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An aerial view shows at least three burned-down homes and charred trees in Altadena from the Eaton Fire. | Photo by Mayra Beltran/Los Angeles County courtesy of UCLA
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Work to remove hazardous materials from communities devastated by the recent Los Angeles County wildfires continued Friday, a day after former Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin viewed the destruction first-hand.
Zeldin, the recently appointed EPA administrator, toured the Eaton and Palisades fire burn areas Thursday. LA Mayor Karen Bass, FEMA Regional Administrator Bob Fenton, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jason E. Kelly and Ambassador Ric Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions.
“Many Californians have lost their homes and livelihoods in the recent wildfires,” Zeldin said in a statement. “They have faced an unspeakable tragedy. Our EPA staff is on the ground working quickly to get as many properties cleared of hazardous materials as rapidly and safely as possible. We have nearly 1,200 personnel in the field doing their part to aid the cleanup process. We will recover, and we will rebuild.”
While touring the devastated neighborhoods, he told KNX News, “It’s impossible to fathom. No American has ever seen anything like this ever before, and hopefully no American will ever have to see something like this ever again.”
Referring to a 30-day goal to complete the removal of hazardous substances, Zeldin said his agency was “doing everything we can to possibly meet it.”
Harris, a Brentwood resident, thanked firefighters, elected leaders and other local officials for their efforts in response to the blaze.
“I do believe that in these moments of crisis, the heroes and the angels among us are revealed,” Harris said at a relief center established at the Westwood Recreation Center for Palisades Fire victims. “When I think about the work that is happening because of the leaders who are here and the folks who work with them, it truly is the best of who we are as a country — which is individuals understanding the power that they have to lift up the condition of other people. Individuals who understand that in these moments of crisis, so many of the survivors of these crises feel alone, and just need to have a safe place to go, where they are treated with dignity and a sense of community. That is happening at this facility.”
Harris toured Altadena neighborhoods decimated in the Eaton Fire burn area on Jan. 20, following her official exit from office in the District of Columbia.
On Thursday she said wildfires are “happening around the country as a result of these extreme weather conditions … (that) have become far more frequent than we have historically been used to. … Here in California, for example, we no longer talk about wildfire season. Any month of the year we are likely to see these wildfires occur and the damage that they cause.”
Harris, who also represented California in the U.S. Senate from 2017-21, added, “We must also look forward in a way that we are building up resources and priorities around not only responding after an extreme weather occurrence, but what we can do to build up resilience and adaptation to these extreme weather events.”
Mudslides close PCH
Mudslides and debris littered parts of Pacific Coast Highway Friday morning after overnight rainfall. Caltrans and LA County crews installed k-rail barriers and sandbags at the base of hillsides in an effort to divert mudslides from the highway.
Pacific Coast Highway was reopened between Santa Monica and Malibu on Monday, but a stretch of the roadway was closed again later that day because of concerns about debris flows or mudslides possibly caused by the two storms that have brought rain to the Southern California region. PCH was to remain closed until at least Friday between Chautauqua Boulevard in Los Angeles and Malibu’s Carbon Beach Terrace, but that portion of the highway will be closed indefinitely as a result of the mudslides.
Removal of hazardous waste and debris continues
The first phase of the post-fire cleanup effort is removing hazardous materials from individual properties, an effort spearheaded by the EPA.
Phase 2, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, entails removing fire debris from properties. Phase 2 involves clearing properties of possibly toxic ash and debris. The second phase also will signal residents and businesses to start rebuilding projects.
The Corps of Engineers began Phase 2 work earlier this week at five Pasadena Unified School District campuses destroyed or damaged in the Eaton Fire.
EPA officials said Wednesday only about 5% of affected properties had been cleared so far.
On Thursday the agency reported that its Phase 1 crews have completed assessing 7,822 properties — 4,659 in the Eaton Fire area and 3,163 in the Palisades Fire zone. The EPA has completed removing hazardous materials from 1,153 properties and removed 274 electric vehicles and bulk energy storage systems, “which are extremely dangerous to the public and the environment, and will continue ramping up such operations.”
Officials said Phase 2 work, which involves most of the physical debris left in the fires’ paths, was likely to be ongoing for at least one year.
“Beginning Phase 2 means we’re making tangible progress toward recovery,” Col. Eric Swenson, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles Wildfires Recovery Field Office, said in a statement Tuesday. “Our teams are working with urgency and care to remove hazardous debris while ensuring the safety of the community, workers and the environment.”
Corps of Engineers officials said the Phase 2 work will expand in the coming weeks to include destroyed residences.
County officials on Wednesday again urged fire-impacted residents to complete “Right of Entry” forms to opt in or out of the Corps of Engineers’ free Phase 2 debris-clearing program. The deadline to submit the forms is March 31. They are are available at recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal or at FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers.
LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Wednesday approximately 50% of impacted residents in the Eaton and Palisades burn areas had submitted forms to opt into the clearance program. Residents may decline the program and hire private contractors to do the debris clearance, however, the EPA must first complete its hazardous waste removal, which is expected to take at least a month.
Status updates on the EPA’s work is at epa.gov/ca/2025-california-wildfires.
The cleanup efforts have have drawn concerns from some neighboring cities in the San Gabriel foothills and other officials about the EPA’s chosen sites for collecting and processing hazardous waste.
“I was disappointed to learn that Lario Park was selected as the site for the Eaton Fire hazardous waste cleanup, with no advanced warning or opportunity for community input,” Cao said in a statement. “The wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles County must be cleaned up, but I cannot understand how trucking hazardous waste through so many vulnerable communities, and placing near homes and schools, is the best possible option.”
LA City Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades, said on social media, the EPA’s decision “to use Will Rogers Beach as a location to sort, stage and store hazardous materials from the burn area … raises serious concerns about the impacts on our highly sensitive coastal ecosystems.”
Repopulation efforts
A nightly curfew for the burn areas remains in effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Checkpoints restricting access to the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades remain in place. Returning residents and authorized contractors are being given access to the Palisades Fire burn area with access passes, which are being distributed by law enforcement at the Disaster Recovery Center in West Los Angeles, 10850 Pico Blvd., and at the West Los Angeles Civic Center, 1645 Corinth Ave. Passes can be obtained daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Red Cross and county health officials have been distributing personal protective gear to residents going to the burn area, as authorities urge people to wear protection while sifting through the possibly toxic debris.
Wildfires’ origin, aftermath and recovery efforts
The Pacific Palisades and the Eaton fires in Altadena and Pasadena erupted on Jan. 7 amid fierce Santa Ana winds and are now fully contained, according to Cal Fire.
The 14,021-acre Eaton Fire caused at least 17 deaths, destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged 1,073.
At least 12 people died in the Palisades Fire, which scorched 23,448 acres, destroyed 6,837 structures and damaged 1,017.
Another blaze in the region that started later in January — the Hughes Fire near Castaic — charred 10,425 acres and was also fully contained.
The cause of the Eaton and Palisades fires remains under investigation.
Several lawsuits blame Southern California Edison power lines for igniting the Eaton Fire. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that Palisades Fire investigators believe a human element contributed to the fire, including the theory that the blaze began from a flare-up of a New Year’s Day fire believed to have been extinguished.
LA County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said officials are creating guidelines for property owners who would like to build temporary “accessory dwelling units” on fire-damaged lots, allowing residents to live on-site while rebuilding and recovery efforts are underway.
FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers are at UCLA Research Park West, 10850 W. Pico Blvd., and at 540 W. Woodbury Road in Altadena to assist homeowners aid applications. The centers operate daily 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
FEMA centers for victims of the Hurst, Sunset and Hughes fires are at the Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center, 5056 Van Nuys Blvd., Building B, open 9:30 a.m to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; and the Ritchie Valens Recreation Center, 10736 Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Pacoima, operating 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-6 p.m. Saturdays.
Fire victims have until March 10 to apply for FEMA financial assistance. According to LA County, FEMA has approved over $54 million in housing and other forms of assistance for 24,575 households. Over 117,200 people have registered for FEMA aid.
When the damage is fully assessed, the fires are expected to be the most expensive natural disaster in United States history. The UCLA Anderson Forecast on Tuesday estimated that the Eaton and Palisades fires caused property damage and capital losses between $95 billion and $164 billion, with insured losses totaling $75 billion. AccuWeather last month put the damage and economic losses at between $250 billion and $275 billion.
