Why is only LEAD being Tested Post LA Fires?

LA County flyer for manipulative and disingenuous Virtual Town Hall

I hopped on the Facebook link to the virtual town hall last evening, specifically to listen in on what the county is doing about soil testing in the burn areas of Los Angeles. It was the LA County Public Health Post-Fire Assessment Plan Virtual Town Hall on May 29th, 2025. I had sent in a question to the link for their Q&A, hoping that they’d read aloud my very honest query to LA County Public Health. My question was this:

What does LA County Public Health intend to do about the carcinogens and toxins in the soil in the LA Fire areas, surrounding neighborhoods and Los Angeles at large that are going to cause health and safety issues for decades if they are not biologically remediated?

I listened to their opening segment on mosquito abatement in the fire zones as I guided my Prius across the 118 toward a meeting I was headed to. The fellow who spoke on mosquito abatement and control did a decent job of delivering some very dry and basic information to the citizenry of Los Angeles about mosquitoes, as well as discussing some free testing kits available from the county. It was all a very mundane, cadenced opening act for the big show of the night - The Latest Lead Testing Results and the Launch of the Eaton Area Soil Testing Program. Finally, ten or fifteen minutes in they were done with the mosquito opener. My ears perked up as I heard the moderator say that they were moving on to some of the results from the soil testing for lead from Altadena that they’d been taking for the past couple of months. 

That was what I was waiting for. I wanted to hear some real hard hitting scientific facts and a detailed plan of what I believe is and should be the most pressing issue facing the Public Health Department, LA County, the respective supervisors of the fire zones, the City of Los Angeles, the mayor of LA and our governor. But this was not to be the case. The Health Department began spilling out results from the lead testing that showed most of the levels they'd seen were coming in below the range of concern. In fact, only a few homes in Altadena that had been tested were in the elevated ranges that would be considered dangerous. I thought to myself, “How could this be?” 

That was the moment that this longtime Angeleno who grew up in the Palisades began to listen even more closely, because I knew that this was the beginning of the government-speak, the government and pseudo “science” backed narrative that was being woven to support an agenda. How did I know this? Because of what I do for a living. I am a real organic farmer, biological gardener and Non-GMO organic composter. I have dealt with government regulations in my field that are created around a story, a plan, an architecture that is built to keep the bureaucracy afloat and the people it serves in the dark.

The moderator threw out a CYA blanket for the county by reporting that of course LA County Public Health believes that any level of lead is unsafe and potentially dangerous, especially for children. Nice job. This was the first statement of the evening attempting to remove any potential liability for the county. The agenda of the virtual town hall then quickly jumped from that into just how pleased they were with themselves to announce that LA County is putting up 3 million dollars for lead testing in soil for the LA fires. 

I’m going to interject something that has been bothering me now for months as a person whose life is surrounded by soil and soil biology,

Why is no one in the county, city or state talking about the toxins in the soil and why is only lead being tested post LA Fires?

You would think from what LA County Public Health is reporting, that lead contamination is the only problem that is facing Altadena and the Palisades with regards to their soil. I keep waiting for someone in power to step up, speak up, say the obvious and no one is willing to do that. So I am.

Hello Health Department. The toxins that were burnt into, dropped by ash and filtered further by rainwater into the soil of the fire zones, the perimeter of the fire zones and anywhere within 25 miles of the fires have created a mass of toxicity! Anyone who was near LA during the fires knew that we were all being bombed with toxicity for weeks, actually months! Are there no rational experts or politicians out there who think that the level of toxicity from chemicals and VOC’s might be a far greater risk to the health and well being of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and the surrounding communities?

Lead is a serious issue, but it is easier to mitigate heavy metals in the soil than chemical soil toxicity, especially in residential areas where the risk of rebuilding and living on toxic soil has massive health implications. I feel better just saying that, and exposing the truth. I am planning on saying it again and again and again until someone in power begins to listen.  

Back to the virtual town hall. The meeting was handed over to the USC Clean team. I know that the faculty and students are scientists and that it’s exciting for them to collect realtime data from an active fire zone, but they seem to have forgotten in their reporting that these are peoples lives that we are talking about, not just soil samples looking for elevated levels of lead. They blah-blah-blahed their way through all of the very bland information on what their group has been doing in terms of testing and oversight. It was absolutely as uninspiring as two pieces of white bread slapped together with too little mayo. 

The moderator then threw out questions. They were all softballs. It was as if they took the 5 easiest, no meat on the bones questions and tossed them over to the team leader and a doctor who was helping guide the program. The problem for the SC Soil Crew is that there are people out there like me who are listening to their spiel with a critical ear. One of the questions asked was if the rain lessened the lead contamination in the soil? The answer shocked me as I said, “No” to myself in my car, just as the team leader said, “Yes, to some extent.” What?! He quickly covered his answer by saying what he meant was that the rain removed a lot of the ash from properties, which moved lead away from some of the affected homes, thus lessening the levels of lead in that soil. That is not lowering the lead levels, that is just nature shifting the lead from Point A to Point B. The doctor followed up with the very well known fact - that lead can stay in soil for a long time. So all of you know, it can stay in the soil for decades at a minimum and up to centuries. 

The next thing that literally blew my mind as I exited the freeway towards my destination was the group response to 2 questions. The first being, and I'm paraphrasing here, is it safe to move back into a home built on soil that still has lead contamination? The answer from LA County Public Health was astonishing. They said that so long as 6” of soil had been removed from the ash footprint and replaced with clean fill dirt before digging and building the new foundation, the soil beneath the new home would be relatively safe as it would no longer be disturbed. Well, isn't digging new footings and trenching for gas, electrical, water and sewer going to be deeper than 6" for most homes? That answer from Public Health was definitely a big Red flag! 

The soil below the new home will be loaded with chemical toxins, not to mention heavy metals. At the very least it needs to be biologically remediated prior to digging footings or pouring new pads.

The moderator for LA County then went on to say that covering lead contaminated soil around the rest of their property with 6” of clean topsoil, hardscape or mulch will keep the lead below the surface which is where it is most dangerous to children and animals. The doctor from USC agreed with this. Well that's fantastic! Did the county or USC Clean take into consideration how much money it would cost every homeowner to import 6" of clean topsoil or mulch or hardscape for their properties? I don't think so. Just on it’s face their suggestion is ridiculous. To merely cover areas with topsoil, hardscape or mulch is absolutely not addressing the lead issue or the much larger issue - chemical toxicity. 

Get your Copy today and Heal Your Property the Biological Way

The virtual town hall wrapped with final thoughts and this is where the USC Clean team really spoke the truth, as well as another attempted out for any responsibility when it comes to LA County and its Public Health plan for the LA Fires. The team leader said that he was very excited to have this opportunity to collect data and keep a close eye on the lead results as the testing continued and the rebuilding begins. He said that they hope to learn a lot from the testing and that this opportunity to collect samples and gather data could be very helpful. The doctor closed this discussion with the fact that there really isn’t a lot of information on dealing with lead contamination in the soil like what occurred from the LA Fires and that the lead issue could be with us for a very long time. He ended with this - he believed that it’s safe to rebuild in Los Angeles. 

Wow! That was a lot of unhelpful posturing by USC Clean and the LA County Department of Public Health. That gave me zero hope that they have any idea what they are doing with regards to soil remediation for the LA fires. They did not give one solid remediation fact that would solve any of the potential health disasters that are lurking under the soil in the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire burn areas, or surrounding communities and towns. 

I have been underwhelmed in my time, but never as underwhelmed and frustrated as I was left after the virtual town hall. LA County does not want to address or fix this problem, either because they don’t know how, it’s too expensive, or worse, they just don't care. I could probably make a case for all 3 of those answers for them. 

They never addressed the question that I submitted. They couldn’t. How could they? Because to do so would be an acknowledgement of soil toxicity that has the potential to make generations of Angelenos sick for years to come. That is why I am reporting back to you my friends, fellow citizens and family, because if we don’t do something now, the right thing and biologically remediate all of the soil in the fire zones of Los Angeles, our homes are not going to ever be safe to come home to. 

My father's beach house on Las Tunas Beach post LA Fires

My 30 plus years of experience in soil remediation and transitioning gardens to organic, along with this disaster in my hometown, the Palisades, led me to write the book Soil Remediation for the LA Fires. It shows you in simple layman's terms and images, how to remediate your soil. You or your contractor can learn how to remediate your properties using this book.

If you would rather have us do it or any part of it for you, we provide that as well. See our Soil Remediation tab on our website growrealorganic.com.

We are offering a free ZOOM class on Soil Remediation for the LA Fires in June that will give you an understanding of what the protocols look like. You can book it here: https://www.growrealorganic.com/service-page/soil-remediation-for-the-la-fires

Thank you for reading and God Bless you all.

© Randy Ritchie