Fire, Smoke and Water Damage Restoration in Pacific Palisades

The Palisades Fire started at 10:30 a.m. on January 7, 2025, and by the time CAL FIRE declared it contained on January 31 it had burned 23,448 acres. CAL FIRE counts 6,845 structures destroyed and 975 damaged, and twelve people lost their lives. Behind those numbers are neighbors, schools, churches and businesses this community is still grieving, and a long recovery that is far from finished.

Our work in the Palisades is in the homes that are still standing. That includes the damaged houses in CAL FIRE's count and many more that show nothing from the street. Smoke and ash travel through attic vents, gaps around windows, chimneys and the air handling system, and they settle in insulation, ductwork, closets, cabinets, carpet and upholstery. A house can look clean in the living room and carry heavy residue in the attic.

The order of work matters more than speed. Document the house first, room by room, before anything is wiped, washed or aired out, and keep the air filter as dated evidence. Testing by an independent industrial hygienist before cleanup tells everyone what is in the dust and gives a standard to check the finished work against; testing in surviving Palisades homes has found contaminants in settled dust that call for special handling.

The cleanup itself, as described in surviving Palisades homes, can include clearing attic insulation, cleaning the ducts, running air scrubbers and cleaning surfaces with HEPA vacuums and chemical sponges. We do that work under containment, with our technicians in protective equipment, and finish with odor treatment so the smell does not return the first warm afternoon. The county's own guidance for ash is gentle sweeping followed by wet mopping or HEPA vacuuming, and on January 23, 2025 its Health Officer kept power blowers banned inside the Palisades and Eaton fire perimeters.

Contents get the same care. Clothing, bedding, rugs, upholstered furniture, papers and keepsakes hold smoke odor long after the walls are clean. We pack out what can be cleaned, photograph and inventory every item as it leaves, clean it off site with methods suited to each material, and store it until the house is ready. The inventory is also the list your carrier will ask for.

Fire leaves water behind too. Hoses, broken supply lines and failed pipes put water into houses that the flames never reached. In mid-January 2025 a house above Pacific Coast Highway that came through the fire was split by a landslide and red-tagged; LAFD described the infrastructure above it as compromised, with water still flowing. Water left in a closed house for weeks becomes a mold problem, so we take moisture readings in every standing home we clean, not only the ones with a visible leak.

The hills above the homes changed as well. LA County's Public Works director warned in January 2025 that the watershed damage would bring massive debris-laden flows when it rained. On February 7, 2025, rain sent a small mudslide down onto Palisades Drive past the K-rails placed there, and Pacific Coast Highway stayed closed from Chautauqua Boulevard to Carbon Beach Terrace. Mud that gets into a house carries ash and debris with it and is handled as contaminated from the start.

If you are returning to a house that stood, wear an N95 or better, keep children and pets out until it has been assessed, do not run the air conditioning or furnace until the filter and ducts are checked, and photograph every room, the attic and the garage before anything is moved or thrown out. Keep receipts for hotels, rentals and supplies.

On insurance, we document the loss, estimate our own scope of work, and can bill your carrier directly for our services. Whether smoke cleanup or testing is paid is your carrier's decision, and coverage questions belong to your carrier, your agent or a public adjuster you hire; our explainer on California's new smoke damage laws covers what changed. We respond anywhere in Los Angeles, Orange County and Riverside around the clock, our technicians hold IICRC certifications in fire and smoke restoration and odor control, we work in English and Spanish, and the first inspection is free.