LOS ANGELES—Anita Ghazarian and Simon Penny live in a house on the westernmost edge of Altadena—missed by the flames from the catastrophic Eaton Fire, but still close enough to be blanketed in ash. Farther east, in the burn zone, they own a house they rent out, which was minimally damaged.

As soon as the electricity comes back on, Ghazarian’s insurance adjuster told her, the rental house is considered habitable.