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() Los Angeles County residents affected by the recent deadly wildfires who have been waiting to return to their property were finally permitted to do so on Tuesday, allowing them to visit what in many cases are ruins and entire communities that need rebuilding.
Residents in communities like Altadena and Pacific Palisades are often returning to mainly flattened piles of toxic debris. They return to their property wearing full hazmat suits as they sift through what is left of their homes in search of memories they can salvage.
Their communities have been on lockdown for weeks now, and residents waiting to return have done so on Tuesday after being in lengthy lines of fellow locals anxious to finally get back to the site of what was once their home.
“Losing a home, I find it’s difficult to cope with,” Haldis Toppel, who lost her home in the Palisades Fire, told . “It’s like losing a person because it is part of your soul.”
Toppel said that she and her husband purchased their home in 1960, 16 years before the couple was married. Her husband died six years ago,
In Altadena, Tuesday also marked the first day that residents were able to return. The community was hit hard by the Eaton Fire, which destroyed even more homes than in Pacific Palisades and also ravaged the community’s beloved downtown district.
The aftermath of the fire has also affected plans for future events such as the Palisades July 4 parade, a beloved summer tradition for local residents who were looking forward to the 77th edition of the Independence Day tradition.
As residents return to their communities and neighborhoods, the Environmental Protection Agency hopes to begin clearing debris in the next few days. That has sparked debate over where the toxic materials that the fires left behind will end up.
Debris left by the Eaton Fire will be taken to a site in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Debris from the Palisades Fire, meanwhile, will be processed in empty lots in Malibu. Both sites are near residential areas, which has led to residents in four communities in the San Gabriel Mountains filing formal complaints about not being consulted before plans for the debris storage were made.
EPA officials have vowed to make resident safety a priority and said that the agency will regularly monitor air quality and will use water trucks to limit the amount of dust and emissions.