Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Fire Survivors’ Contamination Testing Bill Clears First Legislative Hurdle in Sacramento

Altadena-born measure would create California’s first uniform standards for post-wildfire home safety

More than a year after the Eaton Fire, a bill that would require California to set science-based standards for testing and cleaning toxic contamination in homes, schools and workplaces after wildfires passed its first Assembly policy committee, according to  Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena).

AB 1642, the Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act, would direct the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt emergency regulations by July 1, 2027, specifying how contamination should be investigated, tested and removed in residential areas after a wildfire. California currently has no uniform statewide framework for determining when a home is safe to reoccupy after a fire, according to the bill’s text. The measure was introduced following feedback from Eaton Fire survivors and experts who encountered confusion and conflicting guidance when trying to determine whether their homes were safe.

The bill cleared the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials — its first and only Assembly policy committee, according to Harabedian’s office. It moves next to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The Eaton Fire, which began on January 7, 2025, burned more than 14,000 acres and destroyed more than 9,400 structures, according to Cal Fire. But thousands of additional homes that survived the blaze were left with toxic ash, lead and asbestos contamination deposited by the fire’s smoke plume. Research by François Tissot, a professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, found lead and other toxic heavy metals in homes both within and beyond the burn zone. More than half of the 52 homes his team tested exceeded EPA lead safety limits, according to Caltech.

Harabedian, whose 41st Assembly District includes Pasadena, Altadena, La Cañada Flintridge and Sierra Madre, said the bill represented progress in protecting families.

“Today’s victory shows progress and hope,” Harabedian said in the press release. “It proves that when we listen to people’s real experiences and follow the science, we can create solutions that protect families and communities. This is only the first step, but it’s an important one.”

The bill was sponsored by Eaton Fire Residents United, an Altadena-based grassroots organization that has gathered contamination data from residents with standing homes. In a statement included in the press release, the group said residents are living and working in places that may still contain lead and asbestos contamination.

“People are living, learning, and working in places that may still be contaminated with lead and asbestos from the devastating LA Fires — and that is an urgent public health risk,” according to the statement from Eaton Fire Residents United. “AB 1642 creates clear, science-based statewide standards for testing and cleanup of indoor and soil contamination, so families aren’t forced to choose between coming home and protecting their health.”

Tissot, who evacuated his own Altadena home during the fire and has led Caltech’s contamination research since, also expressed support for the measure.

“The data we collected after the Eaton Fire tells a clear story: lead and other toxic heavy metals released by the fire have contaminated homes both within and well beyond the fire zone,” Tissot said in the press release. “The risk is greatest for children, whose developing bodies absorb lead in place of calcium, causing irreversible cognitive damage.”

Tissot’s Caltech laboratory tested samples from dozens of homes in the weeks after the fire, finding lead on surfaces at levels as high as 6,000 micrograms per square foot — 150 times the EPA safety limit of 40 micrograms, according to Caltech’s published findings. The EPA states there is no safe level of lead exposure for children.

The bill is being treated as an urgency measure, meaning it would take effect immediately if approved by a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber, according to the bill’s text. It was introduced in late January 2026.

Harabedian has authored multiple wildfire recovery bills in the current legislative session, including AB 238, the Mortgage Forbearance Act, which was signed into law by Governor Newsom, and AB 797, the Community Stabilization Act, according to his office.

“We’re celebrating that AB 1642 was approved in committee, but there’s a long road ahead,” Eaton Fire Residents United said in its statement. “These protections are imperative for our families and communities.”