Topline:
Altadenans concerned about the safety of the soil on their properties can drop off samples at Loma Alta Park for testing at an event tomorrow.
What to expect: Soil experts from USC and the L.A. County Department of Public Health will be on hand to teach residents how to collect soil. They can bring the samples back for testing the same day.
Why it matters: Testing results will help direct people to more testing and remediation, or provide peace of mind about lead levels on their properties.
What if I don't live nearby: Residents who've been forced to relocate far away or those who have mobility issues can request help getting soil samples tested by going to USC CLEAN's intake page.
When and where: The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Loma Alta Park at 587 W. Palm Street in Altadena.
Soil testing is on the “to-do” list for many still trying to recover from the January wildfires. But it can slip down the priority chain as people focus on finding housing or dealing with insurance claims.
An event tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 20) in Altadena’s Loma Alta Park aims to make testing easy and accessible for those who want it. Soil health experts from USC’s CLEAN project and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will be on site to show people how to collect soil from their homes for lead testing. Samples can then be brought back to the park.
Angela Giachetti is an event organizer with the recovery group the Department of Angels. The group formed to help survivors of the Palisades and Eaton fires, and surveyed nearly 2,000 of them this summer.
“One out of every three people who wanted environmental testing still hadn't been able to access it yet,” Giachetti said. “But 84% of survivors believe that their homes or properties are contaminated, so there's a high level of concern.”
Giachetti said the goal of increasing access to testing is to provide people with the “information that they need to move forward, whether that is with further testing and remediation.”
Residents who can’t make it to their properties because they live far away now or have mobility issues can also request volunteers collect samples for them through USC CLEAN’s intake page.
Seeking peace of mind
Soil testing conducted by the county's public health department in and around the burn zones showed levels of lead and other contaminants were higher than the state’s thresholds, but it said “there is no evidence of widespread contamination from fire-related chemicals."
Additional testing could provide some residents with peace of mind like it did for Giachetti, whose Altadena home survived when so many others around it didn’t.
“I thought that there was no way that our levels weren't off the chart, which was devastating to me, because my family — like many families — moved to Altadena because it has really good health indicators,” said Giachetti, citing the community’s air quality.
Instead, test results from her home’s soil showed lead levels were well below government thresholds — 80 parts per million under state standards for residential properties and 200 parts per million under the federal EPA’s standard.
“It was one thing that I could then take off my mental load and not have to worry about in recovery,” Giachetti said.
Giachetti said she hopes Saturday’s event — which will include free yoga classes and a plant potting station — draws a strong turnout considering so many residents have been displaced.
“It's a little tricky because you can't do traditional kind of community outreach,” Giachetti said. “You can't knock doors. We don't have doors anymore.”
How to attend
Where: Loma Alta Park (Farmer's Market), 587 W. Palm Street, Altadena
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20
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