurance carriers in California following the fires, and whose principal scientist is Dr. Wade, the expert whose paper was not peer-reviewed but was used as a reference.
In a document labeled “confidential” and obtained by The Times, Safeguard EnviroGroup’s founder, Brad Kovar, sought to discredit the family’s independent report, writing that the hygienist hired by the Van Nesses lacked a particular license, and that the report — which found the highest levels of lead in the attic — had failed to specify whether the samples came from a floor, a shelf or a windowsill, each of which has a different regulatory threshold.
In their denial letter to the family, Farmers, citing the report by Safeguard EnviroGroup, further described the attic as a “non-habitable space” — the only explanation the insurer provided for never having tested the attic for contaminants.
But in response to a detailed list of questions, a spokesman for Mr. Kovar seemed to contradict that guidance, saying that “all non-habitable spaces are relevant if they meet established contamination thresholds and provide pathways of exposure.”
The spokesman added: “Our conclusions are based on fact, data, established methodologies and recognized scientific standards.”
Dr. Nieusma pointed out that the HVAC is in the attic and acts as the “lungs of the house.” If the attic is contaminated, the HVAC is likely redistributing those toxic particles throughout the home.
“What they are doing is junk science,” said Dr. Zahid Hussain, winner of the Department of Energy Secretary’s distinguished service award for his work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, adding that references to empty or unvetted studies are rife in the insurance industry when it comes to smoke.
The (Lack of) Standards
The Van Ness home, along with the debate over what the family’s insurer should have done to repair it, is a microcosm of a broader fight now dividing the American Industrial Hygiene Association, which publishes a technical guide for how to remediate smoke damage. In the absence of state or federal standards, insurers have cited this guide, which lists Mr. Kovar and Dr. Wade among its authors.
But a cohort of industrial hygienists say the guide has been hijacked by insurance industry contractors who have introduced language suggesting that toxins can be cleaned using everyday methods. This summer, the hygienists submitted to the A.I.H.A. a list of what they said were errors and distortions in the latest edition of the guide, arguing it should be retracted or significantly revised.
They said that numerous non peer-reviewed research papers had been added as references in the bibliography, while peer-reviewed studies showing that microscopic particles of smoke can penetrate the fibers of a house were removed or omitted.
On Dec. 16, the debate turned tense on a video call during which the A.I.H.A. declined to make changes, according to three participants on the call.
In an emailed statement, Jessie Lewis, an A.I.H.A. spokeswoman, declined to discuss the specifics of the meeting, saying that the technical guide was a “science-based publication” and that the most recent edition was not influenced by the insurance industry. She had no comment after The Times pointed out that the organization’s top donors included the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America, one of the main lobbying groups for the insurance industry.
The same battle is now roiling the newly created California Smoke Claims & Remediation Task Force, where Safeguard EnviroGroup employees including Dr. Wade presented slides claiming that professional cleaning was enough and that testing for anything more than lead, asbestos and soot, char and ash was an unnecessary “rabbit hole,” as first reported in a San Francisco Chronicle investigation. They argued that the A.I.H.A. guide — the same one that scientists are asking to be retracted — should be the accepted standard.
Back in Altadena, the Van Nesses are trying to make their home feel like home again.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
Since returning to their house in August, the Van Nesses have debated leaving for good. But where would they go?
Mr. Van Ness’s job provides the health insurance needed for his wife’s continuing cancer treatment with the oncologist who saved her life. And on his waiter’s salary, they feel trapped in one of the country’s most strained housing markets.
“It’s free-falling while reaching for branches that you hope will break your fall but don’t,” he said. “And so you flail. You paint, you rack up debt and get rid of the things that you think are dangerous, you keep windows open, you wash your hands more,” he said. “And you worry that your efforts are no match for what really needs to happen.”
For now, the Van Nesses are doing what they can: fighting with their insurer. And cleaning.
Methodology
Sample collection – With the family’s permission, The Times commissioned certified professionals and scientists to collect samples from the house and the family. Eleven wipe samples were taken from the house, including the attic and the family’s converted garage, using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s 9102 sampling method: seven samples and one blank for lead; four samples and one blank for a broader metals panel. Additionally, air samples were collected using equipment from Access Sensor Technologies and Casella Solutions.
The Times commissioned an independent lab, Eurofins, to analyze the results, and the professional hired by The Times followed strict chain-of-custody procedures, documenting each step in the collection, handling and transfer of the samples to ensure their integrity and prevent contamination or tampering.
Lab analysis – For the wipe samples, the lab used Inductively Coupled Plasma (I.C.P.) Mass Spectrometry (M.S.), modifying the N.I.O.S.H. 9102 protocol to use a more precise analytical method, a step recommended by scientific advisors and senior researchers at the lab. Air samples were analyzed using three common analytical methods: I.C.P.-M.S., I.C.P.-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (A.E.S.), and X-ray Fluorescence (X.R.F) Spectroscopy. The air samples were analyzed by Thomas Reilly, chief executive officer at Access Sensor Technologies, a company that makes portable technology measuring contaminants in the air; the analysis yielded inconclusive results. Experts agreed that detecting metals in the air would be difficult when collecting samples months after the fires, because the family ventilated the home and used air purifiers.
For the hair analysis, the samples were sent to LinusBio, the lab funded and led by Manish Arora.
Results – Ten experts reviewed the lab results commissioned by The Times and compared them with the tests conducted by the contractor chosen by Farmers Insurance.
Dr. Joseph G. Allen, a certified industrial hygienist and an associate professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he heads its Healthy Buildings Program.
Dawn Bolstad-Johnson, a certified industrial hygienist who has tested more than 100 homes in the Los Angeles area.
Dr. Jill Johnston, an associate professor at the University of California at Irvine’s Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health whose research focuses on the health impacts of environmental contaminants.
Jeanine Humphrey, an industrial hygienist who has tested more than 100 smoke-damaged homes in Los Angeles.
Dr. Zahid Hussain, a former division deputy of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the recipient of the Department of Energy Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Lisa A. Maier, a pulmonologist who leads a clinical team studying and caring for patients with chronic beryllium disease as chief of National Jewish Health’s Division of Environmental and Occupational Sciences.
Peggy Mroz, lead epidemiologist in the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at National Jewish Health, who studies chronic beryllium disease.
Dr. Joe L. Nieusma, a toxicologist and author of a recent study showing that particles of smoke saturate every crevice, seam and texture of a home and are recirculated through airflow.
Dr. Michael Weitzman, a professor and former chairman of the department of pediatrics at the New York University School of Medicine, whose research on lead poisoning in children contributed to the decision by the E.P.A. to lower its dust lead clearance levels.
One expert asked not to be named because of fear of retaliation.
The following chemicals were detected in the home via wipe samples: lead, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lithium and manganese. Some of these elements are naturally occurring in the body, but when found in extremely high concentrations they are harmful to human health and linked to neurological and developmental problems, as well as damage to specific organs, including the kidneys.
For surface wipe samples, the post-abatement federal hazard limit for lead is 5 µg/ft2 for floors, 40 µg/ft2 for window sills and 100 µg/ft2 for window troughs.
The following chemicals were found in the hair analysis at elevated levels when compared with median exposure levels of 1,000 children in California who are participants in an ongoing statewide study funded by the National Institutes of Health: zinc, strontium, phosphorus, manganese, magnesium, lithium, lead, copper, calcium, barium and arsenic.
Estimating damage from smoke – To estimate the number of homes that were likely smoke-damaged, The Times drew a 250-yard buffer around structures identified by Cal Fire as partially burned. This buffer was chosen based on the public health advisory issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health after the fires. It is a conservative measure: A National Academy of Sciences report stated that any property within one to 10 kilometers from a burned structure could be damaged by smoke, depending on the direction of the wind.
To estimate the $8.5 billion in savings for insurers to remediate the homes that have likely experienced smoke damage, The Times counted the homes within 250 yards of a burned structure. When a property had additional structures, like a guesthouse or a garage, the structures were all counted as one. For each property, The Times used a median cost of remodeling, excluding demolition — a metric provided by Cotality, a company that tracks and analyzes real estate.
Why hair sampling and not blood? –To date, 99.5 percent of residents tested by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health following the recent fires — all but 10 out of more than 2,000 people — had blood lead levels below the Centers for Disease Control’s ceiling of 3.5 micrograms per deciliter, meaning almost no one showed elevated levels despite widespread evidence of lead contamination. The Times turned to the technology created by Dr. Arora which uses hair strands because it maps past exposure over time.
