ALTADENA, Calif. (AP) – “Danger: Lead Work Zone” reads a sign on the front door of an Altadena home. “May harm fertility or the unborn child. Causes damage to the central nervous system.”
Block after block there are reminders that the polluters are still there.
House cleaners, hazardous waste workers and homeowners alike come and go wearing masks, respirators, gloves and hazmat suits because they don’t burn to ashes, vacuum and power-wash homes.
It’s been a year of heartbreak and anxiety after the most devastating wildfires in Los Angeles area history burned neighborhoods and displaced thousands of people. The twin wildfires, which ignited on January 7, 2025, killed at least 31 people and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures, including homes, schools, businesses and places of worship. Reconstruction will take years.
The disaster has brought another wave of shock to people who still fear what lurks inside their homes.
Indoor air quality hasn’t been studied since wildfires, and scientists still don’t know the long-term health effects of exposure to large urban fires like the one in Los Angeles last year. But some chemicals are known to be linked to heart disease and lung problems, and exposure to minerals like magnetite has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The ashes in this area are a toxic soup of burned cars, electronics, paint, furniture and all sorts of other personal belongings. It may contain pesticides, asbestos, plastic, lead or other heavy metals.
Many with homes still standing are now living with the dangers the fire left behind.
People returned to their Altadena homes
Nina and Billy Malone considered their home of 20 years a safe haven before smoke, ash and soot seeped in, leaving harmful levels behind even after a professional cleaning. A recent test found the toxin was still on the wooden floors of their living room and bedroom.
They were forced to move back home in August after insurance cut their rental assistance.
Since then, Nina wakes up almost daily with a sore throat and headache. Billy had to get an inhaler for his worsening wheezing and congestion. And their bedroom, Nina said, “smells like an ashtray has been sitting there for a long time.” He is very concerned about the risk of unregulated pollutants that insurance companies are not required to test for.
“I don’t feel comfortable in space,” said Nina, whose neighbors’ houses burned down the street.
They are not alone.
Data shows dangerous lead levels still in homes
According to a report released in November by Eaton Fire Residents United, a volunteer group formed by residents, six out of 10 homes damaged by smoke from the Eaton Fire still contain dangerous levels of cancer-causing asbestos, brain-damaging lead or both. That’s based on self-reported data from 50 homeowners who cleaned their homes, with 78% hiring professional cleaners.
According to the report, of the 50 homes, 63% have lead levels above Environmental Protection Agency standards. The average lead level was about 60 times higher than the EPA’s regulation.
Even after fires are out, volatile organic compounds from smoke, some known to cause cancer, remain inside people’s homes, a recent study shows. To reduce 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 pay her insurance company to adequately clean her family’s Altadena home, which tested positive for dangerous levels of lead and other toxic compounds.
“They can’t just send an uncertified company to clean things up so we can come back to a house that’s still contaminated,” said Gonzalez, who has children ages 2 and 4.
Experts believe that lead that can cause dust to settle on floors and window glass comes from burnt lead paint. The University of Southern California reports that more than 70% of homes within the Eaton Fire were built before 1979, when lead paint was common.
“For pregnant people, for young children, it’s especially important that we do everything we can to eliminate lead exposure,” pediatrician Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and a member of the climate group Science Moms.
The same goes for asbestos, he added, because there is no safe level of exposure.
‘We have to live in scars’
People living in the Pacific Palisades, which also burned, face similar challenges.
Residents are at the mercy of their insurance companies, who decide what they cover and how much. It is a tough, constant battle for many. The state’s insurer of last resort, known as the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, has been under scrutiny for years for its handling of fire damage claims.
Homeowners want state agencies to enforce a requirement that insurance companies return properties to pre-fire condition.
Julie Lawson is taking no chances. Her family paid about $7,000 out of pocket to have soil tested at their Altadena home, even though their insurance company had already agreed to pay to replace the grass in their front yard. After making improvements within the process to make the house contaminant-free after the fire, they plan to test for contaminants again. If insurance doesn’t cover it, they will 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 with the scars,” she said. “We’re all still really struggling.”
They will stay in the construction sector for years. “It’s not over for us.”
Challenges and mental health tolls
Annie Barbour is working with the nonprofit United Policymakers to help people navigate challenges, including insurance companies’ resistance to paying for contamination testing and industrial health workers who disagree on what to test.
She sees the impact mental health has on people — and as a survivor of the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Northern California, she understands it.
Many were initially happy to see their homes still standing.
“But they’re already in their own special kind of hell,” Barber said.
Now residents like Malone are inspecting their belongings one by one, fearing they may have absorbed toxins.
Boxes, bags and bins of clothing, chinaware and everything in between fill the couple’s car, basement, garage and home.
They are painstakingly going through their things, assessing what they think can be adequately cleaned. In the process, Nina is cleaning the cabinets, drawers, floors and still finding soot and grime. She wears gloves and a respirator, or sometimes an N-95 mask.
Their insurance won’t pay to have their home re-inspected, Billy said, so they’re considering paying $10,000 themselves. And if the results show there’s still contamination, their insurance company tells them they’ll only pay to clean up federally regulated toxins, such as lead and asbestos.
“I don’t know how you fight,” said Nina, who is considering therapy to deal with her anxiety. “How do you find an argument to force an insurance company to pay something to protect you?”
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AP staff writer Alex Vega contributed to this report.
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