Toxic dangers linger inside couple’s Altadena home that survived Eaton Fire​on February 12, 2025 at 1:24 pm

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) — The Eaton Fire reduced neighborhoods to rubble, and for those whose homes survived the flames, not much is left.

For Kate Praocam and Ron Lomas, their Altadena home is still standing – but it didn’t escape the invisible damage from the destructive blaze.

“I’m still having a really difficult time processing it,” Lomas said. “We’re probably not going to be able to keep anything.”

The toxic smoke of the blaze – full of lead and asbestos from the thousands of older homes that burned – penetrated the couple’s entire structure all the way to the studs.

“A lot of things we can’t see in the walls,” Praocam said. “The flooring apparently all has to be torn out now. Anything with padding is gone, destroyed. We were told 70% of the house will have to be rebuilt.”

Praocam and Lomas aren’t alone.

Rachel and Kevin Corcoran’s home looks unscathed from the outside, but inside there’s untold toxic damage.

“I don’t know what we’ll get to keep. I don’t know how much of our interior we have to take out and destroy,” Rachel Corcoran said. “I know all the soft things, soft furniture is destroyed and can’t be kept. We too are starting all over, but we don’t even know the extent of it yet.”

What makes it especially difficult for these so-called fire survivors is the damage isn’t visible. You can’t see or smell the dangerous chemicals now baked into their homes. They’re left with nothing even though their houses are standing.

“It is difficult because people don’t realize that, yeah, our house is here, but we kind of don’t really have a house,” Lomas said.

A GoFundMe campaign has been created to help Kate Praocam and Ron Lomas in their recovery efforts.