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The same can be said for the surrounding foothill communities, such as La Cañada Flintridge or Sierra Madre, where a dry, windy day could put them at the same risk for disaster.

To the east in Sierra Madre, 40 homes sold in the first five months of the year compared with 28 in 2024.

In mid-May, the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, which serves Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre, identified some 1,475 pools in the burn zone as “nonfunctional” — meaning they contained stagnant water due to ash and debris, damaged equipment, or the homeowner’s inability to maintain the pool at the moment.

During the meeting, Sierra Madre resident Wendy Davis, a retired attorney whose house was spared by the Eaton fire but suffered smoke damage, read the exact description of her State Farm policy:

“They delayed from the outset,” Davis told me when I met with her and her husband, Mike Noll, at their Sierra Madre home, which is still having contaminants cleared out.