Professionals wearing protective gear treated the walls of the Dangerfield family’s home in Altadena on Friday, Aug. 14, removing embedded soot and ash particles, while workers used regenerative bioremediation to rid the backyard of dangerous levels of lead.
The Dangerfield’s home on Dolores Avenue represents the paradox plaguing 2,000 homes in the footprint of the Eaton and Palisades fires: Their houses are standing, structurally sound, but inside are toxic chemicals from burned homes, cars and electronics hiding like ghosts in the walls, making living scary. Outside, the soils laced with lead means just walking out the back door is too risky.
“I will be glad when everything is done,” said James Dangerfield, 84. “I would like to have social interactions with my family again,” he said, including his two daughters and seven grandchildren. “And we want to plant in the backyard, like fruit trees.”
Their home, coated with toxins from the Eaton fire of Jan. 7 and 8, 2025, that destroyed or impacted most of Altadena, is one of 175 in the Eaton footprint receiving free interior smoke and ash removal and exterior soil restoration paid for by a $300,000 grant from the California Fire Foundation Disaster Relief and Recovery.
Of that money, $200,000 was awarded to the Fire Poppy Project to do inside home cleanup, and $100,000 went to DENA Soil Coalition for outside. These organizations also drafted fire-impacted volunteers to help do the work that will make each home livable again — both inside and outside.
For the Dangerfields, who’ve lived in there modest home for 57 years, it means they can stop dreaming about having family over, or wishing they could have fruit or vegetables growing in their backyard. And start doing those things once again.
“When we lived here we would sit out in the yard in chairs and enjoy the evenings. That’s what I want to do,” Dangerfield said.
The goal of the nonprofits that have raised the money is to do the work for free for needy families indirectly affected by a firestorm that swirled lead, chromium and even mercury for hours, leaving toxic deposits in yards and inside homes that can cost up to $100,000 to fully test and eradicate.
“We believe that environmental testing and environmental cleanup should not be just for the wealthy few. And that is what has been happening,” said Enji Chung, executive director of the Fire Poppy Project.
The effort still leaves thousands of homes without insurance payments or government funding to test for lead that can slow learning in small children at high levels. Heavy metals can also make vulnerable populations sick, such as children and the elderly. Some homes find asbestos fibers in the walls and ceilings, a residue often connected to lung or other cancers.
The Eaton Fire Residents United, a volunteer group formed by residents, reported in January on the one-year anniversary of the fire that six out of 10 homes damaged by smoke from the Eaton Fire have unsafe levels of potentially carcinogenic asbestos and brain-altering lead or a combination of the two.
”Toxins branched out into this community and became invisible health hazards. A lot of those chemicals cause problems long term,” said Jessica Handy, executive director of the DENA Soil Coalition.
Many fire survivors are battling with insurance companies, asking for full clearance of a home back to pre-fire condition. Other said tests showed even after a cursory remediation, unsafe levels of lead and other metals that can cause health issues remained.
James Dangerfield said he and his wife paid out-of-pocket for handymen to repair wiring and do other minor work and then moved back in January, after being unable to afford renting a temporary home any longer. He said his wife, Stephanie, insisted on full remediation, but they couldn’t afford it.
“Folks have a right to know about the soil at their home. Our mission is to ensure everyone has access to free soil testing and access to remedication,” said Handy.
Soil remediation began at the Dangerfield home around 9 a.m, both in the front yard and backyard. The process does not involve digging up soil, but using blends of soils with chemical-eating microbes.
“Bio-remediation uses fungi and bacteria to deal with the lead, arsenic and carbon-based contaminants,” explained Daisy Rosas Vargas, a chemist working with the DENA Soil Coalition. “They add a layer of compost with microbes that eat the contaminants — breaks them down.”
After that, they will plant native plants that work to remove contaminants, she said. “They sequester heavy metals. They will pull them up,” Vargas said. “Think of them like a straw.” After six months, contaminants will be removed and taken to a hazardous waste landfill, she said.
Inside the home, a half-dozen professionals in protective gear worked on the walls. At first, they put a vacuum to the walls in a slow, steady motion. Next, a wet sponge mop was applied deliberately.
“A chemical sponge takes out the soot and ash,” said Chung.
Since January 2025, the California Fire Foundation has received $11 million in donations from across the United States and in other parts of the world, said Kara Haynes, executive director. They are just about done using the last $300,000 on remediation at 175 Altadena homes.
For more information, to donate or apply for help, visit www.cafirefoundation.org
“We are here for the long-term recovery,” said Haynes. “This is the spirit of the true Altadena community coming together.”