In the fire zones, an immigrant workforce warily carries out cleanups

"Ash still clings to the windowsills of the gray home in Altadena, nine months after an inferno ripped the community apart. The couple who rents the house has moved 15 times with their newborn since January as their place of solace for the last decade has awaited testing and remediation to clear it of toxic material and debris. Help has finally arrived. Wearing white hazmat suits that cover them from head to toe, gloves, respirator masks and goggles, a group of workers enters the residence."

"When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed its debris removal in Altadena after January's fire tore through the town, the task to clean what survived didn't stop. Hundreds of smoke-damaged and ash-filled homes remained standing on streets where others burned. These efforts to clean them have largely been carried out by immigrant workers who have not just risked their health while clearing homes of toxic material and debris but, with ongoing raids, the lives they have built in California."

"They meticulously vacuum, and scrub the walls, windows, baseboards and floors, clearing every open surface and precious possession of reminders of the Eaton fire. Ricardo Melo has overseen more than 100 cleanups in Altadena and 25 in Pacific Palisades. He works for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and said those he supervises have emigrated from Mexico, Central America and South America. Despite fears of deportation, his teams have continued to show up."

Ash still clings to windowsills in Altadena nine months after the inferno. A couple who rents a gray home moved 15 times with their newborn while the house awaited testing and remediation for toxic material. The Army Corps of Engineers completed debris removal, but hundreds of smoke-damaged, ash-filled homes remained. Immigrant workers have carried out cleanups, wearing hazmat suits, respirators and goggles while vacuuming and scrubbing walls, windows, baseboards and floors. Teams overseen by Ricardo Melo include workers from Mexico, Central and South America who continue showing up despite fears of deportation and ongoing enforcement raids.

Read at Los Angeles Times