This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom L.A. Public Press on Jan. 29, and is republished here with permission.
Maria Ramirez knows a thing or two about hazardous cleanups.
Two weeks ago, her home on Esperanza Street in Boyle Heights with a chain-link fence and a large front yard was detoxified from the lead and arsenic that blanketed this area from the former Exide Technologies plant.
And Ramirez had a few pieces of advice for the homeowners starting to return to their burnt-out properties in the Eaton and Palisades fire: bring in the experts.
Her front-yard soil was replaced by crews hired by a contractor working with the California Department of Toxic Substances control (DTSC), who put down a layer of white gravel to tame dust and settle the new soil.
“Before, the soil was muddy and plants wilted. That is why I agreed to the cleanup,” Ramirez said from behind her house’s chain link fence, adding that she would tell fire victims to seek and get cleanup assistance from public agencies.
“I am low-income, and did not have the money to do this job. I’m thankful to the [DTSC],” she said.
Los Angeles residents like Ramirez, alongside local community organizers and leaders who have fought for lead-free neighborhoods for decades, are offering advice and guidance to folks impacted by recent fires to ensure public agencies do efficient cleanups and issue correct guidance.
Residents from communities in Boyle Heights, Maywood, City of Commerce, Huntington Park, and cities nested along the 1-710 Long Beach Freeway corridor continue to push for efforts to clean lead and arsenic from the former Exide plant, and to reduce air pollutants. DTSC estimates that 5,490 properties will be cleaned by March 31, 2025, but there are no additional funds to treat up to 10,100 polluted parcels.
In a January 19 Instagram post, the nonprofit East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ) underscored the danger communities in L.A. will face as cleanup crews from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) begin the work to remove toxic ashes, debris and waste from charred properties in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades.
“DIY is not an option for burned homes,” the post read, adding that proper equipment was essential for returning to these structures.
mark! Lopez, the special projects coordinator with EYCEJ, said one issue residents might face is that different agencies say different things. Neighbors whose houses did not get fire damage may not receive government assistance to clean their properties, replacing drywall smeared with smog, or restoring roofs, walls and exteriors.
One example of the confusion on how to do clean ups revolves around the issue of washing ash off properties.
Lopez said that residents are being advised not to wash structures with lots of ash because too much water would flow downstream, polluting waterways and the drainage system.
An Instagram post by the nonprofit Heal The Bay said the City of L.A. advised residents that if properties have urban fires ashes do not hose them off because contaminants would runoff directly into the watershed and into the ocean, causing serious harm to the environment.
L.A. Public Press reached out to the L.A. County Public Health department to confirm if residents with properties not impacted by the fires can hose ashes off from outdoor structures. The department did not address the question, and instead forwarded a guide on how to conduct safe fire debris cleanups that did not mention hosing down properties, but did tell residents to moisten and mop surfaces.
A staff member from the LA County Public Works Fire Debris Hotline without authorization to speak on the record said the county cannot restrict residents to hose off ashes from properties outside the burned areas, but people should be aware toxic runoffs may reach waterways, and eventually turn into airborne particles that will impact local communities.
Lopez said the specter of water running off through waterways into the Los Angeles River mixed with toxic sludge has pollution-weary folks in Southeast Los Angeles worried.
“If that water washes there, it’s going to [leave] toxic sediment that stays in the area,” said Lopez. “As it dries up, it becomes airborne down into the Southeast LA communities.”
Lopez said ashes and debris on damaged properties should be handled as hazardous waste, and be collected by trained crews either hired or employed by public agencies.
Another concern the EYCEJ post raised is that toxic fire materials would “most likely go to landfills/municipal waste facilities…in communities that consistently face environmental racism.”
The EPA announced it will open two hazardous waste sites, in Azusa and Malibu, to collect and handle toxic materials from the Palisades and Eaton urban fires.
However, city representatives from Azusa, Duarte, Irwindale and Baldwin Park spoke out this week against the decision to name Lario Park a collection and processing center.
Some residents fear government agencies “cannot be fully trusted”
The Resurrection Catholic church sits in a neighborhood in Boyle Heights that was squarely affected by the Exide tragedy.
While the church and its adjacent school did not qualify for lead cleanups due to the lack of green space and low lead levels, it’s been the site of press conferences with local, state, and Congress elected leaders to address the Exide environmental crisis.
Monsignor John Moretta, the pastor with the Resurrection Catholic Church, said working-class residents from fire-ravaged Altadena seeking environmental and financial assistance should be aware that some official agencies “cannot be fully trusted.”
Moretta has long been critical of the area’s corporate polluters, the DTSC’s role in designating lots found to have hazardous levels of lead belched by the former Exide plant, and the difficulty to allocate state funds to restore properties inhabited mostly by Latinos.
“Some agencies do not rise to the occasion. People must be vigilant and stay alert when dealing with government agencies,” said Moretta, saying that community organizing in areas with limited resources can be one way to hold them accountable.
On Monday, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced that hazardous debris removal would start the next day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will also be involved in the cleanup process.
Permits for government-sponsored cleanup crews, known as “right-of-entry forms”, are now available at the county’s three disaster recovery centers along with paperwork for any resident to opt-out and manage their cleanup independently.
EPA press officer Julia Giarmoleo said in an email her agency’s phase 1 cleanup response is done at no cost to residents, and neither businesses nor homeowners need to file paperwork.
FEMA has assigned EPA to “assess, remove and safely dispose of hazardous materials from all burned areas,” she said.
“As part of the EPA’s critical environmental safety mission, the removal of hazardous materials is a mandatory process for protecting community health,” said Giarmoleo.
She referred a question about whether residents whose properties were spared can wash ashes off of their homes with hoses to the LA County Health Department.
CalFire’s latest reports show that the Eaton Fire is 99% contained, 9,418 structures were destroyed, and 1,073 suffered damage. The agency said 17 people died.
The Palisades Fire is 95% contained, 6,837 properties burned, 1,017 were damaged, and 12 people died.
It is unclear how many properties still need to be assessed.
One mayor’s advice: “Read everything”
The City of Maywood is one example of a place that has suffered the combined impacts of lead pollution, carcinogenic airborne particles released by local factories and emissions from cars and trucks traveling the I-710 Long Beach freeway.
That makes Mayor Eddie De La Riva no stranger to an environmental catastrophe. He advised the recent fire victims to contact local and state entities in charge of cleanups and hold them accountable.
“Make sure they read everything, and are up to date on what’s been done,” he said.
While De La Riva thought air quality reports from the California Air Quality Management District are to be “mostly trusted,” residents should keep close tabs on the contractors hired to conduct the cleanups.
Sometimes, they tend to cut corners to save money, he said.
Bad attempts at detoxification, like in the case of the Exide lead, could also cause fire survivors to request additional rounds of cleanups.
“Are they following the prescribed methods? Are they following the law, or are they getting shortcuts? Those are the things [fire victims] have to look out for,” said De La Riva.
Megan Mullin, a professor of public policy at UCLA whose work focuses on how environmental inequities and the failure to hold key players accountable shape the political response to environmental change, said as information about debris removal starts to come out, the burden falls “too heavily” on individuals in affected areas to learn about and manage their exposure to toxins in debris following the wildfires.
Mullin said the process is complex.
“Different agencies have different responsibilities and authority, and it can be hard to figure out where one’s own property fits into this fragmented landscape,” said Mullin. “It’s even harder to get information if you’re not the property owner, but instead a renter or a neighbor who’s trying to monitor the status of any individual cleanup.”
She added that accountability is “enormously difficult” when authority is so fragmented, and it is local governments that serve as hubs where federal and state agencies need to connect.
Even large governments, such as the City of L.A. and L.A. County do not have the financial or technical capacity for the response and needed cleanups, she said.
“They can’t control what the federal and state agencies do, but residents should view the city and county as resources, and demand accountability from them,” Mullin said. “They are better positioned to pressure those agencies than any resident is on their own.”
LA Public Press is an independent newsroom that publishes news in support of a healthier Los Angeles. The non-profit does journalism that interrogates systems of power while supporting those trying to build more equitable and resilient communities.