“DANGER: Lead Work Area” reads a sign on a front door of an Altadena home. “May damage fertility or the unborn child. Causes damage to the central nervous system.”

Block after block there are reminders that contaminants still linger.

House cleaners, hazardous waste workers and homeowners alike come and go wearing masks, respirators, gloves and hazmat suits as they wipe, vacuum and power-wash homes that weren’t burnt to ash.

It’s been a year of heartbreak and worry since the most destructive wildfires in the Los Angeles area’s history scorched neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people. Two wind-whipped blazes that ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, killed at least 31 people and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures, including homes, schools, businesses and places of worship. Rebuilding will take years.

• Federal oversight reports allege that the main contractor hired to clean up the Eaton and Palisades fires may have illegally dumped toxic ash, reused contaminated soil and cut corners.

• Inspectors documented crews moving fire debris onto neighboring properties, burying ash and burned materials to avoid full removal, re-contaminating “cleared” lots and spraying polluted water into storm drains.

• Despite warnings about lead and other toxins, FEMA refused to fund post-fire soil testing. State agencies are noncommittal about how they will handle such testing in the future.

The primary federal contractor entrusted with purging fire debris from the Eaton and Palisades fires may have illegally dumped toxic ash and misused contaminated soil in breach of state policy, according to federal government reports recently obtained by The Times.

The author of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report on the Palisades fire declined to endorse it because of substantial deletions that altered his findings, calling the edited version “highly unprofessional and inconsistent with our established standards.”

Pasadena Unified School District said new soil testing at San Rafael has confirmed the need for soil removal and replacement after City of Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) county-recommended post-Eaton Fire sampling found lead at concentrations exceeding Department of Toxic Substances Control screening levels in two Pasadena communities within district boundaries, according to information the district released Friday.

The district said the additional testing followed Los Angeles County Department of Public Health soil sampling results. Pasadena Unified conducted additional soil testing across all campuses, and initial testing at San Rafael identified areas of soil requiring additional assessment within the play field and two planter areas along the north and east boundaries of the school.