January 18 update

Today we took advantage of another relief space offered by the Angel Flight group, letting Autumn play and relax while we got as much work done as possible on the long list of tasks in front of us. We talked with the FEMA inspector at length about the house, going through every room in the house. It seems like a very similar list to what the insurance company asked for on our personal property. Our understanding is FEMA assistance mostly kicks in after the insurance process is done, and may cover things above the insurance limits or otherwise not covered. We expect this to be a long process but were encouraged to begin now to at least get it started when we talked to the FEMA worker in person last week. 

Laura's parents finally got grid power back at their house, right outside the fire zone, today. Gas and good water are still not back. Autumn's daycare told us they hope to be finished with the cleanup from the wind damage next week, and possibly the smoke assessment as well. They plan to have industrial air filters running and to keep the kids inside through at least end of January when they do return. There has been a lot of discussion about the potential dangers of airborne pollutants released with all of the old buildings burning (lead, asbestos, other heavy metals), and no one has yet given a good answer as to when they will be back to pre-fire levels, or where current conditions are being reported. For, now staying inside near a HEPA filter is the most certain way to minimize possible exposure. 

Autumn found another old friend today, courtesy of Knott's Berry Farm. Finally, it seems that a lot of the restricted perimeter has been lifted east of Lake Avenue, and it sounds like it may also be relaxed, at least for former residents, west of Lake where our house was. We are planning to investigate tomorrow and see if we can get back up to our house.