The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that it won’t order soil testing at properties damaged by the Eaton and Palisades fires after they have been cleaned by private federal contractors — breaking with a long-standing safeguard to ensure no lingering contamination is left behind after wildfires.
Federal and state agencies have called for soil samples to be collected and analyzed at homes and schools cleaned by work crews after nearly every major wildfire in California for the last two decades.
The process, known as confirmation sampling, is intended to verify that the soil at these properties no longer harbors toxic chemicals above the state’s cleanup standards once toxic-laden ash and rubble are removed, along with up to six inches of topsoil.
But now, on the heels of the most costly wildfires in the state’s history, Army Corps officials are saying that excavating six inches of topsoil is enough to rid fire-devastated properties of hazardous pollution.
At a news conference in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, Army Corps Col. Eric Swenson explained the decision by saying soil sampling wasn’t authorized in this disaster response.
“When the state does a request for direct federal assistance … they make that request of [the Federal Emergency Management Agency],” Swenson said. “And we get brought on to do a specific scope. And so these are the limits of what we can do under this disaster.”
Federal cleanup crews clear debris from an Altadena home destroyed in the Eaton fire.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Army Corps is told “‘these are our instructions and guidelines,’ and we have to stick to those guidelines,” he added.
FEMA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles County officials expressed surprise over the Army Corps’ decision.
“We’re going to sit down and talk about this, because this is a concern,” said Kathryn Barger, chair of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. “We don’t want to discount it. … So we’re gonna have to regroup and figure this one out.”
The move will probably shift the burden to homeowners, businesses and school districts to pay for testing and to potentially arrange for more contaminated soil to be removed. Under California policy, contaminated soil should be removed until wildfire-affected properties come under state limits for toxic contamination, according to wildfire experts.
“If they’re not willing to do confirmatory sampling, that tells us they’re willing to leave the properties contaminated,” said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics. “They’re willing to leave people at risk.”
Federal cleanup crews clear debris from a home on West Palm Street in Altadena.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Earlier this week, Swenson told reporters that the removal of six inches of topsoil “is an acceptable level of debris to remove to ensure that we get any of the hazards that may have fallen on the topsoil as a result of the fire.”
But that assertion appears to conflict with previous analyses that show dangerous levels of chemicals even after the federal cleanup workers clear a layer of topsoil.
During the cleanup of the 2018 Camp fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise in Northern California’s Butte County, Pasadena-based consulting firm Tetra Tech was hired to test the soil on nearly 12,500 properties after the cleanup crews finished removing six inches of topsoil. About a third of the properties — more than 4,200 — still had toxic chemicals in excess of the state’s cleanup standards, including brain-damaging lead and cancer-causing arsenic.
In light of the soil testing, workers returned to those properties — in one case, as many as five times — to dig out more contaminated soil in an effort to meet California’s cleanup standards.
Without soil testing, the Army Corps won’t return to conduct additional soil removal in the Eaton and Palisades fire areas.
“A lot of these cleanup standards are aimed to protect people’s health,” said Jill Johnston, an associate professor at USC who has overseen soil testing in contaminated areas. “Particularly thinking about vulnerable populations — elderly, our young kids and folks that have chronic diseases — we know, oftentimes, heavy metals stick around with ash and soil. They’re not going to easily dissolve or disappear.”
Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, called the lack of property-by-property testing a “legitimate concern.” She noted, however, that the county was working with federal, state and academic institutions to better understand what toxic materials the ash contains.
So far, more than 7,300 property owners have filled out forms to inform public officials how they intend to clear hazardous ash and rubble. “Nearly 99%” have opted for the Army Corps to remove debris and contaminated soil rather than private contractors, according to L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
The Army Corps this week began supervising federal cleanup crews clearing debris from homes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
Workers operated excavators to pull large objects and mangled metal from building foundations, tossing the debris into freight containers. Crews wearing hazmat suits shoveled mounds of ash into plastic garbage bags.
Then, they prepared to remove six inches of soil in an effort to rid properties of dangerous heavy metals that could pose a risk to returning residents.
This approach to soil testing is one of the critical procedures prescribed under California’s wildfire cleanup plan. In neighboring Ventura County, crews are expected to test the soil in response to the lesser-known Mountain fire, which broke out in November and destroyed around 200 buildings.
Only one month into the L.A. County wildfire cleanup, there have been several concerns, including the breakneck pace of clearing hazardous materials and debris removal. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who toured fire-ravaged communities, touted it as the fastest debris-removal operation for a major fire in modern state history.
Also at Wednesday’s news conference, L.A. County officials lauded federal efforts to accelerate the pace of the cleanup. Mark Pestrella, director of the county’s Public Works Department, announced that residents could begin submitting permits for rebuilding.
“We’re open for business,” he said.
