Anita Ghazarian and Simon Penny live in a house on the westernmost edge of Altadena—missed by the flames from the catastrophic Eaton Fire, but still close enough to be blanketed in ash. Farther east, in the burn zone, they own a house they rent out, which was minimally damaged.
As soon as the electricity comes back on, Ghazarian’s insurance adjuster told her, the rental house is considered habitable.
“How can I tell my tenants to move back into a house where the entire backyard is filled with ash and broken stuff and the houses around it are all burn zones? Are the kids going to play in that backyard?” Ghazarian asked.
In a maze of online maps, residents can find themselves in an uncertain space: Their house might be in an EPA “normal” zone, meaning it has been repopulated after evacuations, and also marked green on a county map (showing no or minimal damage), and yet surrounded by obliterated structures and covered in ash.
Such intact structures risk being cross-contaminated by nearby burned structures, according to research from the University of Colorado at Boulder that looked at health effects of smoke in homes after the Marshall Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in 2021.
After Colorado’s Marshall Fire, more than half of the hundreds of people surveyed experienced symptoms from wildfire smoke six months after the fire, and continue to report symptoms even after extensive remediation.
Homes untouched by the fires had high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including benzene and toluene, carried in by ash and smoke from the homes that did burn.
In scope and scale, the Los Angeles disaster dwarfs the tragic Marshall Fire, and threatens a commensurate environmental crisis.
Los Angeles County’s two major fires, in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, burned through 40,000 acres, about 60 square miles, and killed 25 people, destroying more than 16,000 structures and reducing whole neighborhoods to rubble. […]
— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com
At Last, a Company With Integrity in the Gold IRA Industry
For several years, I’ve been vetting out precious metals companies in search of the best. I believe in gold and silver but it’s hard to find integrity in the Gold IRA industry. The vast majority operate with shady tactics and gigantic spreads that take advantage of Americans who simply want to protect their life’s savings.
I’ve found a handful that I like and I’ve worked with some of them. By no means would I “unrecommend” them because, again, I vetted them out and found them to be above the fold. Unfortunately, it isn’t hard to be better than the rest when the rest are so darn awful.
After years of searching, I finally found a company that truly operates with integrity. Augusta Precious Metals has three important attributes that set them far above the competition:
- Non-Commissioned Sales Team: I cannot stress how important and unique this is. With just about every other company in the Gold IRA industry, the sales teams make commission from every account they open. This means they steer their clients toward the gold and silver products with the highest commission. With Augusta Precious Metals, the team is solely focused on putting the best gold and silver for their clients into their IRA. They get paid to serve the best interests of the Gold IRA client, NOT their own commission pay.
- Incredibly Low Fees: Most Americans would be shocked if they knew the spread other Gold IRA companies charge. Augusta charges just 5% versus up to 45% elsewhere.
- No Pressure, No Gimmicks: There’s an understanding among most in the Gold IRA industry that fear and pressure is the way to go. Augusta Precious Metals takes a sober approach when working with clients because they hold integrity in the highest possible regard. This is why they don’t offer gimmicks like “free” or “bonus” silver. It’s also why they do not apply pressure tactics to get quick sales. Their educational and transparent approach to doing business is exceedingly rare in the Gold IRA industry.