The Brief

The L.A. County fires have destroyed thousands of homes.

“The first week was really, crisis, like just sheer crisis and panic and a lot of huge uncertainty and fear about our home,” said Adriana Martinez.

She has a home in Altadena with her husband and two children. It was still standing Thursday as the Eaton Fire raged nearby and she entered the house to retrieve passports and other items. Homes a few doors away burned down, she said.

Now in her second week at a West Covina hotel, she’s able to think about the damage smoke and ash have caused inside her home and how her family will clean it. There was a lot of smoke:

“I use a mouth guard. Even the clothes that we were able to grab, toiletries, lotions or whatever, are they actually safe to use? Like toothpaste that I grabbed from the drawers that, you know, things that we put into our mouths or put on our face or our skin,” she said.

Many others are asking similar questions — and there are many ways to do it.

What to understand about fire smoke

Fire smoke is not created equal. Soot from natural fibers such as wood and vegetation cleans out easier than soot from plastics, such as chairs and PVC pipes.

Adriana Martinez's living room during the Eaton Fire.

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Adriana Martinez

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“Most fires are going to be a mix of plastics and natural fibers,” said Tiffany Smith, a franchise consultant for 911 Restoration, a fire and smoke damage clean-up company.

Those manmade materials, she said, tend to produce a greasier and more penetrating soot and odor than the soot produced in a forest fire.

“Most people, in general, feel like they've got a really big odor problem and [yet] they're really underestimating the cleaning challenges that are out there in front of them,” said Robert Bowles, director of service line development for Servpro, another fire damage clean up company.

What to clean, what not to clean

Much of the work to clean up smoke damage inside homes after the L.A. fires will be done by companies that specialize in this. (And insurance can help; more on that below.)

There were some differences of opinion among the companies LAist talked to as to what should be discarded, what should be kept, and what residents can clean themselves. But here's what the experts we talked to said:

• Keepsakes: Take inventory of invaluable items such as childhood teddy bears, Christening outfits, or family Bibles. If you get expert help cleaning, start with these.
• Toiletries, pantry items: Temperature matters because contents may have been affected if flames raised temperatures enough to spoil contents; other than that, Bowles said the outsides of sealed items can be cleaned. Smith recommends throwing everything out.
• Clothes: You can dry clean them, although buying new tees may be cheaper. If you wash them yourself, don't mix them with regular laundry.
• Mattresses: Bowles said mattresses can be cleaned because they are often protected from soot by linings, covers, sheets and blankets. But Smith pointed out that mattresses have dense fabrics — so if your mattress wasn’t well-covered, you might need a new one.
• Couches: The dense fabric makes it difficult to clean but it can be done.
• Pillows: Throw them out; the dense fabric makes it difficult to get smoke soot out.
• Hard, non-porous surfaces: Stone countertops, metal appliances, and sealed wood surfaces can be cleaned as usual.
• Porous surfaces: Walls and ceilings should be cleaned by professionals; here's a good explainer from Keri Blakinger of the Los Angeles Times.
• Cars: 911 Restoration says they might be able to use chlorine dioxide or ozone gas to break down the odors at a molecular level.

A key element of all of this: Time. The experts say that waiting weeks to clean an item allows the soot to set into the fabric, which makes it harder to get out.

Be safe

While Smith and Bowles speak with authority about the process of deciding what to clean, they underline that they are not health experts; decisions about the safety of going into your home and cleaning should be done with protection and with information about what you’re walking into.

“Ash that made it into your home could have asbestos. Heat from the fires could cause acid to leak from batteries,” said Rania Sabty, an occupational health and safety expert, during a webinar organized by an air quality advocacy group.

You may also be able to draw on the expertise of people who have been here before — many people around L.A. have cleaned up homes after a wildfire.

For things you do clean: Again, use protection. The Pasadena Public Health Department recommends a mask like an N95 or P100; gloves; long-sleeved shirts; long pants; shoes and socks; and goggles to avoid skin and eye contact.

What can insurance do?

Insurance that pays for cleaning and replacement of items in a home damaged by fires is called personal property coverage. Here’s a basic description.

“Smoke damage is covered by the standard homeowners policy,” said  David Russell, a professor of insurance and finance at California State University, Northridge.

It’s important, Russell said, for the person filing the claim to begin documenting everything that will need to be cleaned or replaced.

“ It's not up to [the insurance adjuster]. It's up to you to tell them what you've lost and then they validate your claim. Don't expect them to accept everything wholesale,” he said. That’s because adjusters approach claims with some skepticism.

Insurance companies balance their responsibility to put the person who’s insured back to where they were before the loss, with being economical.

“The insurance adjuster has to protect and minimize the payment of claims for the benefit of all policyholders, because losses flow through ultimately to the premiums we all pay at the same time,” Russell said.

He said state and federal regulations keep abuse at bay.

Documenting what’s been lost or damaged, along with finding receipts, is critical for the many people who find themselves now with smoke damage in their homes.

The damage to homes and property from the current L.A. fires ranks, he said, as one of the big three major property loss events in recent U.S. history, behind Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Russell expects that the magnitude of the current losses will lead to lengthy waits for policyholders.

“Impatience and urgency can be the enemy of a thorough and complete accounting of what's been lost,” he said.

His own replacement cost insurance on his $1 million Westwood home, he said, is about $3,000 a year. He has a $1,000 deductible and a California Earthquake Authority policy that costs him about $4,000 yearly.

It’s critical for people to review their own policy. Some people don’t have enough coverage to replace what may be lost.

“I didn't know that much about my policy,” said Diane Read, whose four-bedroom house was partially damaged by the Woolsey Fire in 2018. She recommends listening to recommendations and asking the companies a lot of questions about what the cleaning process will look like. In hindsight, she said, she would have done more about her keepsakes.

“I wouldn't have listened to ‘everything is ruined,’ because it wasn't, and you can take books and let them air out, anything that's really important to you,” she said.

The silver lining to the difficult process of recovery, she said, is that her home was rebuilt. And, she said, it looks gorgeous now.

This on-and-off rain is looking like good news ... for wildflower lovers.

We talked to Katie Tilford, our go-to wildflowers expert at the Theodore Payne Foundation here in L.A., which is dedicated to native plants and wildflowers in Southern California.

And she is holding out hope the rains this week and next will be just what we need to see California poppies and more bloom big in the upcoming weeks.

"A little more rain would be nice," she said, "Then I think we’ll have a really good bloom this year. Either way, I think there’s going to be some flowers for sure … but a little more rain would really just kick things up a notch.”

And as for the question we always ask this time of year … will it be a superbloom kind of year?

Only Mother Nature knows for sure. We plant nerds also know that that the term superbloom gets thrown around with regularity during wildflower season, even though it refers to very specific conditions created by a potent cocktail of early rains, cool temps, hot temps, and late rains. So, we repeat: Stay tuned.

But Tilford says she’s already seeing signs there will be plenty of wildflowers to enjoy in the coming weeks, so you might want to make a plan to get out there.

One surefire spot: the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, when the poppies hit full bloom. There is a live cam to help you time your trip for the best blooms.

Another great resource is also the wildflower hotline hosted by Theodore Payne. Starting in March, it will be updated each Friday with the latest wildflower news and tips on where to see it all. Call: 818 768-1802, Ext. 7. 

An annual meeting of the nation's governors that has long served as a rare bipartisan gathering is unraveling after President Donald Trump excluded Democratic governors from White House events.

The National Governors Association said it will no longer hold a formal meeting with Trump when governors are scheduled to convene in Washington later this month, after the White House planned to invite only Republican governors. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors also announced they would boycott a traditional dinner at the White House.

"If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year," the Democrats wrote. "Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life better for people in our states."

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who chairs the NGA, told fellow governors in a letter on Monday that the White House intended to limit invitations to the association's annual business meeting, scheduled for Feb. 20, to Republican governors only.

"Because NGA's mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program," Stitt wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The governors' group, which is scheduled to meet from Feb. 19-21, is one of the few remaining venues where political leaders from both major parties gather to discuss the top issues facing their communities. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that Trump has "discretion to invite anyone he wants to the White House."

"It's the people's house," she said. "It's also the president's home, so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the White House."

Representatives for Sitt and the NGA didn't comment on the letter. Brandon Tatum, the NGA's CEO, said in a statement last week that the White House meeting is an "important tradition" and said the organization was "disappointed in the administration's decision to make it a partisan occasion this year."

In his letter to other governors, Stitt encouraged the group to unite around common goals.

"We cannot allow one divisive action to achieve its goal of dividing us," he wrote. "The solution is not to respond in kind, but to rise above and to remain focused on our shared duty to the people we serve. America's governors have always been models of pragmatic leadership, and that example is most important when Washington grows distracted by politics."

Signs of partisan tensions emerged at the White House meeting last year, when Trump and Maine's Gov. Janet Mills traded barbs.

Trump singled out the Democratic governor over his push to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports, threatening to withhold federal funding from the state if she did not comply. Mills responded, "We'll see you in court."

Trump then predicted that Mills' political career would be over for opposing the order. She is now running for U.S. Senate.

The back-and-forth had a lasting impact on last year's conference and some Democratic governors did not renew their dues last year to the bipartisan group.
Copyright 2026 NPR

A booming industry that charges veterans for help in obtaining the benefits they earned through military service must shut down or dramatically change its business model in California by the end of the year under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday.

The law prohibits unaccredited private companies from billing former military service members for help with their Department of Veterans Affairs claims.

Technically, it was already illegal under federal law to charge veterans for that work, but Congress 20 years ago removed criminal penalties for violations, and scores of private companies emerged, offering to speed up and maximize benefit claims.

“We owe our veteran community a debt of gratitude — for their years of service and sacrifice," Newsom said in a written statement. "By signing this bill into law, we are ensuring veterans and service members get to keep more money in their pockets, and not line the coffers of predatory actors. We are closing this federal fraud loophole for good.”

Critics call the private companies “claim sharks” because their fees are often five times the monthly benefit increase veterans obtain after using their services. CalMatters in September, for instance, interviewed a Vietnam-era veteran who was billed $5,500 after receiving benefits that would pay him $1,100 a month.

Depending on a disability rating, a claim consulting fee under that model could easily hit $10,000 or more.

“We owe it to our veterans to stand with them and to protect them from being taken advantage of while navigating the benefits they've earned,” said Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat representing Norwalk. Archuleta, a former Army officer, carried the legislation. “This is not about politics; it's about doing what's right. Making millions of dollars on the back of our veterans is wrong. They've earned their benefits. They deserve their benefits.”

California’s new law is part of a tug-of-war over how to regulate claims consulting companies. Congress for several years has been at a stalemate on whether to ban them outright, allow them to operate as they are or regulate them in some other way.

California is among 11 states that have moved to put the companies out of business, while another group of mostly Republican-led states has legalized them, according to reporting by the veteran news organization The War Horse.

That split in some ways reflects the different ways veterans themselves view the companies. The bill had overwhelming support from organizations that help veterans file benefits claims at no cost, such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as from Democratic Party leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

But the VA’s claims process can take months and sow uncertainty among applicants. Several of the claims consulting companies say they have helped tens of thousands of veterans across the country, and that they have hundreds of employees.

Those trends led some lawmakers to vote against the measure, including Democrats with military backgrounds.

“We're going to say to you, ‘Veteran, you know what, I don't know if you are too stupid or too vulnerable or your judgment is so poor you can't choose yourself,'” said Sen. Tom Umberg, a Democrat and former Army colonel, during a debate over the measure last month.

The new law was such a close call for lawmakers that nine of 40 senators did not vote on it when it passed that chamber last month, which counts the same as a “no” vote but avoids offending a constituency that the lawmaker wants to keep.

It was also one of the 10 most-debated measures to go before the Legislature last year, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database. Lawmakers spent 4 hours and 39 minutes on the bill at public hearings in 2025 and heard testimony from 99 speakers.

Two claims consulting companies spent significant sums hiring lobbyists as they fought the bill, according to state records. They were Veterans Guardian, a North Carolina-based company that spent $150,000 on California lobbyists over the past two years; and Veterans Benefit Guide, a Nevada-based company that spent $371,821 lobbying on Archuleta’s bill and a similar measure that failed in 2024.

Those companies view laws like California’s as an existential threat. Both have founders with military backgrounds. Veterans Benefit Guide sued to block New Jersey’s law prohibiting fees for veterans claim consulting, and a federal appeals court sided with the company last year.

"This was the hardest bill I’ve had to work on since I’ve been in the Legislature," said Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Santa Clarita Democrat who supported the law. "We know why that is, because there was so much money on the other side."

Charlotte Autolino, who organizes job fairs for former military service members as the chairperson of the Veterans Employment Committee of San Diego, criticized Newsom’s decision to sign the law. She spoke to CalMatters on behalf of Veterans Benefit Guide.

“The veterans lose,” she said. They lose the option. You’re taking an option away from them and you’re putting all of the veterans into one box, and that to me is wrong.”

But David West, a Marine veteran who is Nevada County’s veterans service officer, commended Newsom. West was one of the main advocates for the new law.

“The veterans of California are going to know that when (Newsom) says he’s taking care of everybody, he’s including us; that he values those 18- and 19-year-olds who are raising their hands, writing a blank check in the form of their lives; to then ensure that they aren’t writing checks to access their benefits,” West said.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.