L.A. County finds high lead levels in soil on properties already cleaned by Army Corps

New soil testing by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has found high levels of lead and other toxic metals at homes destroyed by January’s catastrophic wildfires and cleared by federal cleanup crews.

The county health department hired Roux Associates Inc. to conduct soil sampling at 30 homesites that had been cleaned up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — the federal agency leading debris-removal operations for the Eaton and Palisades wildfires. The Army Corps and Federal Emergency Management Agency have said crews would clear wildfire debris and up to 6 inches of topsoil in ash-covered portions of the property.

In the Eaton burn scar, in the areas scraped by federal cleanup crews, around 27% of the Roux soil samples still had lead levels above California’s state standards for residential properties (80 milligram per kilogram). In samples taken from parts of those properties where soil was not excavated, nearly 44% had lead levels above the state benchmark.

In the Palisades fire zone, the numbers were much more assuring: less than 3% of soil samples from scraped portions of properties and about 12% from unscraped areas had elevated lead levels.

Adam Love, the vice president and principal scientist for Roux, said the higher percentage of older homes with lead paint in Altadena, where the Eaton fire primarily hit, could be one of the reasons for the large disparity.

“The honest answer is we don’t know all the things that could be contributing to [the variation in lead contamination],” Love said. “It could be related to the difference in the housing stock, and the fact that the houses in the Eaton area are more likely to have lead-based paint.

“It could be from soils during the scrape that got dislodged,” he continued, “or ash that blew from adjacent parcels into the scraped area.”

Love and county public health officials are now recommending that property owners in affected areas consider potential soil contamination ahead of rebuilding efforts.

“Soil impact assessment and management really should be part of any rebuilding plan,” Love said. “You may want to consider getting an assessment by an environmental professional in order to ensure you’re taking the appropriate steps to be protected.”

This comes as county and city officials have issued rebuilding permits without soil testing requirements — and some developers have already broken ground.

The county results add to a growing body of evidence that a significant number of properties could still harbor dangerous contaminants even after federal cleanup crews finish removing wreckage — contamination that is typically prevented by the state guidelines that call for comprehensive soil testing.

This week, the Los Angeles Times published a special report built around a soil-testing initiative that provided the first evidence that homes remediated by federal contractors still had levels of heavy metals above typical state cleanup goals. Times journalists found that two Altadena homesites that were burned down and later cleaned up by federal cleanup crews still contain dangerous heavy metals above California’s standards.

The Times first reported in February that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would not pay for soil testing after the Eaton and Palisades fires. The refusal of federal and state disaster agencies to conduct soil testing after a major wildfire breaks with California’s long-standing wildfire recovery guidelines that were intended to ensure fire-related contamination is eliminated from residential properties by cleanup crews.

Previous wildfire testing has found roughly 20% of properties fail to meet California’s cleanup goals for potentially toxic materials after a first round of debris removal, which typically involves taking off about 6 inches of topsoil. However, soil sampling allowed state and federal contractors to identify which properties still had high levels of contamination, and then to redeploy cleanup crews to remove additional soil to ensure properties meet California’s cleanup standards.

For this cleanup, without soil testing, the federal cleanup crews will not return to remove additional soil, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The decision not to perform comprehensive soil testing has been criticized by many environmental and public health experts.

“By not conducting soil testing, the federal government and state government have made the decision that leaving contaminated properties — and not informing the homeowners about how much contamination remains — is OK,” said Andrew Whelton, a professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University who has studied environmental disasters.

When the Eaton and Palisades fires consumed thousands of homes and cars, they released untold amounts of hazardous chemicals. One of the most worrisome is lead, a brain-damaging chemical that has historically been used in paint and is still a fixture in batteries.

“Given these findings, it’s critical to understand the specific health risks posed by the chemicals detected — particularly lead, which remains one of our top concerns, “ said Nichole Quick, chief medical advisor at the county health department. “Lead is a potent neurotoxin, and even at low level, exposure can affect learning, development and behavior in young children. Lead exposure isn’t always obvious. Symptoms don’t show up right away or at all until the damage is already done.”

The county health department previously shared preliminary results from soil testing of still-standing homes in and around the Eaton and Palisades burn scars. As many as 80% of soil samples collected downwind of the Eaton fire had lead levels above the state health standards for residential properties.

However, department officials declined to provide the copies of the soil test results, saying data had yet to be finalized. The department also said it would not be sharing those results with individual property owners. The Times has submitted a public records request for those data.

The Los Angeles County health department is the only government agency to perform post-cleanup soil sampling. Federal disaster agencies have repeatedly refused. The Newsom administration also has not undertaken any soil testing.

In April, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved $3 million to help homeowners downwind of the fires to test their yards for lead. That program is expected to start on May 19, and public health officials said 26,000 eligible properties would receive a postcard invitation with more information.

In that case, homeowners would need to collect soil samples themselves and drop it off for analysis.

If results find contamination, homeowners will probably be left to pay for additional soil removal or other methods to seal off contaminated areas. As the meeting dragged on, many residents in the comment section expressed their concern on how they might pay for such removal.

“We have no money,” wrote one commenter.