Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by NDLON on May 5th, 2025.
The Los Angeles Times published a chilling report on Sunday about the dangers that still linger after the January wildfires. Their reporters went to the burn zones in Altadena and Pacific Palisades and tested the dirt. They found dangerous heavy metals and other toxic contamination – even in sites that had already been remediated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Times wrote: “Two of the ten Army Corps-remediated homesites in Altadena still had toxic heavy metals in excess of California standards for residential properties — including one where lead levels were more than three times higher than the state benchmark. The findings are the first evidence that — by skipping comprehensive soil sampling — federal contractors are leaving toxic contamination behind.”
The reporters also went to homes that had received no federal cleanup – where they found “elevated levels of arsenic, lead and mercury.”
The federal and state governments have so far refused to pay for comprehensive soil testing. It’s expensive – many landlords, homeowners and renters can’t afford the thousands of dollars it takes to test each home. That hasn’t stopped people from going back – into the danger zone. Many residents have no better choice.
You can learn more about the L.A. Times tests here.
But you can also help to keep workers and families safe.
The flames and smoke are gone. Now it’s all about personal protective equipment, to keep the poison out of people’s skin and lungs.
In the days and weeks after the fires erupted in January, workers and volunteers from NDLON’s Pasadena Community Job Center were in the heart of the fire relief effort. Worker brigades went out every morning and spent weeks clearing downed trees, ashes and other fire debris. Now these “second responders” are hard at work cleaning and rebuilding in the empty lots across Pasadena and Altadena.
It was dangerous then, and it’s dangerous now.
Workers and families are at risk of getting sick from exposure to lead and other toxic metals.
We need to keep them safe. NDLON is working to assemble and distribute 10,000 preparedness kits that include hard hats, P100 respirators, coveralls, goggles, and other PPE to distribute at disaster job sites and day labor corners in surrounding areas to ensure that day laborers working at fire impacted sites have basic PPE. We are training workers to learn OSHA-approved safety practices, to protect themselves and others on the job.
It’s a long-term effort to minimize the long-term hazards. It will take a serious commitment of effort, time and money.
Won’t you help us by sponsoring a PPE kit for a worker today?
You can do so by making a donation to our Second Responder Fund.
Follow our social media here, here and here.
Onward,
Ishell Linares
Director of Development, NDLON
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