The fire was miles away. Why is there ash?
Smoke plumes carry fine ash for miles. No house in Santa Ana is sealed tightly enough to keep it out. It drifts in through the gaps that always let air in, and your heating and air system moves it around.
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How does it get inside?
A house is not a sealed box, and ash is small.
A canyon fire lifts particles thousands of feet and the wind takes them along. They come down over streets that never saw a flame.
The gray flakes on the patio table are the visible half. The other half you notice when afternoon light comes sideways across a counter.
Houses breathe whether you want them to or not. Warm air leaves through the attic hatch and the recessed lights, and an equal volume gets pulled in low.
Where does it come in?
Low, through the openings nobody thinks of as openings.
- Under the front door and along the slider track
- Past the flap on the dryer vent
- Around a window frame that has settled since it was installed
- Through the eave vents, into the attic and the blown insulation
A newer house in Irvine leaks less than an older one downtown. Neither is airtight, and neither is close.
A vented attic is outdoor air with a roof over it. The ceiling below it is drywall with dozens of penetrations in it.
Will it keep coming in?
While ash sits on the roof and the yard, yes.
Every time the door opens you bring some with you. Shoes carry it, and the dog carries it on his paws and his coat. A car that sat outside carries it in on the seats.
That is why the outside of the house is worth dealing with, even though the inside is what bothers you.
Is wildfire ash the same as soot?
No, and the difference changes how you clean.
Ash from burned brush is dry, light and gritty, and it mostly sits on top of a surface. Soot from a structure fire is oily, smears when touched, and grabs onto paint.
That soot comes largely from plastics, foam, carpet backing and cabinetry. Its smell wakes up again when a room gets warm or humid.
What follows from that?
Two things: do not scrub dry, and do not wet it.
Wildfire ash is abrasive. Dragging a dry rag across a countertop puts fine scratches in it.
Wood ash is alkaline, so adding water before you lift the dry material makes a caustic paste. That paste drives into grout, stone and finish instead of coming off.
Fires here burn houses, sheds, fences and cars along with the brush. Nobody can look at gray dust on a shelf and tell you what is in it.
What did the system do?
If it ran, it distributed the ash and kept some.
It pulled indoor air through the return, across a filter, and pushed it back out through every register. A one-inch filter is built to keep the equipment clean, not to catch this.
Most of the fine fraction went straight through. It settled in the blower housing, on the cold coil, and along the flex duct in your attic.
How do I tell it happened?
Look at the ceiling right around a supply register.
A faint gray fan shape spreading away from the vent is the tell. So is a dark outline around the return grille.
Then notice what the first two minutes smell like when the system kicks on after sitting idle. That is the ductwork talking, not the room.
Should the system run?
It depends entirely on when you are asking.
While smoke is still outside and you are closed up, run the fan. Use the best filter the equipment will take, because it keeps pulling room air through something.
After the event is different. Running it before you change the filter hands back what settled in the ducts to every room you just wiped.
Change the filter first. If the ducts themselves are loaded, cleaning the house twice will feel like a wasted weekend.
What comes before cleaning?
Photograph everything, then dress for it.
Room by room, wide first and then close on the surfaces where the film is obvious. Do it even if you are certain you will never file anything.
- A fitted N95, because a surgical mask filters almost none of this
- Gloves and long sleeves, since alkaline ash irritates skin
- Kids and pets out of the room you are working in
- Clothes changed and washed separately, then rinse the washer
- Shoes off at the door for the next few weeks, and mean it
No mask seals on a bearded face or on a child. Floors are where this settles, and a crawling baby lives at floor level.
What makes it worse?
Sweeping dry, blowers, and the wrong vacuum.
A leaf blower on the driveway lifts everything you were about to remove and sends it back at the house.
A household vacuum without a sealed HEPA filter passes the particles through the bag and out the exhaust at speed.
And do not open every window because the sky looks clear. The sky is a poor instrument after a fire, so check an air quality reading for your ZIP code.
What order do I clean in?
Top down, dry before wet, and slowly.
- Light fixtures, fan blades, the tops of cabinets and the refrigerator
- Shelves and furniture, working downward through the room
- HEPA vacuum with the brush head, at half the speed that feels natural
- Damp microfiber with plain water, rinsed often and changed often
- New filter in the system, then run the fan and let it settle
- Vacuum the floors again the next day, because there will be more
Speed is what turns settled ash back into airborne ash. On sofas and mattresses use the upholstery tool rather than pressing a nozzle in.
Test one inconspicuous patch of painted wall before you commit to the whole room.
Outside, rinse rather than blast. Pressure washing atomizes ash and sends the runoff into the storm drain, which in this county empties toward the ocean.
When is it just housekeeping?
When the film sits on hard surfaces and nothing smells.
- No smoke smell when the house warms up
- Closets and dresser drawers clean inside
- The system was off, or you already replaced the filter
- A white cloth pressed on the sofa arm comes away clean
That test takes about a minute and it settles most of these.
When is it not?
When the smell keeps returning, especially on warm days.
- Gray staining at the registers or on the ceiling
- Ash that reached the attic insulation
- Ash that got wet before anyone touched it
- Chunks of roofing and charred material in the yard
Set-in residue in surfaces and ductwork is a different job from housekeeping. That is what the fire and smoke crews are for.
What can nobody tell from a photo?
Whether the ash in your house is harmful.
Laboratory testing exists, and reading a result for the people living there is a specialist’s call.
We will not tell you your children are fine because the counter looks clean.
What your insurance does with this is also not ours. Your own policy is the only version that counts.
And we cannot promise a smell is gone for good. The real test is the first hot afternoon after. Everything written for Orange County homeowners sits in the guides.
Garage Water Heater Burst: How Bad Is It?
Santa Ana Permits Before the Wall Closes
Condo Pipe Burst: HOA's Problem or Mine?
What you are aiming at is a house that smells of nothing on the first hot afternoon after all this. Santa Ana, (949) 522-4470, whatever the hour.
Water, fire, smoke, mold, storm and sewage cleanup for Santa Ana and the Orange County cities around it. Any hour, any day. Se habla español.