LA County: EPA completes phase 1 hazardous-material removal; Army Corps begins phase 2 as county rolls out relief funds and eviction protections

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed phase 1 removal of household hazardous materials in the Eaton and Palisades wildfire areas, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is carrying the work forward into a phase 2 debris-removal operation, federal and county officials said at a Los Angeles County press conference Tuesday.

Cherie Peterson, acting regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said EPA deployed an unusually large response and cleared hazardous household material from the initial phase of the response. “This is the largest wildfire response that EPA has ever engaged in,” Peterson said, and added that the agency “removed over 300,000,000 tons of hazardous household material,” employed about 1,700 EPA staff, and removed “almost 700 electric vehicle batteries and almost 300 solar storage power battery packs.”

The Army Corps of Engineers will handle parcels deferred from phase 1 and those requiring heavier mechanical equipment, Colonel Eric Swenson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said. Swenson said crews have completed debris removal at 10 properties to date and cleared debris at multiple schools, including four Pasadena Unified School District schools and one Pacific Palisades high school. He…