ALTADENA, Calif. (AP) — “DANGER: Lead Work Zone” reads a sign on the front door of an Altadena home. “May affect fertility or the unborn child. Causes damage to the central nervous system.”
Block after block there are reminders that the contaminants still persist.
House cleaners, hazardous waste workers and homeowners come and go wearing masks, respirators, gloves and hazmat suits as they mop, vacuum and power wash homes that haven’t been burned to ashes.
It’s been a year of pain and worry since the most destructive wildfires in the history of the Los Angeles area burned neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people. Two wind-driven blazes that 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 brought another wave of trauma for people who fear what still lurks in their homes.
Indoor air quality after wildfires remains unstudied, and scientists still don’t know the long-term health effects 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 problems, and exposure to minerals like magnetite has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Ash in the area is a toxic soup of incinerated cars, electronics, paint, furniture and any other personal item. May contain pesticides, asbestos, plastics, lead or other heavy metals.
Many with homes still standing now live with the dangers left by the fires.
People were forced into their homes in Altadena
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 tests found that the toxin is still on the wooden floors in their living room and bedroom.
However, they were forced to move home in August after their insurance cut off their rental assistance.
Since then, Nina wakes up almost daily with a sore throat and headache. Billy had to get an inhaler for worsening wheezing and congestion. And their bedroom, Nina said, smells “like an ashtray has been sitting for a long time.” She worries most about exposure to unregulated contaminants that insurance companies are not required to test for.
“I don’t feel comfortable in the space,” said Nina, whose neighbors’ houses burned down across the street.
They are not alone.
Data shows dangerous levels of lead still in homes
Six out of 10 homes damaged by smoke from the Eaton fire still have dangerous levels of cancer-causing asbestos, brain-damaging lead or both, according to a report released in November by Eaton Fire Residents United, a volunteer group of residents. This is based on data submitted from 50 homeowners who cleaned their homes, with 78% hiring professional cleaners.
Of the 50 homes, 63 percent have lead levels above the Environmental Protection Agency standard, according to the report. Average lead levels were nearly 60 times higher than the EPA rule.
Even after the fires were put out, volatile organic compounds from the smoke, some known to cause cancer, remained inside 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 a proper cleanup of her family’s Altadena home, which tested positive for dangerous levels of lead and other toxic compounds.
“I can’t just send a company that’s not certified to clean things up so then we come back to a house that’s still contaminated,” said Gonzalez, who has children ages 2 and 4.
Experts believe that lead, which can remain in dust on floors and windowsills, comes from burnt lead paint. The University of Southern California reported that more than 70 percent of the homes in the Eaton fire were built before 1979, when lead paint was common.
“For pregnant people, for young children, it’s especially important to do everything we can to eliminate lead exposure,” said pediatrician Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director for the Medical Society’s Climate and Health Consortium and a member of the climate change group Science Moms.
The same is true for asbestos, she added, because there is no safe level of exposure.
“We have to live in the scar”
People who lived in Pacific Palisades, which was also scorched, face similar challenges.
Residents are at the mercy of their insurance companies, who decide what they cover and how much. It is a grueling, constant battle for many. The state’s insurer of last resort, known as the California Fair Access to Insurance Claims 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 restore a property to its pre-fire condition.
Julie Lawson will take no chances. 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 again for contaminants once they finished remediating the interior, the process of making a home contaminant-free after a fire. If insurance won’t cover it, they’ll pay for it themselves.
Even though their home is livable again, they still face other losses — including the equity and community they once had.
“We have to live in the scar,” she said. “We’re all still really struggling.”
They will live in a construction zone for years. “This is not over for us.”
Challenges and impact on mental health
Annie Barbour, with the nonprofit United Policyholders, has helped people deal with challenges, which include insurance companies refusing to pay for contamination tests and industrial hygienists disagreeing on what to test for.
She sees the mental health impact it has on people — and as a survivor of the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Northern California, she understands it.
Many were at first glad to see their houses still standing.
“But they’ve been in their own special hell ever since,” Barbour said.
Now, residents like the Malones are inspecting their possessions one by one, fearing they may have absorbed toxins.
Boxes, bags and bins full of clothes, china and everything in between fill the couple’s car, basement, garage and house.
They went through their stuff thoroughly, assessing what they thought could be adequately cleaned. In the process, Nina cleans cupboards, drawers, floors and keeps 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 house, Billy said, so they’re considering paying the $10,000 themselves. And if the results show there’s still contamination, their insurance company told them they’ll only pay to clean up toxins that are federally regulated, like lead and asbestos.
“I don’t know how you deal with it,” said Nina, who is considering therapy to deal with her anxiety. “How do you make that argument for forcing an insurance company to pay for something to protect you?”
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AP staff writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.
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