{"id":498967,"date":"2026-01-07T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/498967\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:16:10","slug":"the-la-wildfire-victims-still-living-in-toxic-homes-we-have-nowhere-else-to-go-california-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/498967\/","title":{"rendered":"The LA wildfire victims still living in toxic homes: \u2018We have nowhere else to go\u2019 | California wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

One year on from the Eaton fire<\/a>, long after the vicious winds that sent embers cascading from the San Gabriel mountains and the flames that swallowed entire streets, a shadow still hangs over Altadena.<\/p>\n

Construction on new properties is under way, and families whose homes survived the fire have begun to return. But many are grappling with an urgent question: is it safe to be here?<\/p>\n

The fire upended life in this part of Los Angeles<\/a> county. By the time firefighters brought it under control, 19 people were dead, tens of thousands displaced and nearly 9,500 structures destroyed, primarily in Altadena but also in Pasadena and Sierra Madre.<\/p>\n

The flames incinerated many older homes and businesses filled with lead paint and asbestos. They showered the community with toxins, leaving tall piles of ash and unseen traces of heavy metals in the soil and along and inside standing structures. Research has indicated some hazards remain even after properties have undergone remediation, the clean-up process that is supposed to restore homes and ensure they are safe to occupy.<\/p>\n

As Altadena fights to return, residents \u2013 some eager to stay in the community and others who simply can\u2019t afford to go anywhere else \u2013 are facing immense challenges while trying to rebuild their lives and come back home.<\/p>\n

Official information about the health risks was limited early on and those returning often only learned about the dangers as they went. Some people have developed health concerns such as migraines and respiratory issues. Many are still battling their insurance companies to fully cover their costs, and make certain their homes are habitable.<\/p>\n

Their predicament highlights the increased dangers that come with urban fires, and shows how Altadena has come to serve as a sort of living laboratory with scientists and residents learning in real time.<\/p>\n

Nicole Maccalla, a data scientist, and her family moved back into their Altadena home over the summer after their property underwent an extensive cleanup process, but their air purifiers still register high levels of particulate matter, heavy sediment appears when they vacuum and when it rains the distinctive smell from the fire returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe toll of displacement was really high on my family. And I just had to move home and try [to] mitigate risk and keep fighting the good fight,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s always that back-of-your-mind concern, did I make the right choice, but I also don\u2019t have other choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early on in those first careening hours of the fire, as thick smoke and ash fell like snow over her yard, Dawn Fanning was sure her home would not be spared. The wind was blowing from the fire straight to the Spanish bungalow the producer shared with her adult son, and it seemed there was no way to stop it.<\/p>\n

Dawn Fanning outside her home in Pasadena, California, on 28 December 2025. The interior of her home has been found to have lead and asbestos after the Eaton fire. Photograph: Stella Kalinina\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Fanning\u2019s home, miraculously, escaped the flames. But, while the stucco structure was intact \u2013 clothes still hanging undisturbed in her closet and her son\u2019s baby photos packed carefully in bins in the garage \u2013 it hadn\u2019t been unscathed either. Virtually nothing in Altadena was.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s dusty and there\u2019s piles of ash in the windowsills and on the floor. At first glance, it doesn\u2019t look any different,\u201d Fanning said. \u201cYour house looks the same \u2013 but it\u2019s not. There\u2019s toxicity in your attic and in your crawlspace and on your mattresses and on all the things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confused and frustrated with the local government\u2019s handling of health concerns, Maccalla and Fanning joined other fire survivors to form Eaton Fire Residents United in hopes of ensuring the impacted areas recover safely. The community group is developing testing and remediation guidelines, gathered hygienic testing reports of hundreds of homes, and advocated for fire survivors and workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere [have been] huge threats to the health and safety of residents, children in schools, elderly and immunocompromised, workers that are coming into this area that are being exposed to hazards in the workplace,\u201d Maccalla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still trying to work on that and get the protections people need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barely 15 miles north-east of downtown Los Angeles<\/a>, Altadena at the start of last year was home to some 43,000 people, many lured by the affordable home prices, proximity to the mountains and bucolic feel. It has long been one of the most diverse cities in the region with a thriving Black community that began to grow during the great migration.<\/p>\n

In the early evening on 7 January 2024, Fanning, who had lived in her home in the area for two decades, had a feeling she couldn\u2019t shake that something could go very wrong. There were treacherous winds that forecasters warned posed a serious fire risk. Already, a fire was spreading rapidly on the other side of the county in the Pacific Palisades, where frantic residents were trying to evacuate and firefighters were clearing the area.<\/p>\n

Some 35 miles away, Fanning and her son were watching coverage of the unfolding fire while readying their property. Then came an alert \u2013 not from officials \u2013 but from a local meteorologist who was telling his followers to get out now. Fanning spotted flames several blocks away and she and her son decided it was time to leave.<\/p>\n

A few miles to the east, Rosa Robles was evacuating with her grandchild in tow, leaving her husband and adult children. She wanted them to go \u2013 but they were protecting the home. Armed with garden hoses, they tried to save the residence and the other houses on their block. Sometimes the wind was so strong it blew the water back in their faces, Robles said.<\/p>\n

Maccalla\u2019s power had gone out that morning, and she and her children were sitting around watching the TV drama Fire Country on an iPad in the dark when they got the call about the fire. It seemed far away at the time, Maccalla recalled, and she felt prepared as a member of a community emergency response team.<\/p>\n

They got out lamps and began packing in case they needed to leave. She set alarms hourly to monitor the progress of the fire while her children slept.<\/p>\n

When she awoke at three, the blaze had formed a horseshoe shape around her house, and smoke filled the room. The family evacuated with their two dogs and two cats.<\/p>\n

Firefighters protect a structure as the Eaton fire advanced in Altadena, California, last January. Photograph: Ethan Swope\/AP<\/p>\n

Tamara Artin had returned from work to see chaos on the street, with fierce winds and billowing smoke all around the house she rented with her husband. Artin, who is Armenian by way of Iran and has lived in Los Angeles for about six years, always loved the area. She enjoyed the history and sprawling green parks, and had been excited to live here.<\/p>\n

Now the pair was quickly abandoning the home they had moved into just three months earlier, heading toward a friend\u2019s house with their bags and passports.<\/p>\n

Fanning and her son had gone to a friend\u2019s home too. As they stayed up late listening to the police scanner, they heard emergency responders call out addresses where flames were spreading. These were friends\u2019 homes. She waited to hear her own.<\/p>\n

In the first days after the fire began, the risk remained and there was little help available with firefighting resources spread across Los Angeles. Maccalla and her son soon returned to their property to try to protect their home and those of their neighbors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working on removing a bunch of debris that had flown into the yard and all these dry leaves. I didn\u2019t know at the time that I shouldn\u2019t touch any of that,\u201d she said.\u201d<\/p>\n

The devastation in Altadena, as in the Palisades, was staggering. Many of the 19 people who died were older adults who hadn\u2019t received evacuation warnings for hours after people in other areas of town, if at all.<\/p>\n

Physically, parts of Altadena were almost unrecognizable. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, bright red flame retardant streaked the hillsides. Off Woodbury Road, not far from where Robles and Artin lived, seemingly unblemished homes stood next to blackened lots where nothing remained but fireplaces and charred rubble \u2013 scorched bicycles, collapsed beds and warped ovens. The pungent smell of smoke seemed to embed itself in the nose.<\/p>\n

Robles would sometimes get lost in the place she had lived her whole life as she tried to navigate streets that had been stripped of any identifiable landmarks. Fire scorched the beloved community garden, the country club, an 80-year-old hardware store, the Bunny Museum and numerous schools and houses of worship.<\/p>\n

Artin and her husband returned to their home, which still stood, after a single night. They had no family in the area and nowhere else to go \u2013 hotels were packed across the county. For nearly two weeks they lived without water or power as they tried to clean up, throwing away most of their furniture and belongings, even shoes, and all of the food in the fridge and freezer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were worried, of course, because we were inhaling all those chemicals without knowing what it is, but we didn\u2019t have a choice,\u201d Artin recalled.<\/p>\n

As fires burn through communities, they spread particulate matter far and wide, cause intense smoke damage in standing structures and cars, and release chemicals even miles beyond the burned area.<\/p>\n

When Fanning saw her home for the first time, thick piles of ash covered the floors. She was eager to return, but as she tried to figure out her next steps, reading scientific articles and guides, and joining Zoom calls with other concerned residents, it was clear she needed to learn more about precisely what was in the ash. Asbestos was found in her home, meaning all porous items, clothing and furniture, were completely ruined.<\/p>\n

A couple wearing full protective gear rest while searching through the remains of their home, which burned in the Eaton fire on 19 January 2025. Photograph: Mario Tama\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t wash lead and asbestos out of your clothing. I was like, OK, this is real and I need to gather as much evidence [as I can] to find out what\u2019s in my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Altadena, more than 90% of homes had been built before 1975 and likely had lead-based paint and toxic asbestos, both of which the EPA has since banned, according to a report<\/a> from the California Institute of Technology. All sorts of things burned along with the houses, Fanning said: plastic, electric cars, lithium batteries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe winds were shoving this into our homes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The roof on Maccalla\u2019s home had to be rebuilt, and significant cleanup was required for the smoke damage and layers of ash that blanketed curtains and beds.<\/p>\n

Despite these concerns, residents grew increasingly frustrated about what they viewed as a lack of official information about the safety of returning to their homes. Many also encountered pushback from their insurance providers that said additional testing for hazards, or more intensive remediation efforts recommended by experts, were unnecessary and not covered under their policies.<\/p>\n

So earlier this year a group of residents, including Fanning and Maccalla, formed Eaton Fire Residents United (EFRU). The group includes scientists and people dedicated to educating and supporting the community, ensuring there is data collection to support legislation, and assembling an expert panel to establish protocols for future fires, Fanning said. They\u2019ve published research based on testing reports from hundreds of properties across the affected area, and advocated that homes should receive a comprehensive clearance before residents return.<\/p>\n

Research released by EFRU and headed by Maccalla, who has a doctorate in education and specializes in research methodology, found that more than half of homes that had been remediated still had levels of lead and\/or asbestos that rendered them uninhabitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still widespread contamination and that one round of remediation was not sufficient, the majority of the time. Six out of 10 homes were still coming back with lead and or asbestos levels that exceeded EPA safety thresholds,\u201d said Maccalla, who serves as EFRU\u2019S director of data science and educational outreach.<\/p>\n

The interior of Dawn Fanning\u2019s home has been found to have lead and asbestos after the Eaton fire. Photograph: Stella Kalinina\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Maccalla moved back home in June after what she viewed as a decent remediation process. But she hasn\u2019t been able to get insurance coverage for additional testing, and worries about how many people are having similar experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re putting people back in homes without confirming that they\u2019re free of contamination,\u201d she said. \u201cIt feels very unethical and a very dangerous game to be playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t afford not to come home, and the family couldn\u2019t keep commuting two hours a day each way from their temporary residence to work and school or their Altadena property where Maccalla was overseeing construction. But she\u2019s experienced headaches, her daughter\u2019s asthma is more severe, and her pets have become sick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody that hasn\u2019t gone through it can really comprehend what [that is like],\u201d she said. \u201cFor everything in your environment that was so beloved to now become a threat is mentally a really hard switch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Robles settled back to the home she\u2019s lived in for years with a few new additions. Seven of her relatives lost their homes, including her daughter who now lives with her. \u201cI thank God there\u2019s a place for them. That\u2019s all that matters to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicole Maccalla with her dog, Cami, outside her home in Altadena. Photograph: Stella Kalinina\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

After the fire, she threw away clothes, bed sheets and pillows. The family mopped and washed the walls. Her insurance was helpful, she said, and covered the cleanup work. Robles tries not to think about the toxic contamination and chemicals that spread during the fire. \u201cYou know that saying, what you don\u2019t know?\u201d she said, her voice trailing off.<\/p>\n

Artin said she received some assistance from her renter\u2019s insurance, but that her landlord hadn\u2019t yet undertaken more thorough remediation. She\u2019s still trying to replace some of the furniture she had to throw away. The fire had come after an already difficult year in which her husband had been laid off, and their finances were stretched.<\/p>\n

She shudders when she recalls the early aftermath of the fire, a morning sky as dark as night. \u201cIt was hell, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her rent was set to increase in the new year, and while she fears exposure to unseen dangers, moving isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have anywhere else to go. We can\u2019t do anything,\u201d Artin said.<\/p>\n

Fanning has been battling her insurance company to cover the work that is necessary to ensure her house is safely habitable, she said. Her provider is underplaying the amount of work that needs to be done and underbidding the costs, Fanning said. She and her son have been living in a short-term rental since late summer, and she expects they won\u2019t be able to return home before the fall.<\/p>\n

Sometimes she wonders if she\u2019ll be up to returning at all. Even now, when Fanning drives through the area to come get her mail or check on the house, she gets headaches. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever feel safe, no matter all the things that I know and all the things that I\u2019m gonna do. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever feel safe again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In between trying to restore her home, she\u2019s focused on advocacy with EFRU, which has become her primary job, albeit unpaid. \u201cThere are so many people that don\u2019t have enough insurance coverage, that don\u2019t speak English, that are renters, that don\u2019t have access like I do \u2026 I feel it\u2019s my duty as a human.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s much work to do, Fanning said, and it has to be done at every single property.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long road to recovery. And if we don\u2019t do it right, safely, it\u2019s never gonna be what it was before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One year on from the Eaton fire, long after the vicious winds that sent embers cascading from the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":498968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-498967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115854008917847778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}