EPA Completes Household Hazardous Materials Cleanup in response to Los Angeles Wildfires
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (February 26, 2025) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the agency has completed its work to assess, remove, and safely dispose of household hazardous materials from areas burned by the catastrophic Eaton and Palisades wildfires.
“EPA’s ability to complete this essential first phase of the cleanup is due to the dedication and hard work of our EPA staff and contractors, our federal, state and local partners, and the support of the community,” said Tara Fitzgerald, EPA’s Incident Commander. “We recognize this is just the first step on the road to recovery and rebuilding, and we will continue to support our partner agencies as they move through this process.”
EPA’s household hazardous material removal work is part of an all-of-government response to the Los Angeles wildfires, and we are grateful for the support and collaboration of partners including FEMA, USACE, the US Coast Guard, the State of California, State Parks, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the City and County of Los Angeles, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).
This effort, which was the first phase of the overall recovery from the Los Angeles wildfires, was part of the largest wildfire hazardous materials cleanup in the history of the EPA. Together with the support of our partners, more than 1700 staff identified and then cleared hazardous materials from properties in both fire footprints, finishing just 29 days after beginning our work in the field.
EPA crews also worked to remove and safely dispose of more than 1000 lithium-ion batteries from vehicles, homes and other battery powered products. EPA established staging areas to safely sort and package hazardous materials collected in the Eaton and Palisades fire areas for final disposal. EPA will conduct post-operations soil sampling at each staging area to ensure that there was no impact.
While our Phase 1 mission is complete, EPA will maintain a small presence to process lithium-ion batteries collected during Phase 2 Debris Removal in support of USACE, remaining onsite to lend our expertise to USACE for this important work.
The public can find more information about EPA’s hazardous material removal operations at EPA’s 2025 California Wildfires website.