The wildfires that burned parts of Southern California last month will likely become the most expensive wildfires in U.S. history.

They also burned a scar through historically black neighborhoods in Altadena.

William Brangam recently visited with families there who are still sifting through the debris and are concerned about what Altadena will look like going forward.

Oh my goodness.

This is a drive that Diane Palais and her family never imagined they'd have to make.

Look at all these homes. Oh my goodness.

They're returning to the charred remains of their beloved neighborhood in Altadena, California.

Look at their whole chimney fell.

Yeah, into our house.

Their house, like hundreds of their neighbors, was devoured by last month's eaten fire.

This is incredible.

Palais' parents bought this house in the 1960s, becoming some of the first black homeowners

in this part of Altadena.

Diane was raised here, and then she and her husband Richard raised their own kids here,

including their daughter Lisa.

And as a matter of fact, right before the fire, we were in process and talks of having Lisa and her husband,

you know, have the house.

So three generations.

Yes.

Now, they're gingerly stepping through what's left of the past,

both their own families and their communities.

It was a lot knowing that our home was gone, but then to see the devastation that we're

...