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 described the Corps’ tree-removal criteria and notice process: trees marked with three blue dots and a base barcode are being evaluated by International Society of Arboriculture–certified arborists and will be removed only if they meet strict criteria — they lie in the ash footprint and are judged dead or likely to die within five years or they pose immediate risk to crews or the public.

Swenson urged property owners to engage with crews and noted a county-established right-of-entry deadline of March 31, 2025, for owners deciding whether to opt in to the removal program.

Los Angeles County officials also announced direct financial assistance. The county’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs is launching a Household Relief Fund that will provide grants of up to $18,000 per qualified household; the county said roughly $27,800,000 will be distributed. Applications are available at lacountyrelieffund.com and must be submitted by March 12, 2025, the county said. Separately, the Department of Economic Opportunity is offering worker and small-business grants; the county said small businesses and nonprofits can receive up to $25,000 if fully destroyed and impacted workers can receive up to $2,000. The deadline for those applications is March 2, 2025, and information is posted at LARegionFund.LACounty.gov.

Supervisor Horvath, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said the board “officially passed eviction protections countywide for people financially impacted by the fires.” Horvath said the protections run for six months and that the board directed county staff to work on establishing a $10,000,000 fund for rent relief.

On debris volumes and timelines, Colonel Swenson told reporters that roughly 3,400 properties were deferred to phase 2 and that the combined operation in the Eaton and Palisades areas could remove on the order of 4,500,000 tons of fire-related ash and debris. He estimated the Corps’ work would take “less than one year,” depending in part on how quickly property owners opt into the right-of-entry process.

Officials described outreach and safety work now under way: a public viewer and parcel-tracking tools are available at recovery.LAcounty.gov; a debris hotline with English- and Spanish-speaking staff is 213-308-8305; and a coalition of universities and public-health agencies, including UCLA, Loyola, Purdue and the county Department of Public Health, are coordinating soil sampling and testing.

County and federal officials emphasized efforts to reduce delays for residents rebuilding. A county supervisor said departments will fast-track permits for homeowners rebuilding “like for like” within 10% of the previous home size and that staff are pursuing ways to help residents access grants and philanthropic funds for investments such as accessory dwelling units, solar and home hardening. That supervisor also said the county extended an emergency shelter at Pamela Park for one week to help the remaining residents find longer-term housing.

Questions from reporters addressed how EPA completed phase 1 quickly; Peterson and Swenson said the response was scaled up by borrowing teams and personnel from other regions and agencies and by increasing the number of on-site teams. Peterson said approximately two-thirds of properties were cleared by EPA in phase 1 and about one-third were deferred to phase 2.

Officials repeatedly urged residents in impacted areas to submit right-of-entry forms, sign up for soil testing, and apply for relief funds before posted deadlines. They also asked for patience during increased truck traffic as crews move debris to permitted landfills.

Ending: Officials said outreach — including one-on-one meetings and Spanish-language assistance — will continue as cleanup and recovery proceeds.