As some evacuees from the Eaton and Palisades fires begin to return home on Wednesday, a week after their neighborhoods were devastated by the destructive blazes, health officials say there's still plenty of cause for concern.
Thousands of homes were destroyed in each fire, leaving countless people without a place to stay. For those that are somehow fortunate enough to return, air quality and safety remain top of mind.
"Our house is standing," said Zoe Kahn, who temporarily had to flee from her Pasadena home last Tuesday when the Eaton Fire erupted to torch more than 14,000 acres. "But, there's significant smoke damage."
Even though their neighborhood is no longer under an evacuation order, she says that her family isn't quite ready to get back.
Related: When is it safe to go home after being evacuated from a Los Angeles fire zone? Here's what to know
"We are having our house professionally cleaned, and then hiring an industrial hygienist to assess any toxins that are in the home still so that we can make sure it's safe for us to move back in," she said.
The Kahn's are just one of many local families living near burn scars that are concerned about what they can't see and what dangerous chemicals may still remain.
"We do not emphasize enough that you are breathing in particles that you cannot see," said Jane Williams, the Executive Director of the California Communities Against Toxics during a webinar with air quality and public health experts on Wednesday. "The air quality index does not tell you they're there. But when you breathe them in, even for relatively short periods of time, they get lodged inside your lungs and have enormous public health impacts."
The widespread acknowledgement of these concerns has many residents taking a proactive approach to when and how they'll return home.
Some companies like SOS Restoration were seen late into Wednesday cleaning homes across Pasadena.
"We got a lot of people calling for the same thing. We have about over 20 jobs right now, only in this zip code," said Itay Gamliel, the company's owner.
In some cases, they say that teams will have to rip out the insulation and the heating and air conditioning systems in a home before they can scrub everything. That way they can properly deal with the odor and particulate damage inside.
While she waits for her home to be finished, Kahn said that she's one of many frustrated by the lack of information coming from local leaders about the air quality and toxins that might be affecting millions.
"We haven't really gotten any information. Just general information that it's unsafe," she said. "But we don't know how far away from the burn site is deemed unsafe. And how will we know when it's safe again? You know, we can test our homes, but what about the public parks?"
One expert believes that things will get better.
"The particles that are larger are going to settle. A lot of them have already settled. As soon as the rain comes it'll all settle down," said Dr. Rania Sabty, a program manager with UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program. "So concern about asbestos in the air will continue to go down as time goes down."