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- Federal officials are standing by their decision to skip soil testing after cleanup crews remove debris from properties destroyed in the L.A. wildfires.
- The decision comes amid a torrent of criticism and concerns from wildfire survivors and California elected officials.
- FEMA officials say that in the future, they won’t order soil testing after wildfires in the Southwest and Pacific Islands.
In the face of mounting backlash from wildfire survivors and California elected officials, federal disaster agencies are defending their decision to forgo soil testing after cleanup crews remove debris from properties that burned in the Los Angeles County fires.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have said that federal cleanup workers will remove toxic wildfire ash and rubble, along with a 6-inch layer of topsoil from properties. But, this week, federal officials told The Times they won’t order soil testing to confirm that properties aren’t still contaminated after the removal.
Follow-up soil testing — conducted after every major wildfire in California since 2007 — is intended to ensure that properties are remediated to state standards and don’t still contain dangerous levels of toxic substances.
But now FEMA, the agency responsible for allocating funding and outlining cleanup procedures in the aftermath of wildfires, insists that scraping 6 inches of topsoil from each property is sufficient to protect public health.
Brandi Richard Thompson, a spokesperson for FEMA Region 9, which oversees disaster response in the southwestern U.S. and Pacific islands, said the agency’s cleanup strategy is “based on scientific best practices and FEMA’s longstanding policies.” She said any contamination deeper than 3 to 6 inches “is unlikely to be attributable to the fire itself and does not pose an immediate threat to public health and safety.”
“While FEMA is committed to supporting communities in their recovery, decisions regarding additional soil testing and over-excavation are left to local and state authorities,” Richard Thompson said in a statement to The Times. “These measures are not required under existing public health or rebuilding regulations, and FEMA is unable to fund activities that are not directly linked to fire-related contamination. However, local governments are free to conduct additional testing if they wish to do so.”
Just two years ago, however, FEMA paid for soil testing in the aftermath of the 2023 Maui wildfires. FEMA officials say they ordered testing in Hawaii because they had less historical wildfire data there than they did for California. In the future, they say, they won’t order soil testing after wildfires there and the rest of Region 9.
What’s more, FEMA’s new stance ignores that during past wildfire responses, soil testing found a significant number of properties still contained unsafe levels of toxic chemicals even after 6 inches of topsoil was removed.
The federal cleanup policies have sparked widespread outrage from public officials and fire survivors who fear the approach could leave behind hazardous levels of toxic substances. In response to The Times’ reporting, Gov. Gavin Newsom convened an emergency cabinet meeting Thursday morning to discuss the lack of soil sampling. His office, however, has not given any specifics about the governor’s stance toward the federal cleanup.
“The Governor has been closely monitoring developments on the rebuild and recovery from Los Angeles fires,” said Daniel Villaseñor, a spokesperson for Newsom. “He has been laser-focused on moving quickly while also protecting the safety of the community.”
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), whose district includes Pacific Palisades, said he has urged Robert Fenton, FEMA’s Region 9 administrator, to reconsider his plans.
“Their standard answer is, ‘Well, we’re doing such a great job on debris removal, we’re sure it’s going to be safe,’” Sherman said. “But people deserve to have testing.”
If FEMA declines, Sherman said, he will turn to state agencies or local researchers to perhaps conduct soil sampling.
While soil testing itself is not inexpensive, returning to excavate additional dirt could cost tens of thousands of dollars per property.
Some federal and local officials have expressed concern that soil testing will come across pockets of contamination unrelated to the wildfires that will need to be remediated. Sherman said that’s the wrong way of looking at it.
“I don’t think residents care if it’s unsafe because of one thing or another thing,” Sherman said. “We want to know it’s safe.”
Mayor Karen Bass’ office echoed those sentiments.
“The mayor has said that we will rebuild as quickly as possible but it must be safe,” said Zach Seidl, spokesperson for Bass. “She will be working with all partners at every level of government so that Palisades residents can trust that their properties are safe from toxins.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) said she had contacted federal agencies to get answers for her constituents in Altadena and Pasadena who lost homes and businesses in the Eaton fire.
“The health and safety of my constituents are uppermost in my mind as we recover from the wildfires,” Chu said in a statement. “Survivors must have the ability to return to homes and properties without toxic-laden ash threatening them and their families’ lives. I am contacting FEMA, EPA, the county and environmental experts to get to the bottom of this. I am deeply concerned about the potential of toxins remaining in our soil after debris removal, and I will work with our partners at the local, state and federal level to make sure our community is safe.”
Nearly two weeks after the Eaton fire forced Claire Robinson to flee her Altadena home, she returned, donning a white hazmat suit, a respirator and goggles.
The FEMA policy has caused some wildfire survivors to consider opting out of the Army Corps-led cleanup program.
That includes Kenneth Ehrlich, a 26-year resident of Pacific Palisades who lost his home in the fire. When he and his two sons returned to the neighborhood, they didn’t bother getting out of the car.
“Our house was blown away, gone, dust,” Ehrlich recalled. “All that was standing was our chimney and a basketball hoop. We didn’t even make the turn onto our street. We could see everything was obliterated.”
Ehrlich said he is wary of rebuilding on land that may still be contaminated, potentially putting his family at risk of inhaling or touching toxic dust when they’re outdoors.
In Pacific Palisades, entire neighborhoods remain blanketed in toxic ash and debris from incinerated homes and vehicles. Public officials have warned that this wildfire ash probably contains brain-damaging lead and cancer-causing arsenic.
As heavy rain has driven into the charred landscape, officials worry contaminants are seeping deeper into the soil, raising concerns about long-term exposure risks.
For this reason, Ehrlich and some of his neighbors have reached out to private contractors who may be willing to perform soil testing when they are finished removing wildfire debris and a layer of topsoil.
“I’m not comfortable or confident with the Army Corps process,” Ehrlich said. “I’m not comfortable or confident with them taking money from my insurance — it’s not transparent and nobody knows how much this is going to cost. And I have no comfort that I’m going to get a clean site at the end.”
For its part, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing debris removal, says its hands are tied. It is bound to FEMA directives that explicitly rule out testing and prohibit crews from returning to remove more dirt if contamination lingers.
Public officials initially touted the speed of the cleanup. But now that lapses are coming to light, residents like Ehrlich want leaders to slow down and figure this out.
“We want debris removal to happen quickly,” Ehrlich said. “But you got to do this the right way so you don’t screw over people. You’ve got to give people back a safe pad that they can develop and live on and not get sick. That’s not happening right now.”
