They say sock some money away in case of emergency, like the California fires one year ago.

I'm David Brancaccio in Pasadena, California.

This week I've been checking in with my neighbors on my burned street a year after the Hurricane Force firestorm destroyed so much of Altadena, California.

This along with the concurrent fire on the coast in and around Pacific Palisades were the

costliest fires for property damage anywhere ever.

Today, Nurse Pauline, did her house burn or did her house stand in the smoke and the soot?

In Pauline Gray's case, the answer is both at the same time.

It's late fall of our fire year. People from our block gather in a park on a Sunday for lemonade,

iced tea, and burritos donated by home state, a local eatery. Pauline Gray owns the property about five addresses from ours, same side of the street.

The carport burnt down and the fence, but the house is still standing.

My neighbor across the street was instrumental in helping to save my house,

and I just put on a new roof. So with the ventilation system,

no smoke went in the house. So what do you have to do there to make it habitable for somebody?

Well, we're in the process of testing, you know, check through the dust inside. And the house

is going to be 100 years old next year.

So I have two windows that I need to upgrade.

And that was, what, a rental property or do you have family in it?

A rental property.

So where do you live then?

0.8 miles from my rental property.

So 0.8, not even a mile.

Not even a mile.

...