Los Angeles – As forest fires were enraged just kilometers away, Steven Otero watched Ash raining in each article in his house, which is a tent in Skid Row.
Even their food and water were not safe from the toxic flood.
“I took a cup of water, and I was full of ashes in just minutes,” he said.
Although Otero said he has no underlying health problems or respiratory disease Less 47 people and destroying 16,255 houses.
“He felt like the short appearance you have when you finish swimming and salts of the pool,” he said.
While many angelenos protected themselves from the unhealthy effects of fires when staying inside, wearing masks and drinking bottled water, people without being braking in skid row do not have those options, they said.
NBC Los Angeles discovered that many Skid Row residents trust fire hydrants, which hit illegally, such as their water source.
Non -profit initiatives, such as Water Drop la and the place of update, are trying to fill the void providing clean drinking water and N95 masks to people living in Skid Row.
Sade Kammen, an organizer with water drop, said that the 3,791 skid Row residents have access to only nine public water sources, and many of them are often broken. Since it began in 2020, the water drop has delivered 2,200 gallons of water to Skid Row per week for 236 consecutive weeks, he said.
“We bring more than 100,000 gallons of water a year that would not be there otherwise,” Kammen said.
On Sunday, when Los Angeles received their first rain of the year, the water fall volunteers met in a parking lot from the University of Southern California in the torrential rain to download water bottles from the U-Haul trucks and package them in Volunteer cars.
“I’ve been on my route for years,” said volunteer Claire Beltramo. “I am a friend of the people in my streets.”

While the volunteers were driving up and went down for South Central Avenue, some homeless people waited in the corners of the streets for Beltramo’s car. They asked for masks, snacks and female hygiene products, as well as water.
Part of the worst air quality in the city was the city center during the fires, said Kathryn Prociv, a nbc new meteorologist.
“For several days after the fires broke out, the highest levels of contaminants were sitting in the center of Los Angeles,” said Prociv, referring to the air quality index.
The hurricane force winds that fed forest fires also destroyed the stores of many residents, said Samson Tafolo, an organizer of the Sidewalk project, an organization of services for homeless.
“The winds have been terrible,” Tafolo said. “They have been broken down to everyone’s tents.”
His group and others have been establishing cribs in supplies distribution centers to temporarily house those who lost their tents or needed to escape the smoke.
Health officials of Los Angeles County issued notices of “not drinking” or “not boiling” for communities near the fires of Palisades and Eaton because the chemicals that cause cancer could have entered the municipal water system.
The water of fire hydrants is not always potable, Kammen said, and people did not often cannot afford to buy bottled water.
“Especially at this time, when all angels distrust their water quality, people shouldn’t have to drink hydrant water,” he said.

The Refresh Spot, an initiative of the Social Services Organization, health care for homeless people Los Angeles, provides access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, showers, bathrooms, laundry and drinking water facilities, And he has also been delivering masks and encouraging people to spend time inside.
Stephany Campos, who supervises the program, said that due to the driest winter months than usual and water quality concerns, they have already seen people take advantage of fire hydrants. He said that places like the place of update and mobile efforts such as water drop filled some of the water needs in Skid Row, but “we need more accessible and well -maintained sources in each corner.”
For now, Water Drop volunteers will continue to lead the community every Sunday, Kammen said.
“Every time there is a meteorological deviation, people without changes are in mode of crisis,” he said. “But people have lost a lot for winds and fires.”