High Levels of Lead Found in Soil Cleared by Army Corps After January Wildfires

New soil testing by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has found high levels of lead and other toxic metals at homes destroyed by January’s catastrophic wildfires and cleared by federal cleanup crews, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Sampling conducted by Roux Associates Inc. at 30 homesites that had been cleaned up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that 27% of samples taken from areas scraped by the Army Corps still exceeded state standards for lead in the Eaton wildfire burn scar, and nearly 44% in samples taken from parts of those properties where soil was not excavated. The numbers were more assuring in the Palisades fire zone, the Times reported.

This comes as county and city officials have issued rebuilding permits without soil testing requirements, and some developers have already broken ground. The county results add to a growing body of evidence that a significant number of properties could still harbor dangerous contaminants even after federal cleanup crews finish removing wreckage, according to the Times.

For this cleanup, without soil testing, the federal cleanup crews won’t return to remove additional soil, the Army Corps said.