EPA announces completion of Phase 1 of hazardous waste removal in Los Angeles burn scar areas

Weeks after the deadly Eaton and Palisades fires, crews continue to make progress in the debris removal process including the completion of Phase 1 of hazardous material removal by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency. 

At a weekly news conference Wednesday morning, officials provided an update that 100% of EPA's work has been completed in the Eaton and Palisades burn scar areas. 

Phase 1 was expected to be done by the end of the week but crews were able to expedite their process. Cheree Peterson, the EPA's Acting Regional Administrator, said this is the largest wildfire response the agency has ever managed. 

She explained that during a normal operation, the EPA has 15 to 20 teams addressing wildfires, but in LA they had 90 teams deployed. 

Peterson said 1,700 members removed over 300 million tons of hazardous household material. 

"We will continue to be here while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes their mission to support removal of lithium-ion batteries," Peterson said. 

The Army Corps will continue their work on Phase 2 to remove the remaining fire debris from properties. At the news conference, Colonel Eric Swenson said last week crews completed the debris removal on 10 properties in the fire zone areas. 

Four out of five schools in the Pasadena Unified School District have had debris cleared and Palisades Charter High School has also been completed. Swenson said they have two Los Angeles Unified School District campuses left to work on. 

Swenson addressed residents' concerns over tree removal in the Altadena area. He said not all trees that are marked will be removed and a tree won't be removed just because it's burned.

The Army Corps is working with certified arborists to determine if a tree is dead or is expected to die in the near future.

When asked about a timeline of when the Army Corps will be done with Phase 2, Swenson said it should take less than a year.