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.

(

Adriana Martinez

)

“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.

After fires and floods, Southern California’s only remaining native freshwater turtle recently got a boost.

Just last month, 15 southwestern pond turtle hatchlings were released into the San Gabriel River — a major milestone in an effort to restore the vulnerable turtle population.

But this wasn’t a typical raise-and-release scenario.

These turtles’ parents went on a harrowing journey before they were born.

A daring rescue

In early September 2020, amid a heat wave and dry weather, a tree branch hit a Southern California Edison power line, igniting the Bobcat Fire.

The fire eventually scorched more than 180 square miles — mostly forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. For comparison, the 2025 Eaton Fire burned about 22 square miles.

Lights from a fire truck illuminate firefighters working the Bobcat Fire in September 2021.

(

Frederic J. Brown

/

Getty Images

)

As the Bobcat Fire spread, biologists grew worried. The fire was burning in the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, a biodiversity hotspot and refuge for bears and mountain lions, the federally protected Santa Ana sucker fish and the mountain yellow-legged frog.

It’s also home to the largest remaining — and possibly only — population of southwestern pond turtles in the entire watershed. Their exact numbers aren’t known, but it’s likely less than 200.

“Because this hadn’t burned in decades and decades and decades, there was big concern about debris flows,” said Robert Fisher, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists hoped the turtles would be able to ride out the fire itself by staying in the water, but any rain after would likely lead to a deluge of mud, trees and other burned materials. That would be akin to an avalanche for the turtles in the river, and it had the potential to wipe out the entire population.

Once the flames died down, Fisher and a team of biologists, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Forest Service, trekked to the home of the pond turtles.

“It was a moonscape,” Fisher said.

They waded through ashy, murky waters, eventually collecting 11 adult turtles.

A temporary home and 15 surprises

The turtles were taken to the San Diego Zoo, where the plan was to hold them until their mountain habitat recovered enough for them to return.

By 2024, the San Gabriel Mountains were looking far better — biologists even found some pond turtles that survived major debris flows.

But right before the turtles were set to go back home, scientists got a surprise.

“Just before we were getting to release, we found a baby turtle, which is amazing,” said Brandon Scott, wildlife care manager of herpetology and ichthyology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “You don't know how long it's going to take to restart that process of them actually being able to breed, with the stress and it's a new habitat.”

A juvenile southwestern pond turtle is weighed before being released to the wild.

(

Ken Bohn

/

Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

)

The turtles and the new baby were all returned to their home in the San Gabriels. But then came another surprise. And another.

“We just continually, every day, started finding a baby in that habitat,” said Scott.

Female southwestern pond turtles lay and bury their eggs in late spring or early summer. Juveniles emerge months later, only about the size of a quarter.

Fifteen babies later, conservation staff were shocked and pleased.

Their goal for the 11 rescued turtles was to make sure they could thrive before being released back into their habitat. “But in the process,” Scott said, “yes, we made it comfortable enough for them to breed.”

A hopeful release

The new generation of southwestern pond turtles was released in April near the spot their parents were rescued from in the San Gabriel River.

Such rescues of vulnerable wildlife are becoming increasingly common in the face of more catastrophic fires. All but two of the biggest fires in recorded history have been in the last 20 years.

Fisher said a similar rescue of pond turtles had occurred only once before, after the 2009 Station Fire in the San Gabriels. That time, the turtles were quickly returned to their habitat.

A staff member of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance releases a juvenile southwestern pond turtle into the San Gabriel River.

(

Ken Bohn

/

Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

)

That rescue, in part, inspired the U.S. Geological Survey to work with the San Diego Zoo to build a conservation habitat for southwestern pond turtles nearly two decades ago. And the Bobcat Fire became the first time it was used for wild rescues, Fisher said.

Ironically, the Bobcat Fire could eventually help the local population, Fisher said.

“We’ve known about [the population] for decades, but it’s not really thriving,” he said. “So this helped give it a head start. And because the fire was so intense, it opened up a lot of habitat.”

With less tree canopy and more sunlight, the cold-blooded reptiles could thrive in warmer waters and on sunnier rocks.

But the new generation is key.

“Because the site was so forested and hadn’t burned in so long, we don’t think they were having good success at breeding,” Fisher said. “Now we think we’ve really enhanced the population by putting more animals out there, especially young animals.”

Scott and Fisher said the saga has inspired preliminary conversations about formalizing breeding efforts to support the population. The little turtles' myriad threats have yet to let up, so they’ll likely need more help in the future.

But at the moment, there’s a little more hope — at least 16 hatchlings and 11 adults' worth of hope, to be exact — for California’s only native freshwater turtle.

Health officials are advising residents to take precautions after a ruptured pipeline released more than 2,000 gallons of crude oil in East Los Angeles on Friday, with oil entering nearby storm drains and the Los Angeles River.

The pipeline burst near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues as crews were installing a fiber optic line, according to the LA County Fire Department. 

The leak has been controlled and is no longer releasing crude oil in the streets, health officials said.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued guidance for residents as agencies continue with cleanup efforts.

Avoid contact: Do not touch or walk through spilled oil or contaminated debris. Keep children and pets away from affected areas.

Skin exposure: If your skin comes into contact with oil, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing.

Odor exposure: If you smell odors outdoors, close windows and doors, turn off HVAC systems and air conditioners that pull in outside air and stay indoors until the odor has passed. After the odor outside is gone, open the windows and doors to air out your home and turn on fans or HVAC system to help ventilate indoor air.

Try to limit exposure to strong odors as much as possible. Odors may cause or worsen:

• Headaches
• Nausea
• Eye, nose, throat irritation
• Dizziness
• Breathing problems (asthma)

Brief exposures usually do not cause long-term health effects, but if you experience severe or persistent symptoms, talk to your medical provider. If you don’t have a medical provider, call the Public Health – Community Health Complaint Line at (626) 430-9821.

Indoor air precautions: Local residents should do their best to prevent odors inside their homes by closing windows and doors and turning off HVAC units until the odor outside has dissipated. After the odor outside is gone, ventilate the home by opening windows and doors, and keep the HVAC system blowing air to vent the home. Limit exposure to odors as much as possible.

At-risk individuals: Monitor those most at risk of developing symptoms, such as older adults, children, pregnant persons and those who are immunocompromised.

Report odors: Complaints of odor can be reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD): (800) 288-7664

With the early history of soccer first documented in England, that's where you'll find the roots of the sport. Not always easy to get there from Los Angeles — but a local British pub with a few locations to choose from brings you close.

The operators of Lucky Baldwins Pub joined AirTalk Friday host Austin Cross to explain what makes their atmosphere special — it's all about the sports and traditional British bites, pints and pasties.

About the owner

Owner-operator Peggy Simonian was working for the British Tourist Authority when they decided to bring a pub to Pasadena. Three years after opening, they got their following after hosting their first Belgian Beer Festival.

What sets their food apart? The beer batter

"I think there's this stigma around British food that it's a little bland," said general manager Patsy Sutton.

She says the fish and chips knock people's socks off — and it all comes down to the beer batter.

They use locally sourced Pacific cod instead of its Atlantic relative and an undisclosed pale ale. This combo drives the taste.

Lucky Baldwins' most popular dish is the fish 'n' chips.

(

Courtesy Peggy Simonian

)

The ultimate experience in the eyes of the owner

 "I like it when it's a nice sunny day outside our patio in Old Towne ... enjoy a nice Belgian beer ... listen to the music and enjoy the California weather," Simonian said.

She added that her go-to beers currently include a Belgian lager, blonde or tripel. It's all about the mood.

Restaurant details

• Lucky Baldwins Pub first opened in 1996 and now has two Pasadena locations and one in Sierra Madre.
• They're an official bar partner with LAFC.
• They host: Pasadena Reds, a local Liverpool FC support group; Los Angeles Hammers, a West Ham FC support group; and Eastside Gooners, a local support group for Arsenal FC.
• They also have special events tied to the Belgian Beer Festival and Oktoberfest.

Menu items we tried

• Fish 'n' Chips — cod dipped in ale batter with a side of steak fries and tartar sauce
• Bangers and Mash — two pork sausages with peas and mashed potatoes (also available with fries).
• Cornish Pastie — a handheld pie with minced meat
• Chicken Curry Pastie — a handheld pie with traditional British chicken curry

What should we try next?