Affected landowners may be able to avail themselves of certain protections under state and federal environmental laws.
In the aftermath of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January 2025, a cleanup effort is underway to facilitate the safe return of residents to their homes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. The federal government is leading the effort in coordination with various state and local agencies, and the government has reported significant progress in debris removal. However, the federal government’s decision not to undertake soil sampling in affected areas has raised concerns among residents and public officials. Questions have also been raised regarding the federal government’s compliance with hazardous waste requirements during the cleanup due to the urgent and ad hoc nature of this effort.
Phased Approach to Hazardous Waste Removal
In response to the wildfires, President Trump signed an Executive Order on January 24, 2025, directing federal officials to develop and execute a plan to expedite the bulk removal of contaminated and general debris. The cleanup is proceeding in two phases, with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) beginning Phase 1 on January 28 and reportedly completing it on February 26. As part of Phase 1, EPA removed paints, cleaning supplies, and automotive oils, lawn products such as herbicides and pesticides, batteries, and propane tanks, and other pressurized gas containers, among other substances that have the potential to pose risk to human health or the environment if improperly handled or released into the environment. In total, EPA contained and removed 300 million tons of material.1 While EPA announced that Phase 1 is complete, it noted that EPA crews were unable to address several thousand properties that were deemed too dangerous to clear; these projects were “deferred” to Phase 2.2 EPA has published the “SoCal Fires 2025 – Parcel Status LookUp” map, which provides parcel-specific updates on cleanup status during Phase 1.
After Phase 1 is complete at a specific property, the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), as coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), undertake Phase 2. Phase 2 involves site visits to identify and document property characteristics and conditions; assess and remove asbestos; and remove visible fire debris, destroyed vehicles, damaged foundations, contaminated soil, and fire-damaged trees at risk of falling or endangering cleanup crews.3 ACOE has launched an interactive Phase 2 debris removal map to provide residents with real-time updates during the cleanup process.
FEMA announced it will not conduct soil sampling in connection with debris removal during Phase 2.4 Instead, it will remove six inches of topsoil from the “ash footprint” (the area where debris from structures settles after a fire, generally excluding patios, landscaping, extended driveways, etc.) as a precaution.5 FEMA’s decision not to undertake testing comes amid protests from State and local officials. FEMA responded that it changed its practice in 2020 and “adopted the 6-inch removal standard.”6
In the absence of FEMA-provided soil testing, Los Angeles County published its Post-Fire Air, Soil and Water Assessment Plan, which describes assessment activities by government and academic institutions in areas impacted by the fires, including environmental sampling efforts. Multiple universities have launched the Community Action Project LA in an effort to conduct environmental sampling at more than a thousand properties in and around the burn zones.7 Los Angeles County cautioned that although soil testing is not required for residents to return to damaged property, confirmation testing may be required when a landowner seeks to rebuild the site if adequate proof of cleanup is not provided.8
Those criticizing FEMA’s refusal to conduct confirmation sampling have cited to the 2018 Camp Fire response, which impacted the town of Paradise in Northern California. As part of the Camp Fire cleanup, crews collected “multiple soil samples from cleared lot[s] for independent testing and analysis by California-certified laboratories.”9 CalRecycle then assessed soil sampling results to ensure cleanup goals were met, and ordered rescraping of soil from portions of affected parcels as necessary. Confirmation sampling proved to be critical, as approximately one-third of the properties (more than 4,200) still had toxic chemicals in excess of the state’s cleanup standards following removal of an initial six inches of topsoil. Based on sampling results, workers returned to those properties to excavate additional contaminated soil.
Property owners should be aware that federal environmental law (42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., also known as CERCLA or Superfund) generally holds an owner of a contaminated property potentially responsible for liability associated with such contamination regardless of fault. As such, an owner of property with residual hazardous waste from the fire may find itself responsible for cleanup. While EPA has enacted a policy not to take action against owners of residential property located on or adjacent to certain contaminated sites, this policy applies to properties that are owned and used exclusively for single family residences of 1-4 units and is subject to additional exceptions.10 For instance, the policy does not apply to an owner of residential property who has undertaken activities leading to a release or threat of release of hazardous substances, resulting in taking response actions, or to an owner that fails to provide EPA with access to the property to evaluate the need for a response action or to implement a response action.11 Accordingly, the failure of a homeowner to submit a right of entry form to ACOE to authorize cleanup may jeopardize the homeowner’s eligibility for this policy. Notably, the policy does not apply to commercial property owners.
An owner of a single family property that is the site of a hazardous substance release is similarly presumed to have no liability under the Hazardous Substances Account Act (the State’s CERCLA analogue) for a release that has occurred on the property. However, the presumption is not absolute and may be rebutted in an action brought to recover costs incurred from the State’s cleanup account under certain circumstances.
Hazardous Materials Handling and Disposal
EPA has established temporary hazardous waste disposal staging areas at strategic locations. These processing sites are located at Lario Park, Will Rogers State Beach, Altadena Golf Course, and Topanga Ranch Motel.12 Hazardous materials are being brought into these staging areas daily, where the materials are separated into waste streams, packaged for safe shipment, and transported for safe disposal.
According to EPA, all process areas will be lined with plastic and managed with spill control measures (such as wattles, booms, earthen berms, gravel, and other items) to prevent the release of contaminants. Additionally, all hazardous material transport planned by EPA must adhere to US Department of Transportation shipping regulations and handled to prevent releases, such as by wrapping debris with a heavy-duty plastic liner and covering it with a tarp. To ensure the waste management activities do not impact the staging areas, EPA pre-sampled the staging areas before work started. Additionally, EPA is wetting debris to prevent ash or dust at process areas from getting into the air.13 EPA has stated that it will sample the staging areas after use to verify its activities did not negatively impact the environment.
Despite measures being taken by EPA and others, local residents and interest groups have protested EPA’s selected staging areas, as well as the landfills being used to dispose of fire debris. On February 25, a Superior Court judge denied a request for a temporary restraining order that would have stopped ash from the Palisades fire being disposed of at the Calabasas Landfill.14 City leaders and residents in multiple cities have similarly protested against the disposal of fire debris at nearby landfills and decisions by the County to increase operational hours and tonnage for such facilities to accommodate this debris.15
Amid these protests, California regulators are considering changing the state’s hazardous waste disposal rules to allow contaminated soil to be disposed of at some municipal landfills within the state. California only has two hazardous waste landfills, both located in the San Joaquin Valley, so hazardous waste is often transported out of state. State officials argue the rule change would reduce trucking distances and associated air emissions. However, others have taken the position that disposing of hazardous waste at municipal landfills increases the risk of chemicals leaching into groundwater or being emitted to neighboring communities via particulate emissions.
Final Inspection and Resident Return
Despite challenges to the cleanup efforts, Phase 2 is underway. According to CalRecycle, once the cleanup is complete, State officials plan to conduct a final inspection to assess whether all debris and hazards have been removed. This inspection is to include reviewing site documentation, ensuring the removal of marked hazard trees, and verifying that appropriate environmental protections, such as erosion control, are in place. Following State approval of a property, the County is to conduct its own review and notify homeowners that it is safe to return.16
