Fire debris removal

An on-the-ground look at the cleanup process

Libby Rainey is a general assignment reporter. She covers the news that shapes Los Angeles and how people change the city in return.

Published April 9, 2025 3:36 PM

A person wearing a yellow safety vest and black helmet sprays a dark green liquid from a hose onto a piece of property. Behind the person is a tractor and a person in a white protective suit spraying water onto a property.

Workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spray hydro seedling over a cleared property in Altadena on April 7, 2025.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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On any given day, around 215 crews work to clear the burn zones of the Palisades and Eaton fires while keeping debris out of the air.

Why it matters: The L.A. fires that killed 30 people in January also destroyed more than 16,000 buildings, and most of them are eligible for government cleanup. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and L.A. County estimate that up to 4.5 million tons of debris need to be removed. They say that's going to take up to 150,000 dump trucks.

Important to know: Homeowners have until April 15 to join the government program or opt out. As of the latest count, crews directed by the Army Corps have completed cleanup at nearly 1,700 plots.

Read on ... for a close-up look into the process.

The corner of Thurin Avenue and West Loma Alta Drive in Altadena offers a snapshot of recovery, three months after the Eaton Fire.

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The government is clearing fire debris from thousands of plots. Here’s what it looks like

The burnt out cars, mountains of ash and all those chimneys have to go somewhere before rebuilding can begin. And on a recent weekday morning, crews contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were on this block cleaning out plots.

One group of workers in hard hats and blue protective gear sifted through a husk of a home, shuffling in the space between two chimneys looking for asbestos to remove. Across the street, a group in tyvek suits and respirators removed piles of waste from the shell of yet another home lost to the fire.

And next door to that, an example of where each of the thousand plots destroyed in the fire will eventually end up: a mostly clear lot, with a gate and patio still standing around it. The ground had been sprayed down with a green substance called hydromulch and surrounded with straw bags to prevent flooding. In what once was the home's back garden, sprigs of plants now grow.

On any given day, around 215 crews do this work across the burn zones of the Palisades and Eaton fires, according to the Army Corps, which runs the government’s fire debris clearing program.

It's a massive job. The L.A. fires that killed 30 people in January also destroyed more than 16,000 buildings, and most of them are eligible for government cleanup. The Army Corps and L.A. County estimate that up to 4.5 million tons of debris needs to be removed in this phase of recovery. They say that's going to take up to 150,000 dump trucks.

An aerial view of Altadena showing several cleared properties among many more awaiting cleanup.

Army Corps Col. Eric Swenson said the government had contracted with about 3,000 workers to get the job done — and that doesn't count the truck drivers transporting waste and materials from each site.

Homeowners have until April 15 to join the government program or opt out. As of the latest count, crews directed by the Army Corps have completed cleanup at nearly 1,700 plots.

Swenson, who leads the operation, told LAist that he estimates the government cleanup will be complete by the end of the summer, well ahead of a January 2026 deadline. He joined LAist in the burn zone to demonstrate the government's debris removal process.

"We have gone much faster than we had originally expected," Swenson told LAist in Altadena on Monday.

How does ‘opting in’ to the government program work?

To opt in to the federal program, residents need to fill out a "Right of Entry" form by April 15 allowing the federal government to do the work on their property.

That form includes questions about ownership, insurance, and cars and structures on the property. It also gives the homeowner the option to remove or keep the home's foundation. It is processed by L.A. County before it's handed to the Army Corps.

The cleanup is done in two phases. In the first phase, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency surveyed and removed hazardous materials like batteries and fertilizers from burned lots. That work was completed in late February. The debris clearing program is Phase 2, when the Army Corps takes over.

Step one: Getting rid of asbestos

Once a "right of entry form" is handed to the Army Corps, they can begin their work. That process starts with an assessment of the site for hazards like asbestos.

Swenson said that first, the crew takes samples of the remains of a home and sends it to a lab to be tested for asbestos. If asbestos is found, a team is sent to remove the asbestos first. On Monday at one plot on Thurin Avenue and West Loma Alta Drive, workers were sifting through the remains of a home by hand to remove asbestos.

Three workers in blue coveralls and helmets remove debris from a burned lot with a pool.

" It's a labor intensive, hands-on process," said Swenson, who added that this part can take one to three days.

Swenson said crews then take the material with asbestos, place it in bags and put those bags in a dump truck. According to Cory Koger, a debris expert with the Army Corps, materials with asbestos are eventually taken to Azusa Land Reclamation. First, he said, those materials are taken to staging areas so they can be more efficiently packaged. Those waystations are the Altadena Golf Course for the Eaton Fire and along Temescal Canyon Road for the Palisades Fire.

Step two: Ash and fire debris removal

Once asbestos has been cleared, Swenson said, a crew will begin removing the remains of the fire from a plot. This includes removing ash, burned remains of the home, and six inches of topsoil. It also entails demolishing structures — like remaining walls and chimneys. The contractors are not removing pools, patios and driveways from properties, but they are removing vehicles.

Crews wear respirators and protective suits as they remove dangerous materials. At one site, a worker manned an excavator, separating ash and debris from metal before lifting and dropping debris into a waiting dump truck.

A person wearing a white safety suit sprays water onto a burned property near a yellow tractor. There are mountains and some houses in the background.

As the fire debris was being disturbed and lifted, another worker hosed the area down with water.

" We use what we call the wet method," Swenson said. "So every parcel is sprayed down with water before we start, as we're doing debris removal, and then that fire ash and debris is kept in a wet state ... so that when it gets to the landfill, it's still essentially moist. So [there] won't be any fugitive dust escaping, because we're trying to keep all the dust on the ground."

Ash and fire debris is a concern because of the harmful substances it can contain from all the materials that burned in the fires. This has been a concern not only for people whose homes were lost but also for neighboring areas that were not affected by the fires, and for the communities close to the landfills where the debris is being taken.

A man in army fatigues and a safety vest and helmet stands for a portrait outside a burned down home.

Swenson said that the ash and debris is deposited into dump trucks with plastic liners that get filled, closed and covered with tarp before those trucks deliver the fire waste to landfills. Three dump trucks came to one land parcel on Monday in the span of about an hour.

Swenson estimated each land parcel could require 15 to 20 dump trucks to remove all the materials, and said the Army Corps contracts with truck operators in and around Los Angeles for this part of the process. The Army Corps said it is sending the ash and debris waste to three landfills — Calabasas, Sunshine Canyon, and Simi Valley Landfill.

Step three: Removing metals, concrete and the home's foundation

A crew member hosed down the entire area, not discriminating between types of material. The worker navigating the excavator was the one who separated ash and debris from metal refuse.

Swenson said that after the ash and debris is removed, the crew puts metal and concrete into a separate truck to be recycled. He said they take the concrete foundation out last. These materials are then taken to a staging area to be processed before going to a recycling center.

Mean wearing high-visibility vests cover a black dump truck with a black tarp.

For the Eaton Fire, that staging area is the Altadena Golf Course, where clean concrete, vegetation and metals get crushed so they're easier to transport. This move has drawn criticism and concern from residents in the area worried about health implications and traffic. Swenson said it was necessary to keep the debris removal process quick.

"The limiting factor out here is trucks," Swenson said. “And if you've lived in L.A. for a day, you know that traffic here is challenging. So by having a temporary debris reduction area within the impacted area, I'm able to short-haul a truck containing clean metals, clean concrete and vegetative debris from this parcel here, say four miles to the golf course where it can be dropped off. ... I'm able to turn trucks faster, which makes this process go faster."

Two signs posted on a patch of dirt one reads "This property's Hazardous Materials removal is COMPLETE" and "California Wildfires Response Debris Removal Support" which lists an address and pin number.

Step four: Removing final signs of fire damage

Once all that material is removed, the team contracted by the Army Corps removes hazardous trees from each land parcel. Then, the crew sprays hydromulch onto the property — a bright green mixture of fiber and other materials meant to prevent erosion. Finally, they'll line the property with straw wattles — tubes of straw — to prevent erosion.

Once all of that is complete, Swenson said the Army Corps does a final inspection before returning a completed right of entry form to the county.

I've opted in. How do I know when it's my turn?

Once your right of entry form has been accepted by the county and passed to the Army Corps, you're in line. The Army Corps says it will call property owners 72 hours before their debris clearing is set to begin. You can be at the site for this process.

Swenson said that at first, crews were having to move around neighborhoods rather than going house by house, because land parcels were at different stages in the process. But he said that as right of entry forms get cleared and asbestos abatement gets finished, he'll be able to more efficiently line up homes for cleanup.

" It is our goal to get these properties cleared as quickly and safely as possible so that these homeowners have an opportunity to rebuild as quickly as possible," he said.

Once debris removal is complete, homeowners can begin the next part of the lengthy process of recovery: getting a building permit.

Criminal Justice

OC judge resigns

He also pleaded guilty to mail fraud

Jill Replogle covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.

Published January 12, 2026 4:46 PM

A view of a tall building from closeup and below.

Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

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Jill Replogle

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LAist

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An Orange County judge pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of mail fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud California’s workers compensation fund.

Who’s the judge? Israel Claustro was a long-time prosecutor who won election to Orange County Superior Court in 2022.

What did he do? While working as an O.C. prosecutor, Claustro also owned a company that billed the state for medical evaluations of injured workers. That was illegal because, in California, you have to be licensed to practice medicine to own a medical corporation.

Anyone else involved? Claustro’s partner in the business was a doctor who had previously been suspended for healthcare fraud and therefore was prohibited from being involved in workers’ comp claims. Claustro knew this and paid him anyway, according to court filings from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Will he go to prison? Claustro could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office is recommending probation instead as part of the deal. In an email to LAist last week, Claustro’s lawyer, Paul Meyer, said his client “deeply regrets” his participation in the business venture and was resigning as judge “in good faith, with sadness.”

What’s next: Claustro is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26. California’s Constitution calls for the governor to appoint someone to temporarily replace Claustro on the bench for the next few years, followed by an election.

Go deeper … on the latest in Orange County.

Who gets to be a parent is being reshaped by increased access to IVF

The nation's first IVF baby was born in 1981, when the process was such a novelty that she was referred to as a "test tube baby." Since then, its use has surged in the United States, and today, IVF accounts for almost 100,000 births each year. That's up 50% from 10 years ago.

With IVF, which accounts for around 2% of births in America, a woman's eggs are retrieved from her body and fertilized with sperm in a lab. The resulting embryo is then implanted in her uterus, with the hope it will lead to a pregnancy.

This process has opened the door for many people who couldn't otherwise conceive children and reshaped who gets to be a parent, including more LGBTQ+ couples.

It has also become a big driver in the number of older single mothers in the U.S. at a time when the country's overall birth rate is declining. The number of unmarried women in their 40s who are having babies has grown by 250% in the last 30 years, according to data from the government. A portion of these women have partners, but many don't.

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There are many reasons for this rise, says Rosanna Hertz, author of the book Single By Chance, Mothers by Choice. Increasingly, she says, young women are pursuing higher education, focusing on their careers, or fulfilling personal goals such as traveling around the world or buying homes.

And when they're ready to partner up in their mid-30s, "there's no one to settle down with," says Hertz, a sociologist with a focus on gender and family at Wellesley College. "So, am I going to spend my time waiting for somebody to come along?"

Hertz says her research shows most women who want a family would rather do it with a partner. For them, IVF is Plan B. But as their reproductive windows narrow with age, some decide to move forward by themselves.

A framed photograph of two women, both with light skin tone wearing light-colored clothes in front of a white background, pose for a photo where one woman is holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. The frame sits on a wooden shelf in front of a brick wall.

Becoming a mother is a marker of adulthood for them, Hertz says.

"There is a sense that I'm now ready to do something that is selfless, that involves the care and nurture of another human being and be part of a broader community," she says. "What a child does is tie you into a community."

Do I really want to have a baby? How do I choose a donor?

Terry saw that care and community in her own sister's family, when it drew her to Nashville to spend time with her nephews.

Once she knew she wanted to be a mom, she started mapping out her path through the language she understood, which is spreadsheets and PowerPoints.

"I made a decision tree," she says.

The root of that tree was a fundamental question: Did she really want a child? It branched from there to examine how she would become a mother and which path would give her the best chance of having a baby. It led her to IVF.

Soon enough, she was faced with another decision: choosing a sperm donor. Faced with an array of choices, she resorted to another spreadsheet "that was like 30 rows long and 30 columns wide."

In it, she started by listing factors like race, height, ethnicity and education. Then she narrowed it down to a few that really mattered to her: "I cared about some physical attributes to look like me. And I cared about family health history."

Terry was extremely lucky with her IVF process: She got pregnant on her first try. She gave birth to Eleanor in 2021 and Margaret came two years later.

"I should be quite grateful for what my process was," Terry says. "The results were beyond what you statistically expect."

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a black shirt with floral print, eats a slice of cucumber facing two children sitting and standing on chairs with peeled and cut cucumbers on cutting boards on a counter.

She's right: The odds of conceiving a child with just one try of IVF are below 50% after a woman turns 35. And the chances drop rapidly each year after that. Many women try multiple cycles of IVF with no guarantee that they'll get pregnant.

Pregnancies at an older age can also carry health risks for both mom and child, with a high chance of miscarriage. All of this can take a huge physical and emotional toll.

Women with higher education are the top users of IVF

When Kate Snyder, who lives in northern New Jersey, was ready to have a kid, she looked for the right guy. "And, you know," she says, "it didn't happen."

Snyder was already in her 40s when she started thinking of IVF.

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a denim shirt, walks down a set of wooden stairs in a home while holding the hand of a small child.

"Once I came to terms with the fact that the father of my child doesn't have to be the person I end up with, and you separate the two, it's very freeing," she says. "And it just took the pressure off."

Now 48, she is the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, who loves to talk and fills their home with chatter. "She comes home from day care with gossip," says Snyder, who is an interior designer and artist. "She's telling me who pooped their pants and how the teacher had a lollipop today and this person got out of her cot."

Snyder says Google, her former employer, covered a small portion of the cost of freezing her eggs. But she paid for the IVF process herself.

Each time a woman tries to get pregnant via IVF, the cost can range from $15,000 to over $30,000. It's why IVF is out of reach for many.

A woman with light skin tone, light brown hair, smiles as she looks at a small child in a car seat.

It's gotten the attention of President Trump. In October, he announced proposals to help reduce the cost of the drugs necessary for IVF. He also encouraged employers to offer broader infertility coverage directly to workers.

Some people go into debt, while others like Snyder use up their savings. Some women, like Terry, have theirs covered by insurance. Even that is not common — only 1 in 4 companies with more than 200 employees pays for a part of the process.

Women with higher education — especially master's degrees, doctorates or professional degrees — are more likely to use IVF than those with less education, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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These women, on average, have higher incomes. All that gives them the agency to start and support their own family.

"My knees hurt"

Both Terry and Snyder were financially comfortable enough to step off the career treadmill and create time and space for their new families. Snyder now works four days a week. Terry took a pay cut for a different role that was less intense — it allowed her to work from home and requires less travel. Neither has qualms about it.

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a denim shirt and jeans, sits on a floor with toys and books around her.

Still, parenting in your 40s is hard.

"It's so physical being a mom. I don't think I expected that," says Snyder, thinking back to her first two years of motherhood and carrying her daughter up and down the stairs or getting her in and out the car. "Motherhood in your 40s, you know, my knees hurt and there are things that are starting to fall apart."

For Terry, one of the hardest parts of being a single mom is not being able to take a break. "If I'm tired or had a rough day at work or I'm frustrated, I'm feeling overwhelmed and I want to step away from my kids, I often can't," she says. "I have to meet their needs first and meet my needs later. And that's hard."

And then there is the weight of decision-making. She discusses her choices with her friends and family, "but ultimately all of that rests on me and that feels really heavy," she says.

A woman and two young children with light skin tone sit on a carpet with an alphabet design.

"Was he sorry I didn't have a husband?"

Even though there are more families like Terry's and Snyder's today, they're still rare. And society hasn't quite caught up with them.

Like when Terry moved to her new home in Nashville, she introduced herself and the girls to a neighbor, who asked what her husband did for work. Terry explained that they were a "mom and kids family" with two cats. The response took her aback.

"He said, 'Oh, I'm so sorry,'" she recalls. "Was he sorry I didn't have a husband? I still don't know to this day. But there is very much like a moment of feeling other and different — and that's often an uncomfortable feeling."

Terry worries about how her daughters will handle such questions. She prepares her oldest child by role-playing with her. But even then, sometimes it doesn't quite play out the way they've practiced.

Recently, she recalls, one of her daughter's classmates said, "'Hey, Eleanor, is that your mom?' And she said, 'Yes.' And they said, 'Well, where's your dad?' And Eleanor just froze in that moment."

But more often than not, the tenderness of motherhood triumphs over such unsettling interactions. Terry treasures the sweet moments she shares with her kids, like when they climb onto her bed in the morning to wake her or when they sit next to each other on the couch to read before bedtime.

"I love moments where they say, 'Mama, I need a snuggle.' Just holding them for a minute or two and seeing how that calms them is really, really powerful."
Copyright 2026 NPR

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a cream-colored sweater, reads a book to two small children sitting at her sides on a couch.

Housing & Homelessness

Eviction lawyer charges

LA eviction attorney faces state bar discipline

David Wagner covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.

Published January 12, 2026 1:16 PM

Two men with light-tone skin appear in side-by-side windows. Each wears a dark suit and red tie. The chyron at the bottom reads: Q&A session and has contact info for the eviction attorney.

Dennis Block discusses Southern California tenant protections in a video posted by the Apartment Owners Association of California.

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Screenshot via YouTube

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Topline:

Over his nearly 50-year career, Burbank-based attorney Dennis Block has built a reputation as a staunch advocate for Southern California landlords seeking to evict their tenants. But disciplinary charges filed against him last month by the California State Bar raise questions about his treatment of clients.

The allegations: Block faces charges involving a series of clients over a span of years. According to the 10 counts against him, Block allegedly collected fees wrongly described as “non-refundable,” failed to account for his charges and didn’t return a client’s property in a timely manner following termination of his employment. In one case, Block allegedly failed to pay court sanctions on time. In another, he allegedly created a conflict of interest by representing both a tenant and her landlord.

The backstory: This isn’t the first time Block has faced repercussions for alleged ethical lapses in recent years. In 2023, LAist reported on a filing Block’s firm submitted in an eviction case that contained multiple references to fake case law. Legal experts told us the filing, which led to court sanctions, was likely produced through misuse of AI.

Read on… to learn why legal ethics experts say the charges are serious.

Over his nearly 50-year career, Burbank-based attorney Dennis Block has built a reputation as a fierce advocate for Southern California landlords seeking to evict their tenants.

But disciplinary charges filed against him last month by the California State Bar raise questions about his treatment of clients.

Block faces charges involving a series of clients over a span of years. According to the 10 counts against him, Block allegedly collected payments wrongly described as “non-refundable,” failed to account for his fees and didn’t return a client’s property in a timely manner following termination of his employment.

In one case, Block allegedly failed to pay court sanctions on time. In another, he allegedly created a conflict of interest by representing both a tenant and her landlord.

When LAist asked Block how he responded to the charges, he told us to reach out to his defense attorney Erin Joyce. In a statement, Joyce said, “While we cannot comment on the specifics of the case, we believe the matter will be resolved in Mr. Block’s favor prior to trial at the settlement conference.”

The ultimate penalty in California State Bar Court is disbarment, which would prevent Block from continuing to practice law. Lesser punishments could involve a brief suspension or an order to complete an ethics exam.

Should fees have been ‘non-refundable’?

This isn’t the first time Block has faced repercussions for alleged ethical lapses in recent years.

In 2023, LAist reported on a filing Block’s firm submitted in an eviction case that contained multiple references to fake case law. Legal experts told us the filing, which led to court sanctions, was likely produced through misuse of AI.

Legal ethics experts said the new charges against Block are serious.

“The worst thing a lawyer can do is steal a client's money,” said Scott Cummings, a law professor at UCLA. “This is effectively what the bar is saying Mr. Block has done here in roughly half a dozen cases.”

Many counts involve Block allegedly charging up-front fees described by his firm as “non-refundable.” Bar rules state such fees must constitute a “true retainer,” meaning money paid to reserve an attorney’s availability for a specific case or period of time.

LAist previously reported that former clients have complained about poor communication and a lack of availability from Block and his associates.

Richard Zitrin, an emeritus lecturer with UC Law San Francisco, said the rules may sound esoteric, but the bar takes violations seriously.

“When you get right down to what's going on under the surface, it looks like the accusations are that this guy could not do the work for these various clients,” Zitrin said. “If it's one time, it could just be an honest mistake. But if he's doing it repeatedly, serially, of course that's of more concern.”

Representing both sides?

In one case, Block’s firm is accused of taking on a tenant who was in a dispute with her roommate. A few months later, while still representing the tenant, Block’s firm allegedly took on the tenant’s landlord. Block’s firm then sent a letter threatening to evict his own client, according to the charges.

“Lawyers cannot represent opposite sides of a particular case because they owe their duty of loyalty and confidentiality to each client,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School. “It's very likely that one side or the other will feel that the lawyer sold out to the other client.”

Despite the severity and the number of allegations, UCLA’s Cummings said Block’s disciplinary record — which shows no infractions so far — could help him avoid disbarment.

“Suspension seems like — if these facts were all proven to be true — definitely an appropriate sanction in this particular case,” Cummings said.

It’s not yet clear what the charges could mean for Block’s firm, which prides itself on handling a high volume of cases at any given time. Block once reportedly described himself as “a man who has evicted more tenants than any other human being on the planet Earth.”

A status conference in Block’s case is set for Feb. 9.

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The Brief

How does ‘opting in’ to the government program work?

Step one: Getting rid of asbestos

Step two: Ash and fire debris removal

Step three: Removing metals, concrete and the home's foundation

Step four: Removing final signs of fire damage

I've opted in. How do I know when it's my turn?

Keep up with LAist.

Who gets to be a parent is being reshaped by increased access to IVF

Do I really want to have a baby? How do I choose a donor?

Women with higher education are the top users of IVF

"My knees hurt"

"Was he sorry I didn't have a husband?"

Should fees have been ‘non-refundable’?

Representing both sides?