Friday, February 7, 2025

Newly Appointed EPA Administrator Tours Eaton Fire Burn Area

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Hazardous material removal continues Friday in fire-damaged areas of Altadena and Pasadena, a day after recently appointed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin toured both the Eaton Fire burn zone.

“It’s impossible to fathom,” Zeldin told KNX News after viewing the Eaton Fire area. “No American has ever seen anything like this ever before, and hopefully no American will ever have to see something like this ever again.”

He said his agency “has been proudly doing everything in our power” to complete the Phase 1 clearance of hazardous materials from the burn zones, with the agency trying to meet a goal of finishing the work in 30 days.

“We set a 30-day goal. We’re doing everything we can to possibly meet it.”

Once the Phase 1 hazardous materials work is finished on individual properties, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will expand its Phase 2 clearance of fire debris from properties, clearing the way for residents and businesses to begin rebuilding efforts.

The corps officially began Phase 2 work earlier this work, starting with five Pasadena Unified School District campuses destroyed or damaged in the Eaton Fire.

EPA officials said Wednesday there were more than 1,000 people working on the hazardous waste removal effort, but only about 5% of affected properties had been cleared so far.

But the start of Phase 2 work marked a major advancement in the clearance work, which is expected to take at least a year to fully complete.

“Beginning Phase 2 means we’re making tangible progress toward recovery,” Col. Eric Swenson, the Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles Wildfires Recovery Field Office commander, 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.”

Phase 2 involves clearing fire-damaged properties of hazardous ash and debris.

Corps of Engineer officials said the Phase 2 operations will expand in the coming weeks to include residential properties destroyed by the Eaton and Palisades fires.

County officials on Wednesday again urged fire-affected residents to fill out “Right of Entry” forms to either opt in or out of the free Phase 2 debris-clearance program offered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Residents have until March 31 to complete the forms, which are available online at: recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal/ or at any FEMA Disaster Recovery Center.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Wednesday about half of affected residents in the Eaton and Palisades fire areas had filled out the forms to opt in to the clearance program.

Residents also have the option of opting out of the program and hiring their own private contractors to perform the work. However, that work cannot proceed until the EPA completes its waste removal program, which is expected to take at least a month.

Status updates on the EPA’s work, including an interactive map of individual fire-affected properties, are available online at epa.gov/ca/2025- california-wildfires.

The cleanup efforts have sparked criticism from some residents concerned about the sites being used to process hazardous materials being removed from destroyed properties by the EPA.

Residents, however, are being allowed to return to their properties, along with contractors and utility workers, as they assess damage and determine how to move forward.

A nightly curfew for the burn areas remains in effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The Red Cross and county health officials have been distributing personal protective equipment to people heading for the burn area, and authorities urged people to wear protection as they sift through the potentially hazardous debris.

The Eaton Fire caused at least 17 deaths, destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged 1,073 more while burning 14,021 acres.

The causes of both fires, which began while the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire danger due to a historic wind event that saw gusts of 80 to 100 mph, remains under investigation.

A FEMA Disaster Recovery Center is open in Altadena at 540 W. Woodbury Road, to assist homeowners with applying for aid. The center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The deadline for fire victims to apply for FEMA financial relief is March 10. According to the county, FEMA has already approved more than $54 million in housing and other assistance for 24,575 households. More than 117,200 individuals have registered for FEMA assistance.

The UCLA Anderson Forecast released a report Tuesday estimated that the two fires caused property damage and capital losses ranging between $95 billion and $164 billion, with insured losses at $75 billion.

AccuWeather last month issued a revised estimate putting the damage and economic losses at between $250 billion and $275 billion.