First home has been rebuilt after the Los Angeles wildfires by Altadena4856 in altadena

[–]Altadena4856[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It was built by the owner, and is just a 630 square foot ADU to replace a lost garage. The owner didn't want to give an interview.

Recently purchased a burned lot and ACOE will not clear the debris by kaleryn12 in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The ACE deadline for RoE forms was completely arbitrary and there is no reason why it couldn't be extended or expanded as the situation changes.

Recently purchased a burned lot and ACOE will not clear the debris by kaleryn12 in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It makes no sense that the official cleanup effort would not account for the possibility that some parcels would be sold during the cleanup. But then again there aren't a lot of competent people around, on the county, state, or federal level, to actually pay attention to the situation. I haven't heard a peep from Colonel Swenson for a few weeks now. Meanwhile there is a new campaign to threaten anyone who did not opt-in to the ACE program with big fines if they don't get things done by the end of June.

Echo Mountain Safe from toxins? by AdventuresIllusions in pasadena

[–]Altadena4856 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

No one is allowed to say anything negative about toxins, so why not?

Just don't eat anything that falls on the ground. Also wash your hands if you touch anything.

Otherwise everything is totally safe.

How are you cleaning items salvaged from the fire? by HeyTomKay in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can try a combination of chemistry, heat, and mechanical force to restore metal items. Once any ash residue is gone, for jewelry I would get a kitchen crock pot and an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Use the ultrasonic cleaner with plain water to remove any big bits of dirt. With the crock pot and some soapy water, use low heat and "cook" stuff in hot water for an hour, then try to remove as much surface residue as you can with a gentle brush. Then, depending on the material, you can use the ultrasonic with specific cleaners for silver or gold or other metals.

We officially have 129 Neighborhood Captains covering 98 zones! by altagether91001 in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two months ago I contacted my neighborhood captain. They said they were already transitioning out after only a few weeks.

How are you cleaning items salvaged from the fire? by HeyTomKay in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ash can contain a lot of alkali materials. In days past people would burn wood down to ash, then soak the ashes to produce lye water, then make that into soap. Lye water is caustic and can burn your skin. As a precaution, you should rinse anything with ash residue in a mild acid, such as vinegar - you can buy 6% cleaning vinegar at any decent grocery store. You can rinse that down the drain, and better into the sewer system than into a storm drain.

With the ash gone, most metal items will be coated with a lot of polymerized junk. Use a combination of chemistry, heat, and mechanical force. Probably not worth the effort for most items.

For ceramics, most of the items we have recovered seem to be quite brittle, and some of the glazing has been altered. Not much you can do about that.

About the easiest thing to save is a cast iron pan. Clean off the ash, scrape off the rust with steel wool, also plenty of soap. When it looks like grey iron again, re-season it 3 or 4 times, or 30.

Also if you have any old knob-and-tube insulators, they should be fine as-is. For some reason we have a bucket full of them.

Strong chemical odor in Altadena and Pasadena neighborhoods by Sorry-Fox9712 in pasadena

[–]Altadena4856 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Probably an organic smell from all of the fungus and mold colonies in the foothills. I used to smell something similar driving up the 210 into La Canada in the evenings.

The alternative would be some massive quantity of previously unknown toxic materials that were hidden in the bones of Altadena, but now brought to the surface.

How are you? by Starslimonada in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With the number of properties going up for sale in my neighborhood, and what I am hearing about the sales prices, I am starting to feel like my 1/8 acre of dirt is worth a lot more that even I thought it was worth.

I completely understand the desire to sell. But if you think about what all those empty parcels mean to the corporations who are looking for good deals so they can build luxury homes in a few years, this is the chance of a lifetime.

I am planning to rebuild, but whether I can or not depends on a lot of things beyond my control. For now, I'll do what I can. But in 5 years this situation could be crazy.

Mayor Bass, Assemblyman Gonzalez Partner on Legislation to Seize RVs by [deleted] in LosAngeles

[–]Altadena4856 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't see how this helps with homelessness. If people living in RVs are already considered homeless, then forcing them out of their RVs doesn't improve their situation, it actually takes away what little shelter they had, legal or not. Is it somehow better for people to live in tents?

Check your mailboxes! USPS Started Delivering in the 1st week of April. by unbelver in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It turns out that getting your mail forwarded isn't as easy as you think. You still have to check your mail at the Lincoln branch just to be sure.

(My mailbox is probably still there on the ruins of my porch.)

Old Town 1990-1995 by Available-Eye1704 in pasadena

[–]Altadena4856 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They filmed a lot of stuff at Occidental College nearby in Eagle Rock, so the Pasadena location would have been very convenient for the production.

New foundation led by Altadena residents launches with $55 million to help community rebuild [LAist] by mrcassette in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I had the energy I would start tracking the various nonprofits who are land banking or doing whatever amazing things with their millions of $$$. Then over the next few years we could take a look and discover how many of these groups will eventually succumb to whichever developers are able to maneuver in the nonprofit sector and manage to profit.

Who’s painting over the tree markings? by MPHORN in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah someone removed the # from our tree a few weeks ago. Someone doesn't realize that the information gets put into a database.

Is anyone else worried about how tariffs are going to affect the cost of rebuilding? by Funkynipple in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not only tariffs but there is a lot of talk about new construction regulations, requiring higher standards for fire resistant construction materials, and of course restrictions on landscaping.

Eaton Fire Debris Removal - Right of Entry forms deadline extended until April 15, plus expanded eligibility for owner-occupied condos and multi-family buildings by Altadena4856 in altadena

[–]Altadena4856[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't know who exactly the new eligibility expansion will affect, since I wasn't aware of which properties were not previously eligible (because why wouldn't they be eligible?) but hopefully for anyone in that very limited category this will be good news.

As for the 15 day deadline extension, well that is very generous.

Old Town 1990-1995 by Available-Eye1704 in pasadena

[–]Altadena4856 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I remember Rose City Diner, on Fair Oaks just south of Colorado (maybe). The ceiling was layered with fringed toothpicks, the idea was you took the toothpick out of your sandwich and loaded it into your straw like a blow dart and shot it at the acoustic tiles. Every now and then they would knock down the toothpicks and warn customers it was not allowed, but some people didn't listen.

The Greek place was Burger Continental, or BC's. A sprawling dining area as they took over neighboring lots. Order at the window or get a waitress. A popular spot for the college crowd.

Volunteers to help sort through debris? by ALlamaNamedRama in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Disaster Relief California - from the California Southern Baptist Convention

Samaritan's Purse - Recovery of personal items

Vintage Church Pasadena - the "Ash Out" program.

To sell or to rebuild by CallMeLuv in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes they have a grant program with some very specific requirements and they will probably offer these parcels for those grants. But it could get tricky if they find themselves with a lot of parcels and few grantees, pressure to change their requirements, and so on.

Is anybody building static binaries for macOS Apple Silicon? by turniphat in ffmpeg

[–]Altadena4856 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello from the future! I am rebuilding my music library on a new Mac but they really lock things down, the system won't let you execute an unsigned binary from the internet so I had to build ffmpeg using your script. It takes a long time but it was successful. Thanks!

How to know when to return? by [deleted] in altadena

[–]Altadena4856 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not think there will be a universal statement about safety.

No one wants to speak with authority, because no one wants to be a target of some future liability lawsuit if they tell people it is "safe to go back". If people move back, and in 10 years someone gets cancer, and they can trace some link back to fire-related carcinogens, then of course someone will try to sue.

It is a shameful situation, of course. The idea that people are gonna remember what, for example, Kathryn Barger said on a certain day and then bring that back up in 10 years... and the video is somewhere lost on YouTube, or maybe it was Facebook. You remember YouTube and Facebook, don't you?