“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.

Pasadena Unified School District said new soil testing at San Rafael has confirmed the need for soil removal and replacement after City of Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) county-recommended post-Eaton Fire sampling found lead at concentrations exceeding Department of Toxic Substances Control screening levels in two Pasadena communities within district boundaries, according to information the district released Friday.

The district said the additional testing followed Los Angeles County Department of Public Health soil sampling results. Pasadena Unified conducted additional soil testing across all campuses, and initial testing at San Rafael identified areas of soil requiring additional assessment within the play field and two planter areas along the north and east boundaries of the school.

• Five public or charter schools burned or sustained severe damage in the Eaton fire, and about 1,100 Pasadena Unified students lost homes.

• Teachers deploy art and music programs to help students cope with the trauma of the January blaze.

• School board members of Pasadena Unified, which faces a multimillion-dollar deficit, voted to approve $24.5 million in budget cuts for the 2026-27 academic year.

• The deadly wildfires in January revealed the limitations of Southern California’s water systems. When the overtaxed systems lost pressure, fire hydrants ran dry.

• Nearly a year later, residents and experts are weighing solutions that would make more water available for firefighting, including installing cisterns, tapping water from swimming pools, or even turning to mobile pumps and pipes that could quickly route water where it’s needed.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom was on Capitol Hill on Friday renewing calls for $33.9 billion in federal aid for Los Angeles fire recovery.

• FEMA denied Newsom’s meeting request, underscoring political tensions surrounding California’s disaster recovery appeal following the January fires.

• The governor criticized the Trump administration for stalling on a recovery proposal, despite bipartisan congressional support for long-term funding

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.