“DANGER: Lead Work Area” reads a sign on a front door of an Altadena home. “May damage fertility or the unborn child. Causes damage to the central nervous system.”

Block after block there are reminders that contaminants still linger.

House cleaners, hazardous waste workers and homeowners alike come and go wearing masks, respirators, gloves and hazmat suits as they wipe, vacuum and power-wash homes that weren’t burnt to ash.

It’s been a year of heartbreak and worry since the most destructive wildfires in the Los Angeles area’s history scorched neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people. Two wind-whipped blazes that ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, killed at least 31 people and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures, including homes, schools, businesses and places of worship. Rebuilding will take years.

A banner calling for an investigation into the Eaton Fire response from Los Angeles County officials was briefly spotted at the Rose Parade in Pasadena on Thursday. Tom Wait speaks with the people behind the statement and what they hope to change with their call to action.

As flames incinerated whole blocks in Southern California, fierce winds pushed dark, speckled ash through Rossana Valverde’s door frames, windows and vents. Her home stood a short drive from the worst destruction caused by January’s Eaton Fire, but she had gotten lucky: Apart from a singed tree, her property appeared unscathed.

Yet the acrid stench in the bungalow she shared with her husband suggested otherwise. The remains of other people’s homes now permeated hers.

After the Los Angeles fires, their insurer told them they could return home.

Nearly a year after the deadly Eaton fire in Southern California, the first payment from the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program has been made.

In October, Southern California Edison launched the program, which offers to reimburse victims for their losses and provides additional sums for pain and suffering.

SCE did not reveal how much was paid, but the program says it provides 42 months of housing support, covering individuals who lost their single-family homes.

A coalition of Eaton fire survivors and community groups called on Southern California Edison on Tuesday to provide immediate housing assistance to the thousands of people who lost their homes in the Jan. 7 wildfire.

The coalition says an increasing number of Altadena residents are running out of insurance coverage that had been paying for their housing since they were displaced by the fire. Thousands of other residents had no insurance.

“When a company’s fire destroys or contaminates homes, that company has a responsibility to keep families housed until they can get back home,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, one of the coalition members asking Edison for emergency assistance of up to $200,000 for each family.

As the Los Angeles wildfires died out in January, firefighters trekked through the burn zones to take stock of the destruction. For every home they found leveled, they counted another still standing. The structures looked fine from the outside, but ash and oily soot often coated the floors and furniture, while invisible chemicals burrowed into clothes, blankets and even walls.