LAUSD flags lead at two Boyle Heights schools, but says campuses are safe after warehouse fire

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said environmental tests have concluded the Boyle Heights warehouse fire did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools.

However, on Tuesday they reported lead levels in the soil at two elementary school campuses that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold. Officials announced the results one day before classes resume at dozens of schools within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.

The district promised to give families advance notice of testing results ahead of the start of school on Wednesday. Those results were posted in a 561-page document uploaded to a district website Tuesday morning.

The district’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety concluded that schools near the disaster “remain safe for occupancy and that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread residual contamination or conditions at LAUSD campuses posing a health hazard to students or staff.”

District officials said indoor and outdoor testing found the presence of ammonia, formaldehyde and manganese, but at low levels that did not raise concern about fire-related contamination that could harm the health of students or school staff.

While some parents have told LAist they feel safe sending their children to schools in the area, others have said they’re worried about potential health impacts from the fire, which covered the neighborhood in smoke for more than a week and left tons of food to rot in the sun.

Two campuses with elevated lead levels

Officials said they found elevated levels of lead in soil samples from two elementary schools. City Terrace Elementary School had 170 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, while Christopher Dena Elementary School had 120 milligrams. Both exceeded the 80 milligram threshold considered “acceptable” by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.   

Carlos Torres, director of LAUSD’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told LAist the district doesn’t believe the lead is tied to the warehouse fire.

“Most likely this could be from things like lead-based paints from use in the past. It could be from agricultural use,” Torres said. “There isn't such a thing as clean soil anywhere.”

How the testing works

LAUSD tested 10 schools out of the more than 50 campuses located within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.

The report said the schools were selected based on their proximity to the warehouse and in relation to wind patterns that may have influenced where the fire smoke deposited contaminants. The district also tested one school farther from the fire, but similar to those near the warehouse because of its proximity to other industrial sites and a freeway.

The tests were conducted from July 28 to August 7.

The district collected:

• Dust wipe samples from indoor and outdoor spaces including desks, drinking fountains, tables, and playgrounds 
• Soil samples from unpaved areas and gardens 
• Air samples from indoor and outdoor areas including athletic fields, classrooms and gyms 

The district tested for substances that included metals identified as potential contaminants from the fire, including arsenic, lead, lithium and manganese, as well as ammonia, formaldehyde and hydrogen fluoride in the air.

The report said the district consulted with an industrial hygienist, a UCLA researcher, a geologist and a third-party environmental consulting firm to create the testing plan.

The samples were evaluated by a third-party lab and then compared against both state and federal screening levels.

How the district cleaned schools 

District officials have described their response to the warehouse fire in several virtual meetings, including:

• Inspecting and twice replacing air-conditioning filters with those rated MERV-13, an indicator of the filter’s ability to trap small particles
• Deep cleaning, including by washing walls and furniture, waxing floors and pressure-washing outdoor areas and playground equipment
• Placing air purifiers with carbon charcoal filters in all classrooms

What's next

Torres said the front lawn at City Terrace and the tree wells at Dena, where elevated levels of lead were detected, have been fenced off. He said district staff are reviewing the lab results and could decide to conduct more testing that could lead to the removal or remediation of the soil, for example, by laying down mulch.

The district plans to hold another virtual meeting for East L.A. parents on Monday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m.

LAist reporter David Wagner contributed to this story.