L.A. Times finds alarming levels of soil toxins in Altadena and Pacific Palisades
Officials say removing 6 inches of topsoil is enough to meet health-based clean-up goals, but testing conducted by the Los Angeles Times confirms that some properties are still contaminated.
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One morning shortly before Easter, Lupe Sanchez kicked through a plot of dirt on her property in Altadena.
By some miracle, her house had survived the devastating firestorm that blew through the once-cozy corner of Los Angeles County in January, but flames had razed a backhouse on her property where Sanchez hoped her daughter might live some day.
“All of these 50 years, going and raising my kids, grandkids and great grandbabies — this is their inheritance,” Sanchez said.
Like many Altadenans, she wanted answers. So far, few have come.
In the wake of the fires, federal officials have broken with their decades-long tradition of testing soil to determine whether and when it is safe for people to come home. The federal agencies typically tasked with this work — the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — have instead doubled down on their decisions not to conduct the testing, stating that removing 6 inches of topsoil from properties that burned in the fires is enough to meet health-based clean-up goals.
But testing conducted by the Los Angeles Times has confirmed that some properties deemed safe are in fact still contaminated: Two of 10 properties remediated by the Army Corps in the Eaton fire burn area are still imbued with heavy metals above California’s health protective standards, the results show. They include Sanchez’s property, where The Times’ testing of soil from the footprint of the outbuilding scraped by the Army Corps had lead levels of 290 milligrams per kilogram — or more than 3.5 times the state health standard of 80.
The Times’ tests also revealed elevated levels of arsenic, lead and mercury in the yards of three homes out of 10 homes that survived the Eaton fire.
The findings underscore the risk lurking just beneath the surface for nearly all residents in California — and for millions of Americans who will rely on future federal support in the wake of worsening climate disasters. In the most fire-prone state in the country, experts say the federal government’s decision to step back from its traditional responsibility has not only left Altadena residents in the dark, but also shifted the burden of recovery onto their shoulders.
“There’s plenty of 6-inch scrapes that fail,” said Sean Smith, president of the California consulting firm Disaster Recovery Experts, who helped manage wildfire debris cleanup from the nearby Mountain fire, which burned in Ventura County in November 2024.
Heavy metals such as lead are often left behind, even if they’re invisible to the naked eye, Smith said.
“It looks clear, but until the confirmation sample verifies it, there’s no way to tell,” he said.
In all, Times reporters conducted soil testing on 40 properties across both the Altadena and Pacific Palisades burn zones. The testing followed strict protocols with samples carefully collected, stored and transported to a state-certified lab in Fresno to be analyzed for 17 toxic metals.
Smith noted that testing helps people know whether it is safe to rebuild sandboxes and swimming pools, or to let children play in the yard — “all those things that we kind of take for granted when we own a home, or we live in a place, that we just don’t think about.”
Sanchez said she often hosts holiday gatherings and Easter egg hunts for her relatives, but didn’t feel comfortable having them over to celebrate this year. For her — and for thousands of other Angelenos — soil testing isn’t only an essential step for rebuilding their homes, but also their lives.
See The Times’ full report here.
By some miracle, her house had survived the devastating firestorm that blew through the once-cozy corner of Los Angeles County in January, but flames had razed a backhouse on her property where Sanchez hoped her daughter might live some day.
“All of these 50 years, going and raising my kids, grandkids and great grandbabies — this is their inheritance,” Sanchez said.
Like many Altadenans, she wanted answers. So far, few have come.
In the wake of the fires, federal officials have broken with their decades-long tradition of testing soil to determine whether and when it is safe for people to come home. The federal agencies typically tasked with this work — the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — have instead doubled down on their decisions not to conduct the testing, stating that removing 6 inches of topsoil from properties that burned in the fires is enough to meet health-based clean-up goals.
But testing conducted by the Los Angeles Times has confirmed that some properties deemed safe are in fact still contaminated: Two of 10 properties remediated by the Army Corps in the Eaton fire burn area are still imbued with heavy metals above California’s health protective standards, the results show. They include Sanchez’s property, where The Times’ testing of soil from the footprint of the outbuilding scraped by the Army Corps had lead levels of 290 milligrams per kilogram — or more than 3.5 times the state health standard of 80.
The Times’ tests also revealed elevated levels of arsenic, lead and mercury in the yards of three homes out of 10 homes that survived the Eaton fire.
The findings underscore the risk lurking just beneath the surface for nearly all residents in California — and for millions of Americans who will rely on future federal support in the wake of worsening climate disasters. In the most fire-prone state in the country, experts say the federal government’s decision to step back from its traditional responsibility has not only left Altadena residents in the dark, but also shifted the burden of recovery onto their shoulders.
“There’s plenty of 6-inch scrapes that fail,” said Sean Smith, president of the California consulting firm Disaster Recovery Experts, who helped manage wildfire debris cleanup from the nearby Mountain fire, which burned in Ventura County in November 2024.
Heavy metals such as lead are often left behind, even if they’re invisible to the naked eye, Smith said.
“It looks clear, but until the confirmation sample verifies it, there’s no way to tell,” he said.
In all, Times reporters conducted soil testing on 40 properties across both the Altadena and Pacific Palisades burn zones. The testing followed strict protocols with samples carefully collected, stored and transported to a state-certified lab in Fresno to be analyzed for 17 toxic metals.
Smith noted that testing helps people know whether it is safe to rebuild sandboxes and swimming pools, or to let children play in the yard — “all those things that we kind of take for granted when we own a home, or we live in a place, that we just don’t think about.”
Sanchez said she often hosts holiday gatherings and Easter egg hunts for her relatives, but didn’t feel comfortable having them over to celebrate this year. For her — and for thousands of other Angelenos — soil testing isn’t only an essential step for rebuilding their homes, but also their lives.
See The Times’ full report here.
