David Brancaccio

And that's saying something, because this neighbor's day job is a manager of a public health project.

Ellen is also our energetic block captain, sharing info, bringing us together to eat and to commiserate.

Some neighbors asked for first names only here so they could speak more freely with insurance and other financial matters in flux.

Reading scientific papers, attending webinar after webinar.

When we caught up in late fall, she was waiting for results from an industrial hygienist.

Lead, asbestos, cadmium.

Ellen's husband, Eric, is a senior engineer for NASA.

Chromium, manganese, lithium.

I may be missing a heavy metal in there somewhere.

Who's paid for the testing that you've done so far?

Our insurance company... She says the insurance people told her no testing was necessary before professional cleaning because the soot's visible and you'll know if it's clean by eyeballing it.

The problem with that argument is that... This smoke wasn't from natural trees and brush.

This smoke contains a suburb with all of its stuff and its junk.

More in a moment.

An analysis of six years of wildfires in California prior to this disaster looked at which houses tend to survive and which don't.

The biggest predictor, the newer the house, the better its chances.

My house was 99 years old.

Terica's house across the street was built a year and a half before the fires.

What'd you do?

Did you borrow, or what'd you do?