'Soil Testing Day' in Altadena aims to make post-fire detection easy and accessible

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

Areas in the testing zone for contamination from the Eaton Fire. Properties located downwind of, and just outside, the Eaton Fire, marked here in yellow, are prioritized for free soil testing under this program. Soil samples from other areas in the red zone may also be submitted.

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Courtesy L.A.County

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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
More details ▶

Resources

• Guide to collecting samples
• USC's Contaminant Level Evaluation and Analysis for Neighborhoods (CLEAN) program
  
  • This free program is available to all L.A. County residents who want to lead levels post-January fires.