The prime contractor tasked with cleaning up debris from the Eaton and Palisades fires may have illegally dumped toxic ash and misused contaminated soil in violation of state policy, according to federal government reports recently obtained by The Times.
Records show stricken disaster workers appear to be taking dangerous shortcuts that could leave dangerous waste and endanger thousands of survivors who are ready to return to these communities.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers have provided $60 million to hire workers to monitor cleanup operations on a daily basis and document any health and safety hazards. The Times obtained thousands of government oversight reports detailing the agency’s efforts to remove toxic waste from homes destroyed between February and mid-May.
The records, obtained continuously over the course of several months, include a number of instances in which security personnel flagged workers for neglecting cleaning procedures in a way that might spread toxic substances.
The latest batch of reports – forwarded to the Times on Dec. 1 – contains allegations of wrongdoing involving Environmental Chemical Corp., the state’s prime contractor, and dozens of waste removal workers on their watch.
For example, on April 30, government workers were clearing debris from a burned house in the Palisades burn. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, after the last dump truck left, an executive at Environmental Chemical Corp., a Burlingame, Calif., company hired to remove the debris, ordered workers to move the ash and debris to a neighboring property.
Workers used construction equipment to move four or five “buckets” of cash debris to a neighboring property. It is unclear whether that property was destroyed in the Palisades fire, and, if so, whether it has been repaired.
“I asked if this was allowed and they threw the material into the digging bucket and planned to deliver it to the little boy who was carrying the material in the bucket,” the state manager wrote in a report aimed at tracking the contractor’s performance. “Don’t think this is allowed.”
According to the report, the workers also left glasses, ashes and other debris in the area that the workers were removing, because they were “in a hurry to get to the next place.”
Experts who reviewed the reports said the behavior described could amount to illegal dumping under California law. Other reports obtained by The Times describe federal cleanup workers, multiple times, using ash-contaminated soil to plug holes and smooth uneven parts of buildings destroyed by the fire in the Palisades. If that were true, it would be a violation of the government’s policy that contaminated soil from treatment areas cannot be used in this way.
The reports also reveal many instances where workers walk through cleared areas carrying dirty boot covers, possibly re-contaminating them. Inspectors also reported that workers were spraying contaminated lake water into neighborhoods and storm drains, and that excavators were using toothed buckets to mix clean and contaminated soil.
“Obviously, there was a really good job done,” said Sen. Ben Allen (D-Pacific Palisades) about the state cleanup. “But it seems that we have people who break the law on purpose and cut off their cleaning schedule.
“We have to find out how widespread this is, and whoever breaks the law in this area must be held accountable.”
The Army Corps did not respond to requests for comment. The ECC official said that without information such as the addresses of the properties or the numbers of the parcels, he could not confirm whether the allegations made in the supervision report are substantiated by the companies’ investigation or if any problems raised by the inspectors have been resolved. Such details were reproduced in a version of the report submitted to The Times.
“At the highest level, the ECC does not approve the placement of wildfire debris or ash in neighborhoods, does not allow the use of contaminated materials as fill, and is proactive. [Army Corps] oversight,” said Glenn Sweatt, ECC’s vice president of contracts and compliance.
Between February and September, the Army Corps responded to about 1,100 public complaints or other inquiries related to the organization’s fire cleanup. More than 20% of complaints were related to the quality of work, according to the Army Corps’ complaint review.
Some of these complaints point to the same concerns raised by inspectors. For example, an Eaton resident with a burn scar filed a complaint on June 19 that “workmen working nearby moved fire debris and ash to his property after he specifically asked them not to.”
Some property owners in Altadena filed complaints that workers left all kinds of fire debris on their property — in some cases, buried in the ground.
The Army Corps or ECC ordered workers to go back to complete the removal of debris from other buildings. Sometimes, the officials left the work and expenses to the victims of the disaster.
A Palisades property owner complained on May 7 that after the Army Corps allegedly finished cleaning up his property, they found “parts of a broken foundation. [that] they were buried to avoid complete removal.” He said it cost him $40,000 to hire a private contractor to collect and dispose of piles of blasted concrete.
James Mayfield, a hazardous materials specialist and owner of Mayfield Environmental Engineering, has been hired by more than 200 homeowners affected by the fire to remove debris and contaminated soil — including, in some cases, from areas already cleared by Army Corps contractors.
As Mayfield and his crew excavated more soil from areas cleared by the Army Corps, he said they occasionally unearthed ash, burned stucco, and other debris.
“All you have to do is pick it up and you can see the whole house underground,” Mayfield said. “It was never removed at all.”
After the January wildfires, health authorities warned the ground could be filled with dangerous pollutants from burned homes and cars, including lead, a heavy metal that can cause irreversible brain damage when inhaled or swallowed by young children.
Soil testing is a common practice after large wildfires in California since 2007. Often, after crews remove fire debris and several inches of topsoil from burned homes, federal or state disaster officials arrange for the same contractors to test the soil for contamination. If they find contamination above state standards, they need to dig up another layer of that soil and run additional rounds of testing.
But the results of the Eaton and Palisades fires have been different. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has repeatedly refused to pay for soil testing in California, insisting that the practice is not necessary to remove any immediate threats after a fire. The Newsom administration failed to ask FEMA to reconsider soil testing to protect returning residents and workers. But as pressure mounted on the state to fund soil testing, the secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency downplayed the public health risks from the fire’s contamination.
Indeed, the majority of wildfire cleanup in California is managed by federal agencies. Since the January wildfires, California officials have been remarkably guarded when asked how the state will respond when the next big fire inevitably strikes.
Asked whether the state would continue to follow long-standing scorched soil sampling regulations, the California Office of Emergency Management would not directly answer whether it would pay for soil testing after wildfires in the future. Its director, Nancy Ward, declined to be interviewed.
“California has one of the most advanced monitoring systems in the nation, and we remain committed to promoting safe and timely debris removal after a wildfire,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement. “Protecting public health and the welfare of affected communities remains a priority for the government.”
Some environmentalists and lawmakers worry that abandoning long-established wildfire regulations, such as soil testing, could set a precedent where disaster victims will take on additional costs and work to ensure their properties are safe to return to and rebuild.
US Representative Brad Sherman (D-Los Angeles) has asked the Army Corps to review the results of major soil testing programs, including data from USC, to determine which contractors are assigned to clean up buildings where heavy contamination continues. Such an analysis, he said, could help the federal government identify which contractors are doing poor work, so that they are not hired in future disasters.
“I’m going to push the Army Corps to look at where the testing shows there was contamination and who the contractor is, to see if there are any contractors that have failed,” Sherman said.
“I want to make sure that … they test those contractors for the next disaster,” he added. “Also, it’s finally in testing.”
Throughout Altadena and Pacific Palisades, thousands of vacant lots await redevelopment permits. But many landowners fear that they may be contaminated.
The Department of Angels, a community-led nonprofit organization formed after the January wildfires, surveyed 2,300 residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Eaton and the Palisades. About one-third of respondents said they wanted a test but had not yet received it.
“The government stopped investigating and left us alone,” wrote another victim. “Each of us has to find out what is the best way to test and fix, but without consistency and consistency, we are a big test.”
