The project with All Hands & Hearts (https://www.allhandsandhearts.org/programs/california-wildfire-relief/) in Los Angeles is supporting affected communities after the wildfires in January 2025. And while the fires made the news because some very rich and very famous people had their houses burned down in the Pacific Palisades area of LA, there were also a lot of not-rich and not-famous people who were affected. The devastation doesn’t just include houses that were destroyed. There are also homes that had a thick blanket of really nasty black smoke hovering inside them for 10 days while fires raged around. Since these fires weren’t simply vegetation (a lot of homes, cars, etc) the smoke contained a lot of unpleasant and dangerous particulates – think lead and arsenic. Many people have been displaced since the fires and are unable to return to their homes until the interiors and all the contents can be cleaned.
That smoke remediation is one of the things All Hands & Hearts is doing here. We are working with partner organisations to provide smoke remediation services for people in Pasadena, Altadena and the Palisades who aren’t able to access these services themselves or through their insurance.
Smoke remediation is not glamorous, it’s not fun, it’s hot, it’s repetitive, it’s tedious. It’s hard because we are in full PPE (personal protective equipment) for several hours a day and the Tyvek suit and respirator mask are hot and it’s hard to breathe and hard to move within them. Two pairs of disposable gloves (the inside pair are taped to the suit) mean that one’s fingers turn into prunes fairly quickly as one marinates in one’s own sweat. While a gentle sheen of perspiration on one’s upper lip may be reasonably common, in a respirator mask one cannot wipe it away, and it’s not just a light sheen.
Sometimes we are cleaning the insides of the homes and sometimes we are cleaning personal items, and sometimes both. And the particles we are cleaning are invisible to the naked eye. In most cases we start by vacuuming the surface (or object) with a strong vacuum (with a HEPA filter). We then use a solvent cleaner and wipe the surface or item with that. Because that solvent can cause skin irritation (though it’s not dangerous long term) we wipe the surface or object with a damp cloth to clean the solvent off. Not everything can be treated this way, so there are some exceptions. We treat children’s toys and things that will have food on them slightly differently. And we have to take particular care of things like books, paintings, fabrics, etc as they are porous and we can’t always use the solvent on them. Once things are cleaned they are put into clean boxes or are wrapped in plastic. In some cases, the family has rented a pod (shipping container) that the clean things are being Tetrised into (yes, Tetris is a verb now) while the house itself is emptied and cleaned.
We’re not doing smoke remediation on our own. We are working with other organisations including some paid local workers (https://ndlon.org/; https://www.coreresponse.org/; https://firepoppyproject.org/). So we’re sharing best practice with each other as we work, which is a delight.
We’re not just doing smoke remediation. We’re also working with a few local partners who run distribution sites. One organisation, A Sense Of Home (https://asenseofhome.org/) provides home furniture, soft goods and home décor for families who have lost everything. Another, 24LA (https://24la.org/) distributes clothing and other personal items, but does so by offering a shopping experience where people get to come in and browse and select sizes, styles, brands they like. So sometimes, as a break from the Tyvek, we get to visit these centres and help with arranging things in the warehouses etc.
Those reading this who know me well, will also be unsurprised to hear that I’m spending as much time as possible up to my elbows in spreadsheets for us or for our partner organisations (I’m not specifically looking for an excuse to get out of vacuuming and wiping Christmas ornaments, but if that’s what has to happen then who am I to say no).
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