SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Eaton fires burned thousands of homes in Altadena. In many cases, the only thing left standing was a chimney. And many of those chimneys were adorned with fireplace tiles from more than a century ago. Evan Jacoby with LAist News reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
EVAN JACOBY: On Palm Street in Altadena, a home that once stood behind a lush courtyard is now a blackened jumble of rubble and stray nails. You enter through what would have been a wall.
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JACOBY: But the chimney is still standing.
CLIFF DOUGLAS: I'm Cliff Douglas, and we're removing some of the Batchelder art deco tiles that survived the fires.
JACOBY: Douglas is one of the co-founders of a volunteer group called Save the Tiles. In the 1920s, when Altadena was growing rapidly, some of the biggest tile makers in the American Arts and Crafts movement - like Ernest Batchelder - were designing tiles for fireplaces in new construction.
DOUGLAS: Devon, I need you to hold the bottom of the deco, and she's going to hold the front.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Here, you want both tools, right?
DOUGLAS: Yeah, I need my tools.
JACOBY: Altadena is currently in the second phase of its cleanup, where the Army Corps of Engineers will scour each lot down to the topsoil.
ERIC GARLAND: Without intervention, bulldozers will clear everything you see here.
JACOBY: This is Eric Garland, another co-founder of Save the Tiles.
GARLAND: And when they do, what will be lost is not only the very last of old Altadena but, for that homeowner, emotionally priceless artwork. You know, we're hearing from so many homeowners, if you could save even one tile, it would be the only thing I have left.
JACOBY: Dozens of volunteers have helped map where all these historic tiles are and are now helping remove them.
DOUGLAS: They're beautiful pieces of art, and we're just trying to bring them back to life again.
JACOBY: But Cliff says it's not easy work, even for a skilled mason. Chimneys can be unstable and tiles are prone to cracking. There's an art and a science to safely removing them.
DOUGLAS: The art is just trying to be able to feel the tile. Listen with your ears. Is it hollow behind it? Is it solid? Is it coming loose? Is it starting to pull away? The science is, gosh, just a lot of trial and error.
JACOBY: The homeowners, Carie Lewis and Christoph Basset have the blueprints for this original craftsman home. They hope to build it back as best they can, including the fireplace.
CARIE LEWIS: It won't be identical because we will no longer be able to do a wood-burning fireplace, but it'll look the same.
CHRISTOPH BASSET: So maybe it'll be, you know, a bit of new and a bit of really ancient coming back together.
JACOBY: For NPR News, I'm Evan Jacoby in Altadena. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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