Sign this petition to demand clear safety standards for Eaton Fire recovery. Also, please reach out to the decisions makers and stakeholders noted at the end of this petition directly for the biggest impact. 

Summary
Folks who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire face a deep loss. However it is a clear and obvious one. Those of us with homes and schools in close proximity to significant fire damage that are still standing however are lucky and thankful but also face a unique and less clear cut challenge: when is it safe and advisable to return home? Given the estimates of damaged structures is in the many thousands, there are many thousands more properties within close proximity to the Eaton Fire that remain uninhabitable or at risk of contamination. 

Current state and local guidelines do not address cross-contamination risks from neighboring fire-damaged structures, leaving homeowners uncertain about when it is safe to return. We need clear government guidance on the risks involved at different distances from different levels of damage. We need clear state and local rules to help homeowners, schools, and insurers make safe and informed decisions. The community needs local, state and federal officials to shape such guidelines to effectively address our concerns. Without proper remediation, residents could face long-term exposure to hazardous materials, increasing healthcare costs and community displacement.

The goal here is not to keep people from their homes, it is to establish clear criteria for the risks involved in doing so and to give people and insurance companies clear guidance on when a property is unsafe enough to deem it unlivable or unusable. Our families, homeowners, business owners and employees all deserve to return to homes and properties that are truly safe, where our children can play, where our neighbors can walk their dogs and enjoy their homes without fear of toxic exposure. 

Goals

We seek clear, enforceable guidelines for safe reoccupation and remediation of fire-affected homes.

The goal here is not to keep people from their homes. Instead we demand official guidelines clarifying for homeowners and insurers what is safe when. Everyone should be able to move back to their homes when they are comfortable with the risks. The aim here is to give folks tools to help guide their own actions and hold insurers to what is the safe standard and push our collective efforts to be most effective. Choice ultimately should lie with the homeowner if they want to return early, but we don’t want homeowners to be forced home sooner than is safe. 

Demands
The lack of guidance in these areas puts public health at risk, we demand immediate guidance on these issues. We demand a public meeting with officials within 14 days to establish a timeline for creating and implementing these guidelines.

1. Remediation Standards
   Set clear rules for how far cleanup must be from homes to prevent recontamination.
2. Remediation should only happen after structures with fire damage have been properly cleaned up within a certain radius of any home, school or property without direct fire damage.
3. The standard for remediation should be to the standard for Human Habitation not OSHA standards.
4. Any steps, rules, guidelines recommended by experts avoid remediation before cleanup which will simply recontaminate nearby properties.
5. Clear guidance to homeowners, schools and insurers on the risks and safety conditions in homes within a certain distance of significant fire damage to structures and the ongoing risk as cleanup gets underway.
6. Clear guidelines for tenants and landlords for remediation.

Testing

1. Define minimum guidelines for testing. 
2. Testing should happen before remediation and include testing for all substances known or expected to be in the air by the public health and environmental agencies (lead, arsenic, asbestos, etc.).
3. Testing may determine the type of cleanup or whether cleanup is even tenable.
4. Define at what levels for certain substances a property and its contents are a “total loss”, severe damage, moderate etc. for each substance.
5. Soil testing and remediation if necessary should be required for homes, parks, schools with proximity to significant damage.

Insurance and Restoration Companies

1. Establish clear criteria for what is salvageable and not.
2. Establish clear guidelines for how to deal with porous materials and the effectiveness of CDRN and other processes for addressing textiles and porous materials with substantial smoke damage.
3. Establish clear protections for ALE and loss of use for home owners with smoke, soot and ash damage.
4. For folks with homes and schools still intact but still at high safety risk for toxicity due to proximity to burned structures Insurers should have to accommodate loss of use for the duration of cleanup for damaged structures within a certain distance of the home.
5. We want direct guidance to when and how to start remediation accounting for all fire damaged structures within a safe radius have been completely cleaned up and tested.
6. This will not only protect homeowners but will reduce the long term healthcare burden that widespread exposure to these toxins can bring and will streamline claims processing and reduce disputes. With these clear standards, families can plan their return safely and confidently.

References

Coalition for Clean Air
Summary: A report on the health impacts of California wildfires highlights the persistence of toxic pollutants like lead, arsenic, and dioxins in post-fire environments. It emphasizes the need for thorough testing and remediation before reoccupation.
Webinar Summary | YouTube Recording

Caltech Faculty Weigh in
Summary: Dr. Paul Wennberg and Mike Brown underscore the contamination risks posed by fire ash, particularly heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Their findings highlight the importance of pre-remediation testing using advanced tools like XRF for accurate assessments.
Article

9/11, Lahaina and Marshal Fire Cleanup
Summary: Case studies from the 9/11 World Trade Center cleanup and the Lahaina wildfire demonstrate the long-term health impacts of inadequate initial remediation. Lessons learned include the necessity of air and soil testing for asbestos, VOCs, and heavy metals, as well as the importance of community involvement in setting safety standards.
Asbestos.com Overview | NIH Study | Civil Beat Article | Marshal Study

California Code for Human Habitability
Summary: California’s habitability standards require homes to meet stringent safety and sanitation criteria to be deemed livable. These standards should guide post-fire remediation to ensure safe reoccupation.
Full Legal Text

Decision Makers

Please email, contact and call as many of these groups and individuals as possible. Please find a spreadsheet with their information here. 

Gavin Newsom
Pasadena Public Health
California Department of Public Health
LA County Public Health
LA Board of Supervisors
Pasadena City Council
Altadena Town Council

Pasadena Unified School District

Stakeholders
People who may be able to influence decision makers politically.

Rep. Judy Chu
Sen. Adam Schiff
Sen. Alex Padilla 
State Assembly Member John Harebedian
State Senator Sasha Renee Perez 
Pasadena Public Works
LA Public Works
Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD)
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire)
LACoFD Health Hazardous Materials Division (HHMD)
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)
Clean Air Coalition
2025.eaton@firenet.gov 
Altadena Town Council 
LA County Department of Public Health

All Decision Makers and Stakeholders will be directly contacted by the petition organizers, but we strongly urge you to reach out to them as well. 

A Google doc of this petition letter is kept here, feel free to comment there for suggestions.