Jacob Margolis
covers science, with a focus on environmental stories and disasters, as well as investigations and accountability.
Published April 3, 2025 5:00 AM
Retardant is dropped over the Palisades Fire. What's in that bright red cloud?
(
David Swanson
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Topline:
LAist partnered with USC researchers to test samples of Phos-Chek, the fire retardant dropped on the Eaton and Palisades fires. The results came back positive for heavy metals including arsenic, chromium, cadmium and lead.
Why it matters: More than 190 million gallons of fire retardant have been dropped across California since 2006, according to data from Cal Fire. It's an often used tool that both the fire agency and the U.S. Forest Service have called critical.
Is it dangerous? The risk for people with limited exposure, such as homeowners or hikers, is “very low," one expert told LAist. However, questions remain about chronic exposure for firefighters. Aquatic ecosystems, however, are a concern.
Company response: LAist shared the USC lab result with Perimeter Solutions, the retardant's manufacturer. Jeff Emery, president of global fire safety, said the company’s products, including Phos-Chek MVP-Fx, have passed extensive testing. He added that the amount of heavy metals found by LAist was far below limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency and “any concerning levels for human health and safety.”
Read on ... to learn how fire retardant is used and what it means for the environment and people's health.
Not long after the Palisades Fire broke out Jan. 7, firefighting aircraft began drawing bright red lines with fire retardant across the Santa Monica Mountains, in an effort to slow and contain the flames.
By the time the fire was out about three weeks later, the MD-87s, S-2Ts and mammoth DC-10s had performed more than 280 drops across 20 square miles, according to data from Cal Fire obtained via public records requests.
LAist partnered with researchers at USC to test samples of the fire retardant gathered from fire zones in the weeks after the Palisades, Eaton and Franklin fires where it remained on the ground.
Those tests found toxic heavy metals including lead, arsenic, cadmium and chromium, which can accumulate in the environment and pose risks to humans and wildlife, according to federal and state environmental agencies.
Fire authorities say retardant is a critical component of the firefighting arsenal.
(
Mario Tama
/
Getty Images
)
Tests USC conducted on LAist's behalf found the presence of heavy metals in unused retardant and in samples collected after the recent fires.
(
Allen J. Schaben
/
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
)
A product called MVP-FX, a variant of Perimeter Solutions' Phos-Chek, was the primary aerial retardant dropped on the Eaton and Palisades fires, according to the company.
The presence of heavy metals in MVP-Fx has not been previously reported.
LAist shared the USC lab results with Perimeter Solutions. Jeff Emery, Perimeter’s president of global fire safety, said the company’s products, including Phos-Chek MVP-Fx, have passed extensive testing. He added that the amount of heavy metals found by LAist was far below limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency and “any concerning levels for human health and safety.”
The presence of heavy metals isn’t noted in safety documents publicly shared by Perimeter Solutions.
Aircraft often drop more retardant than water each year on fires in California. From 2006 to 2024, more than 194 million gallons of various types of fire retardant were dropped by aircraft, according to data from Cal Fire.
“We don’t check into every single thing that’s in there,” said Chris Jurasek, deputy chief of tactical operations at Cal Fire.
He said his agency relies on the U.S. Forest Service to test and verify the safety of the retardants it uses. The use of fire retardants is a “critical” component of the firefighting arsenal, according to both Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service.
Why we had to run our own tests
Late last year, LAist requested samples of MVP-Fx from Cal Fire, the U.S. Forest Service and Perimeter Solutions, which manufactures the product, for the purpose of running an independent analysis for heavy metals. All declined.
“It’s not in our interest to share product with public or private agencies,” Jurasek said at the time. “You are not the first person to ask for us to give them fire retardant. It happens. It’s not something we do.”
Fire retardant coats laurel sumac in the Santa Monica Mountains after the Palisades Fire.
(
Jacob Margolis
/
LAist
)
A bag of laurel sumac covered in Phos-Chek, gathered in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was later taken to USC for testing.
(
Jacob Margolis
/
LAist
)
So over the next few months we gathered our own samples from the field.
After the Franklin, Eaton and Palisades fires were under control, I hiked to remote sites and collected vegetation, trash and dirt that had been caked with fire retardant. The samples were placed into baggies and taken to the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory at USC, where the fire retardant was tested for heavy metals.
Marella Schammel, a Ph.D. student, scraped dried red flakes into tubes filled with a diluted mixture of nitric acid and ran them through an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.
Flakes of Phos-Chek were scraped into tubes along with diluted nitric acid for testing.
(
Jacob Margolis
/
LAist
)
Arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, antimony, thallium, vanadium and zinc were all found in the samples.
Emery told LAist that any trace heavy metals found in testing were “naturally occurring.”
Phos-Chek MVP-Fx is primarily made of ammonium phosphates, which are derived from phosphate. That rock, when mined, can contain trace amounts of heavy metals.
“There are no heavy metals added to any of our formulations,” Emery said.
Cal Fire, the U.S. Forest Service and Perimeter Solutions all dismissed the results of the testing — saying that the samples couldn’t be relied on because they were gathered in the field. That the potential for contamination by ash from burning structures and brush after the retardant was dropped from planes was too great.
Eventually, LAist obtained unused, unmixed MVP-Fx and verified the source and authenticity of the material.
What we found
Marella Schammel, a Ph.D. student at USC, prepares samples of Phos-Chek for testing.
(
Jacob Margolis
/
LAist
)
Samples of Phos-Chek loaded into an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry machine for testing.
(
Jacob Margolis
/
LAist
)
Like the materials collected in fire zones, this unused sample was sent to the USC lab.
Schammel processed the MVP-Fx and found the same heavy metals present as the field samples we gathered.
There were some differences. However, it’s unclear if those differences are due to contamination on the ground or if there’s a variance in the amount of heavy metals present in different batches of the product.
“I’m not too surprised,” said Daniel McCurry, professor of civil and environmental engineering, who oversaw the testing process. Last year he and Schammel analyzed another Phos-Chek variant — LC95 — and found heavy metals as well.
LC95 is one of several USDA approved retardants in use today and one of the variants manufactured by Perimeter Solutions. Cal Fire doesn't use the LC95 variant.
Those results — from tests sparked in part by questions I’d asked McCurry in 2019 about whether we should be concerned about what was in fire retardants — made me want to know more about what is in the fire retardants in use now.
In an effort to compare USC’s test results to the official safety testing required by the federal government, LAist reached out to both Perimeter Solutions and the U.S. Forest Service, an agency within the USDA, for detailed test results for MVP-Fx. Neither would provide them.
In a statement, the U.S. Forest Service said that retardants that qualify for use have to show “nondetectable or trace levels” of certain heavy metals. However, the test results are proprietary information protected by nondisclosure agreements.
'Let people know what they're dealing with'
LAist’s review of publicly available documentation related to MVP-Fx, including its safety data sheet — which is required to warn those who may come in contact with the product of potential risks — found no reference to the presence of heavy metals.
A firefighting aircraft drops fire retardant as the Palisades Fire burns amid a powerful windstorm in January.
(
Mario Tama
/
Getty Images
)
After reviewing LAist’s results and the company’s safety data sheet, Claudia Polsky, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law, said the company is likely in violation of multiple California laws and regulations including Cal OSHA standards, unfair competition law and Proposition 65.
“The Cal OSHA hazard communication standards require that a safety data sheet identify every hazardous ingredient in the product,” Polsky said. “Companies often resist disclosure requirements.
“To me this situation is disturbing if unsurprising.”
When asked about the safety data sheet, Emery said that the company works to “ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements concerning our product.”
A firefighter stands amid vegetation covered in retardant in the hills of Mandeville Canyon in January.
(
Valerie Macon
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Some who regularly work with Phos-Chek said that LAist’s findings were a surprise to them.
“ The heavy metal thing, I can tell you, was news to me,” said Joel Lane, air tactical group supervisor with the Orange County Fire Authority. He’s worked in the industry for decades and has come in contact with different variants of Phos-Chek, both during preparation and when it’s been dropped on him by aircraft.
Lane said that he’s never been told or read in official documentation that heavy metals could potentially be present in retardant, which he finds upsetting.
He said the lack of transparency is concerning, but that it wouldn’t be the first time.
Lane feels firefighters were left in the dark about the risk of PFAS — long-lasting chemicals used in firefighting foam and in the heavy gear firefighters wear — that have been tied to elevated rates of cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Lane himself recently survived prostate cancer.
“ Be transparent, be open. Let people know what they're dealing with,” Lane said. It’s only then that they can make informed decisions about risks for themselves, he added.
LAist asked the U.S. Forest Service about potential risks to firefighters, to which they responded that “risk assessments of firefighter exposure to retardants do not indicate an increased risk for health effects,” pointing to a health assessment conducted by the agency, which includes MVP-Fx.
Although the assessment says risks are expected to be generally negligible, it doesn't explicitly mention heavy metal exposure. The U.S. Forest Service didn’t respond to whether heavy metal contamination was taken into consideration for the assessment.
Widespread safety concerns after the fires
As recent fires burned whole neighborhoods, thousands of homes were destroyed, leaving behind a toxic stew of materials from lead paint in older homes, wiring, batteries and other hazardous substances. The aftermath has been a concern for many in the region looking for a path to rebuilding.
Heavy metals can pose a serious health risk and have been tied to increased rates of cancer, as well as reproductive and developmental issues in humans.
That said, multiple health experts told LAist that the risk to members of the public exposed to the retardant when doing activities like hiking, is likely low, given the concentration of contaminants present in our samples.
“It should not be a reason for panic, but maybe it's a reason for caution,” said Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, professor and chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who reviewed the results.
Retardant coats a playground at a Mandeville Canyon home after the Palisades Fire.
(
Valerie Macon
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Fire retardant covers a pool and lounge chairs dropped from a firefighting aircraft.
(
Justin Sullivan
/
Getty Images
)
Sanjay Mohanty, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCLA, agreed, saying that the risk for people with limited exposure, such as homeowners or hikers, is “very low.”
If you or your pets are exposed, it’s a good idea to wash it off.
Environmental effects
Retardant is a particular concern if it gets into aquatic ecosystems.
(
Valerie Macon
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Fire retardants can be particularly dangerous to aquatic ecosystems, according to a U.S. Forest Service environmental impact study published in 2011.
Once retardant enters waterways it can lead to elevated ammonia levels, which in turn can be toxic to salmon and trout. And there’s a possibility that an influx of nutrients from retardant can boost algal growth and create dead zones, killing off organisms there.
Because of these risks, the U.S. Forest Service prohibits the dropping of retardant within 300 feet of waterways, though it does happen. There have been more than 240 intrusions since 2012, according to another U.S. Forest Service environmental impact study from 2023.
However, even if the retardant doesn’t get dropped directly on waterways, it can get washed into them by rain. Heavy metals can settle in streams and ponds and potentially have devastating impacts on organisms there.
William Clements, a professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University, homed in on the cadmium LAist found in the MVP-Fx.
“ If even a small fraction of that ends up in that stream, that is cause for concern,” he said.
If you or your pets are exposed to fire retardant, it's a good idea to wash it off.
(
David McNew
/
Getty Images North America
)
The heavy metal can get taken up by sponge-like algae, which is then eaten by aquatic insects such as mayflies and stoneflies, which can die when exposed to the cadmium. Exposure to the heavy metal can also inhibit their reproduction, growth and ability to emerge from streams, compromising a source of food for fish and birds, according to Clements.
“ The levels of metals will increase and will be bioconcentrated over time. Not now, but in a year, two years, maybe five years from now,” said Dmitri Deheyn, a marine toxicologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“ People need to make the association that the impact is a lingering impact that will be diffused and diluted over time and space.”
In an effort to figure out how much heavy metal was spread throughout the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains during the Eaton and Palisades fires, LAist requested information on the total number of gallons of retardant dropped, from both the U.S. Forest Service and Cal Fire, via records requests. None were fulfilled.
If you’re in the firefighting world and have any samples of Phos-Chek or another type of fire retardant you’d like to share, please reach out.
The casita has been part of Bad Bunny's recent live performances, but until the Super Bowl halftime show, no one had seen inside. L.A.-based production designers made sure it landed.
(
Todd Rosenberg
/
Getty Images North America
)
Topline:
Two Latinos who run an Argentine empanada place in South LA helped build part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime set.
The halftime show: One of most striking moments of Sunday’s record-breaking halftime show was when Bad Bunny dropped into his casita, catching the family inside completely off guard. It was the first time anyone got to see inside the iconic set that first made an appearance last summer in his Puerto Rico residency.
Why it matters: The inside of the Super Bowl casita feels so much like a real loving, Latino home because it was brought to life by a real Latino couple. Argentine production designers Federico Laboreau and Maximiliano Pizzi have been taking Hollywood by storm for years, designing sets for film, television and major live performances. They can now add Bad Bunny’s casita to their portfolio.
Read on ... for more about the production of the set and to see blueprints and more photos.
This story was originally published by The LA Local on Feb. 10, 2026.
Two Latinos who run an Argentine empanada place in South L.A. helped build part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime set.
One of most striking moments of Sunday’s record-breaking halftime show was when Bad Bunny dropped into his casita, catching the family inside completely off guard. It was the first time anyone got to see inside the iconic set that first made an appearance last summer in his Puerto Rico residency.
The inside of the Super Bowl casita feels so much like a real loving, Latino home because it was brought to life by a real Latino couple. Argentine production designers Federico Laboreau and Maximiliano Pizzi have been taking Hollywood by storm for years, designing sets for film, television and major live performances. They can now add Bad Bunny’s casita to their portfolio.
The couple also own Fuegos, a speakeasy-style wine-bar and eatery in the Exposition Park neighborhood of South L.A. that makes empanadas, sandwiches and asado.
The couple started out in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, where they worked on shows like “Project Runway Latin America” and “Mexico’s Next Top Model” before moving to Los Angeles in 2013. Since then they’ve built careers in TV and commercials, working for clients such as Disney, Amazon and T-Mobile.
Laboreau told The LA Local that he first heard about the Bad Bunny project in late November, with the design process taking place between December and mid-January.
A colleague who was working as a line producer on the halftime show initially reached out to him without sharing details.
“She wasn’t telling me anything,” Laboreau said, explaining that he had to sign multiple nondisclosure agreements before learning more. “She just told me, ‘Block those days — it’s going to be huge.’”
After his portfolio was approved by Bad Bunny’s team and the NFL, Laboreau learned he would be designing the casita, specifically its interior.
“For me, it was huge,” he said. “The casita is a big part of his tour, but nobody shows the inside. And I was like, ‘What the f—-?! I’m going to be doing the inside of the casita? It’s going to be the first time people are going to be seeing it and it’s going to be for the Super Bowl?!’”
A blueprint of the inside of Bad Bunny’s halftime version of ”La Casita.”
(
Courtesy of Federico Laboreau and Maximiliano Pizzi
)
For diehard Bad Bunny fans, the casita is instantly recognizable, echoing La Casita stage from his “No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí” residency, a now-permanent fixture in his visual iconography that at the Super Bowl attracted celebrity guests like Cardi B, Jessica Alba and Pedro Pascal.
Laboreau said the significance of the moment didn’t fully sink in at first. “I didn’t really have the perspective of how big it was going to be,” he said, adding that it became clearer once rehearsals began and he saw the scale of the halftime show production.
Laboreau worked with Bad Bunny’s creative team and international directors to design the interior as a familiar, lived-in space inspired by abuelita homes across Latin America.
“They told me, ‘This is the outside of the casita, you need to design what’s happening inside, but it needs to feel like an abuelita house,’” he said.
That led him to draw from shared cultural fixtures that as an Argentine, Laboreau feels he shares with the Puerto Rican powerhouse.
“We all have very similar things — religious images, artificial flowers, sewing kits inside and old cookie cans.”
A designer’s rendering of the inside of Bad Bunny’s halftime version of ”La Casita.”
(
Courtesy of Federico Laboreau and Maximiliano Pizzi
)
Despite the scale of the production, Laboreau described the process as unexpectedly smooth. “I was expecting it to be more intense,” he said. “But the process was super nice. Everything was flowing.”
The biggest challenge, he added, was working within union and safety requirements while maintaining a distinctly Latin American aesthetic.
Elements of Laboreau’s personal style are visible throughout the set. “You can see my personal style because I’m an old lady,” he said, laughing. “I’m a pink lady. I’m a cat lady.”
He said the creative team ultimately encouraged those touches. “They let me put pink everywhere,” he said. “There are a lot of details that represent myself, and also represent abuelitas around Latin America.”
That old-school style also carries over to Fuegos, the Argentine restaurant Laboreau runs with his partner, Pizzi, in South Los Angeles.
Bad Bunny fell through the roof of the casita into an interior created by L.A. production designers.
(
Screenshot of YouTube stream
)
They launched the business during Hollywood slowdowns as a way to generate income while staying connected to their culture.
Although Laboreau has worked on larger-budget projects for major studios and platforms, he said the casita stood out for its emotional weight.
“This one was more meaningful,” he said. “Not just because it’s the Super Bowl or Benito, but because of the message.”
That message, he said, resonated deeply given the current political climate and his experience as a Latino immigrant.
“It felt like the Latino community getting together to show America that we are here,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re here to bring love, community and happiness.”
A camera rolls during rehearsal of Bad Bunny’s halftime show inside “La Casita.”
(
Courtesy of Federico Laboreau and Maximiliano Pizzi
)
Laboreau also met Bad Bunny during rehearsals and filming. He described the artist as professional and focused, despite a packed schedule that included touring and preparing for the Grammys.
“He showed up on set, on time,” Laboreau said. “He delivered everything. He was amazing.”
Looking back, Laboreau said, the casita was one of the most meaningful experiences in his career.
“Other projects are nice portfolio projects, but this one meant a lot, not just because it’s the Super Bowl or Benito or the casita, but because of the message,” he explained. “It felt like I was showing to America that the Latino community has magic, has love — and that we can do whatever we want.”
Kids' lunch boxes sit in a locker at the Marquez Charter Elementary School that was destroyed by the Palisades Fire on Jan. 14, 2025 in Pacific Palisades.
(
Justin Sullivan
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
A program supporting the mental health of young survivors of last year’s firestorms will receive $2.2 million in state funding, according to Governor Gavin Newsom.
The details: The money will go to UCLA’s Sound Body Sound Mind program. They’ll provide an app for students and families with guided training on mental health topics. The funding will also go towards workshops and curriculum for staff at 33 schools in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades focused on resiliency.
The pressing need: Matt Flesock, executive director of UCLA’s Sound Body Sound Mind program told LAist the work will support the mental health of students who were hit by the back-to-back traumas of the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s historic firestorms.
“Their entire formative years in school have experienced really, really tremendous disruption. And that’s what made this so pressing and so important,” Flesock said.
The curriculum? It will include teaching kids the concept of a ‘feeling thermometer’ that can help them identify and regulate emotions when they are more manageable rather than in the red zone.
Coping skills taught might include breathing exercises, knowing when to reach out to a friend, or having an internal mantra.
What's next? The state estimates some 30,000 students will benefit from the program over the next two school years.
A program supporting the mental health of young survivors of last year’s firestorms will receive $2.2 million in state funding, according to Governor Gavin Newsom.
The money will go to UCLA’s Sound Body Sound Mind program. They’ll provide an app for students and families with guided training on mental health topics. The funding will also go towards workshops and curriculum for staff at 33 schools in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades focused on resiliency.
Matt Flesock, executive director of UCLA’s Sound Body Sound Mind program told LAist the work will support the mental health of students who were hit by the back-to-back traumas of the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s historic firestorms.
“Their entire formative years in school have experienced really, really tremendous disruption. And that’s what made this so pressing and so important,” Flesock said.
What does a resiliency curriculum look like?
Dr. Catherine Mogil, associate professor of psychology at UCLA, said the curriculum that schools will go out to the dozens of fire-affected schools is called FOCUS: Families Overcoming Under Stress. The trauma-informed, reliance-focused curriculum has been used at hospitals with kids with medical traumas and has been specially tailored for fire-related stress.
The curriculum will include teaching kids the concept of a ‘feeling thermometer’ that can help them identify and regulate emotions when they are more manageable rather than in the red zone.
"Kids who have a wider emotional vocabulary can talk to adults about how they’re feeling and how they might want to manage uncomfortable feelings or manage stress,” Mogil said
Coping skills taught might include breathing exercises, knowing when to reach out to a friend, or having an internal mantra.
Mohil said the program will also include workshops for teachers and parents on opening up difficult conversations with kids: How do you answer the difficult questions when you may not know the answers? How do you re-instill safety when you yourself may feel unsafe?
The state estimates some 30,000 students will benefit from the program over the next two school years.
Keep up with LAist.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
A section of the Tijuana River next to Saturn Boulevard in San Diego last year. Photo by
(
Adriana Heldiz
/
CalMatters
)
Topline:
The U.S. and Mexico are speeding up plans to clean the Tijuana River and considering interim steps to protect public health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a San Diego meeting with local leaders and Congress members last week.
The problem: Sewage pollution from the cross-border river has plagued Imperial Beach, Coronado and other parts of southern San Diego County for decades, sickening swimmers and surfers, forcing the closure of local beaches and endangering Navy Seals who train in Coronado.
What's being done: After decades of neglect and worsening pollution, Mexican and U.S. officials have made recent strides toward a solution. Last year the countries struck two more agreements that spell out the infrastructure upgrades needed to control pollution. The federal government has dedicated $653 million to the problem, said Rep. Scott Peters, a San Diego Democrat, who called Tijuana River pollution “the biggest environmental catastrophe in the Americas.”
Read on ... to learn why this is a bipartisan priority.
The U.S. and Mexico are speeding up plans to clean the Tijuana River and considering interim steps to protect public health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a San Diego meeting with local leaders and Congress members last week.
“This is a nonpartisan, bipartisan effort to work together for a very common important good for millions of Americans who have been waiting for this relief for decades,” Zeldin said.
Sewage pollution from the cross-border river has plagued Imperial Beach, Coronado and other parts of southern San Diego County for decades, sickening swimmers and surfers, forcing the closure of local beaches and endangering Navy Seals who train in Coronado.
As the Tijuana population grew and wastewater plants on both sides of the border failed, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage gushed into the ocean. The polluted river also emits airborne chemicals including foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas, which causes respiratory problems and other ailments among people in neighboring communities.
After decades of neglect and worsening pollution, Mexican and U.S. officials have made recent strides toward a solution. Last year the countries struck two more agreements that spell out the infrastructure upgrades needed to control pollution. The federal government has dedicated $653 million to the problem, said Rep. Scott Peters, a San Diego Democrat, who called Tijuana River pollution “the biggest environmental catastrophe in the Americas.”
Despite President Donald Trump’s cuts to other federal programs and his conflicts with California, money has continued to flow for Tijuana River cleanup. Democrats and Republicans who met Thursday said they agreed on the urgency of the problem and need for investments to solve it.
“You wouldn't know which party we all were part of based on our conversation,” said Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat who represents San Clemente and Carlsbad. “That's unusual. It's refreshing, but I think it's also necessary to solve a problem of this magnitude.”
What's happening now
This year the U.S. repaired the failing South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant and expanded its capacity from 25 million to 35 million gallons of wastewater per day. The next phase will boost the plant’s capacity to at least 50 million gallons per day.
In April, Mexico repaired its Punta Bandera plant near the border, reducing sewage flows into the ocean.
More improvements are coming soon, Zeldin said. One project under construction will prevent 5 million gallons per day of sewage from entering the Tijuana River, while another would divert 10 million gallons per day of treated effluent from the river, he said.
“There are several additional projects, half a dozen I have listed here, scheduled for completion in 2026,” Zeldin said. “Again, we are monitoring it every week, throughout the week. We are confirming and verifying that this work is progressing.”
Zeldin said he’s working to make sure Mexico provides money it committed to cleaning up Tijuana River sewage, expedites infrastructure upgrades and establishes what he called a “permanent 100 solution” to increase wastewater capacity for future growth in Tijuana.
“I've been down and seen actual constructions, and I now am confident that if we continue to press our partners ... we'll be able to have the reforms that we need to keep our beaches open to keep our Navy Seals safe,” he said.
The long-term outlook
Officials acknowledged that improving sewage treatment facilities won’t immediately resolve existing health problems caused by chronic air and water pollution, and said more funding is needed to keep the plants in working order.
San Diego County has distributed air purifiers to households near the Tijuana River, is launching a health study on its effects and seeking funds to fix a site known as the Saturn Boulevard hot spot, where culverts churn polluted river water to release airborne toxins.
Zeldin said public health solutions aren’t part of the current package, but said he would be happy to add them if Congress devotes money to that purpose. Levin, who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, said he’ll seek suggestions from local stakeholders about health needs in communities near the Tijuana River.
“I am very open to any and all suggestions around federal appropriations to deal, not only with the ongoing public health crisis, but also the damage that has been done in years past,” Levin said.
Levin said he’ll also seek money for maintenance and operations of the expanded sewage treatment plants. The original projects covered construction costs but not ongoing expenses, which eventually left the plants in disrepair, he said.
“We're going to keep at it until the problem is fixed, until the beaches are open, until our Seals can train safely and until our service members and border patrol and everyone else in the community doesn't have to deal with water pollution and air pollution,” Levin said. “It's just critically important for the quality of life for all San Diegans.”
California’s fire safety regulators were asked to study whether mid-rise apartments can go with a single staircase. They’re more than a month late.
The backstory: In the fall of 2023, the California Legislature tasked the state’s fire safety regulators with writing a report that some housing affordability advocates say could make it easier to build bigger, airier and better lit apartment buildings in California’s housing-strapped cities. The Office of the State Fire Marshal was given until Jan. 1, 2026 to come up with a report on single-stair apartment buildings.
Why it matters: Current rules in California (with the one, recent exception of Culver City) require apartment buildings higher than three stories to have at least two staircases connected by a hallway. The Legislature was clearly interested in raising that height limit when it ordered the report in the first place.
Read on... for more to expect about this state-ordered report.
In the fall of 2023, the California Legislature tasked the state’s fire safety regulators with writing a report that some housing affordability advocates say could make it easier to build bigger, airier and better lit apartment buildings in California’s housing-strapped cities.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal was given until Jan. 1, 2026 to come up with a report on single-stair apartment buildings — a type of mid-sized multifamily development legal in much of the world, but effectively banned across most of North America.
More than a month later, single-stair advocates are still waiting on that report — though a draft version obtained by CalMatters hints that the office may be considering a modest change to the state building code.
“They were given a deadline,” said Stephen Smith, founder of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-reducing changes to building regulations.
That safety-minded code is meant to provide residents with multiple escape routes in the event of a fire. But it has also become a focal point of criticism among a growing number of housing advocates, architects and urbanists, who say it raises the costs of multifamily construction, limits where apartments can be built, pushes developers toward darkened studios and away from family-sized apartments and provides limited health and safety benefits.
“I know there’s been a real desire among politicians in California to change the state’s image as a slow moving state, but in this case I don’t see it,” said Smith, who was also a member of the working group of fire service professionals, building code experts and housing advocates tasked with writing the first draft of the report for the state Fire Marshal. The group’s last meeting was on November 4.
“This report is still under review and we will publish the report as soon as it is approved for publication,” said Wes Maxey, CAL FIRE’s assistant deputy director of legislation, in an email. He would not say when the report is expected to be released or what the hold up is all about.
The state legislature regularly assigns research reports of this kind to various corners of the state bureaucracy — and, as CalMatters has reported before, the state bureaucracy regularly blows past its assigned deadlines.
But the single-stair analysis has garnered considerable interest outside of Sacramento.
Current rules in California (with the one, recent exception of Culver City) require apartment buildings higher than three stories to have at least two staircases connected by a hallway.
The Legislature was clearly interested in raising that height limit when it ordered the report in the first place.
“Many European countries allow buildings with single staircases and have better records on fire safety than the United States,” said Assemblymember Alex Lee, a Milpitas Democrat, urging a “yes” vote on his bill in the summer of 2023. “I believe having the Fire Marshal conduct the study will start the conversation about leveraging existing fire and emergency response technologies and strategies to maximize housing projects.”
Local fire marshals, fire chiefs and fire fighting unions have, by and large, opposed easing staircase requirements in the building code wherever they’ve been proposed.
The final report is likely to disappoint either those organized fire services, a politically powerful constituency, or “Yes In My Backyard” advocates that have found an ally in Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A draft version of the report circulated among stakeholders in late October included a half-hearted endorsement of a change to the state building code. If the State Fire Marshal recommends new policy, the draft reads, the change should only be from a three-story maximum up to four. Any new four story single-stair structures should also be restricted in size and abide by a number of other added safety-oriented restrictions, the report added.
Culver City, west of downtown Los Angeles, passed a single-stair ordinance last year to nix the second-stair requirement in certain apartment buildings up to six stories. Six stories is also the cut-off in the four other jurisdictions that go above three: New York City, Seattle, Honolulu and Portland, Oregon.
The draft report, which is not final, also went out of its way to emphasize “the near unanimous feedback from California Fire Departments who are opposed to permitting single-exit stairway construction … greater than 3 stories.”
Whenever it is finalized and published, the report won’t have the force of law. But should state legislators opt to take up the issue in the future, its final recommendations are likely to carry weight with undecided lawmakers.
