On the 10-month anniversary of the Eaton fire ravaging the town of Altadena, about 50 residents gathered in the driveway in one of the homes that survived the blaze with a sobering set of testing results that showed even after remediation, harmful substances including lead and asbestos still remain.
Community organizers from Eaton Fire Residents United (EFRU), NAACP Altadena and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles congregated on a standing property near Porter Avenue and Altadena Drive for to present the findings. Dozens of people held signs behind a series of speakers with a clear message: “Clearance Before Occupancy.”
“Public officials promised we would be able to return home safely,” EFRU Founder Jane Lawton Potelle said. “We’re asking them to follow through with their promise and force insurance and remediation companies to finish the job properly so that we can come home safely.”
Across the street from the property was another standing house but down the street and in the surrounding neighborhood were several empty dirt lots where homes used to sit.
Eaton Fire Residents United partnered with experts from Caltech, Purdue, Harvard, UCLA, UC Davis, UTA, USC and Chapman to analyze samples taken from 50 homes. Samples were collected from homes within the fire area and further north in Pasadena near Orange Grove and Rosemead boulevards.
Six out of 10 remediated homes remain uninhabitable due to lead and/or asbestos level, according to the findings. About one in three homes tested positive for asbestos, post-remediation and 96% of homes tested positive for lead.
“The good news, if there’s any good news, is that they’re not at the levels that I think can cause acute poisoning, but the bad news is that they’re certainly at the levels that can collect in bodies and increase the risk of all sorts of bad things,” said Dr. Howard Hu, a professor of preventive medicine at USC.
In addition, heavy metals including chromium, barium, copper and zinc tested positive in all of the samples. EFRU said most standing homes were not even tested for chemicals like cyanide, lithium, PAHs, dioxins and furans.
Speakers took aim at insurance companies, state leaders and elected officials saying more needed to be done to support survivors who feel they have been left on their own to solve remediation and recovery issues.
Wilberta Richardson, president of NAACP Altadena and 40-year resident of the town, said she has not been able to fight through the obstacles put up by insurance companies to get the help she needs.
“It is their duty to restore homes to pre-fire conditions,” Richardson said. “The reason homeowners pay insurance companies is precisely for such crises such as this one.”
The California Department of Insurance could not be reached for comment Friday.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said Friday morning in a statement that it had not seen the full report from EFRU. Once it has received it the department said it would share the findings with the Environmental Health Impacts Work Group, which is charged with evaluating existing methods of best practices and recommending uniform statewide standards for testing and remediation post-fires.
“Because fire and smoke damage can vary greatly from home to home, even on the same street and depending on numerous site-specific factors, Public Health continues to recommend that property owners consider obtaining a qualified environmental professional trained to evaluate and manage fire and smoke damage at their property,” the statement read. “Public Health has also encouraged insurance companies to act in good faith by covering site-specific fire and smoke damage assessments and recommendations from qualified environmental professionals.”
For more information, visit publichealth.lacounty.gov.
Billy Malone, a 20-year Altadena resident, said he and his family only returned to their home about a month ago. Despite multiple rounds of remediation dust, ash and soot remained. He said after their insurance company paid out the family was left on its own.
“We’ve waited almost a year for safe homes. We did everything we were supposed to do,” Malone said. “We listened to public health … we filled out those insurance forms. We did everything we were supposed to do and, guess what, we still have homes with dangerous contaminants.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office referred requests for comment to the California Environmental Protection Agency, which did not respond as of Friday afternoon.
In a Friday statement, Rep. Judy Chu said she was deeply alarmed by the findings and urged called for the adoption of a Clearance Before Occupancy standard, urged Newsom to declare an ash zone and urged Lara to call on insurance companies to cover testing, do multiple remediations until homes are cleared and extend the additional living expense coverage.
“It is unacceptable that, as many survivors of the Eaton Fire see their compensation for temporary housing deplete, many of our neighbors are being forced to decide between a roof over their heads or risking exposure to deadly toxins,” Chu said.