{"id":526562,"date":"2026-11-11T23:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T23:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/526562\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T23:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T23:18:10","slug":"whats-it-like-remediating-a-home-after-a-wildfire-eaton-fire-survivors-shared-their-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/526562\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s it like remediating a home after a wildfire? Eaton Fire survivors shared their experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rhea Borja and her husband bought their little home in Altadena in 2022. After the January 2025 Eaton Fire, it still stood, in a pocket of other homes that also survived.<\/p>\n

At first, that was a relief. As many fire survivors have found, though, remediating smoke damage has been nearly as daunting as rebuilding a home that burned.<\/p>\n

That has been true for the Borjas too. They\u2019ve been living in Northern California since the fire, while they work to get their home cleared of the toxic remnants of the smoke.<\/p>\n

The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,414 structures, including homes and businesses. For the thousands of structures were left standing, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws<\/a> in September setting new rules for smoke damage cleanup.<\/p>\n

What has that looked like in practice? Three Eaton Fire survivors spoke with LAist recently about the challenges they\u2019ve faced.<\/p>\n

Remediation challenges<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rhea Borja stands in her driveway just a month or so before the January 2025 fire. All of the houses behind her across the street burned down, including all the trees and greenery.<\/p>\n

On the blocks around Borja\u2019s home, the frames of homes being rebuilt are taking shape. But her home has stood empty for 22 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been an enormous test of patience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her home has gone through four remediations. The lead test results after the most recent remediation cleared EPA standards. Since then, Borja has had a new HVAC system installed.<\/p>\n

Next up, re-insulating the attic.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s hoping to be back in Altadena early next year but recognizes there\u2019s still a lot to do, including remediating the front and back yards. She\u2019ll have to pay for those projects out of pocket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss Altadena. I miss Los Angeles. I miss being by the San Gabriel Mountains,\u201d Borja said. \u201cSo I just feel kind of removed from the area, and sometimes it almost just seems like a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hallway in Rhea Borja\u2019s home after it was remediated for a third time in June 2026.<\/p>\n

Rhea Borja removed the remediator\u2019s tape and plastic covering over a living room window of her Altadena home in mid October.<\/p>\n

Simon Perry and his partner have two properties in Altadena that still require remediation.<\/p>\n

One is their home right outside of the fire zone, and the other is a rental property right in the middle of it.<\/p>\n

At Perry\u2019s home of 15 years, the contamination was off the charts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo give you an indication of how badly contaminated it is, the attic crawl space tested at 3,391 units of lead,\u201d Perry said. \u201cSo there’s 50 times the safe level of lead in the crawl space of the attic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry had intended to retire the week of the Eaton Fire. He postponed that while he dealt with the fire\u2019s aftermath \u2014 spending hours itemizing personal items, then throwing them away.<\/p>\n

By the end of September, he and his partner moved for the fourth time since the fire.<\/p>\n

Before that move, their temporary home was \u201cfull of cardboard boxes and boxes full of stuff, you know, because everything is in transition and has been in transition for 20 months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How we heard from you<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, LAist asked<\/a> fire survivors to share their stories. We\u2019ve heard from people rebuilding, returning home or moving away.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re a renter, homeowner, business owner, have moved away, or whatever it may be, we want to hear from you.<\/p>\n

Many of you have shared photos of your cement foundation or framing, even art you\u2019ve made after the fire.<\/p>\n

Share your story in the survey below and we may include your pictures and stories in an upcoming feature. We won\u2019t publish anything you share without your permission.<\/p>\n

A return home<\/p>\n

After 19 months of being displaced, Susan Mohini Kane, husband Bernard Kane and their cat returned to Altadena.<\/p>\n

Being displaced was unsettling, but Kane said she learned a lot.<\/p>\n

Susan Mohini Kane shared this photo with LAist from March 2026 after most of her home\u2019s contents were removed. The walls were cut up for rewiring.<\/p>\n

Susan Mohini Kane and her husband Bernard Kane began moving in over the summer. A friend gifted her hand-sewn quilt to replace one they lost to smoke damage. <\/p>\n

\u201cMore things happened every day that I didn’t expect,\u201d Kane said. \u201cThey ended up, basically, having to tear our house down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The walls of the Kane home were removed and then replaced. They filled and hauled bags of fire-damaged goods out of their home.<\/p>\n

Now that she\u2019s back, Kane is excited to return to her work as a voice teacher, singer and songwriter.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Susan Mohini Kane and her husband Bernard Kane are happy to be back in their home after 19 months of remediation and repairs after the Eaton Fire.<\/p>\n

She wants people who didn\u2019t experience the wildfire to know what people are still going through nearly two years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re still here. We’re still suffering. We’re still needing so much help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rhea Borja and her husband bought their little home in Altadena in 2022. After the January 2025 Eaton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5759,6922,4300,10151,63610,200767,200768,48,52,51,47,50,49,22234,101772,200769],"class_list":["post-526562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-altadena","tag-community-engagement","tag-eaton-fire","tag-fire-damage","tag-fire-survivors","tag-how-is-it-remediating-a-home-after-a-fire","tag-issues-with-remediation","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-remediation","tag-smoke-damage","tag-stories-from-fire-survivors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}