Despite the government’s refusal to pay for more testing, dangerous levels of heavy metals exist on fire-burned properties that have supposedly already been made safe, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Times journalists sampled 40 properties — 20 with homes that survived and 20 already cleared by federal crews — in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, and then those samples were tested for 17 toxins.
“Two of the ten Army Corps-remediated homesites in Altadena still had toxic heavy metals in excess of California standards for residential properties — including one where lead levels were more than three times higher than the state benchmark,” the Times reports. “The findings are the first evidence that — by skipping comprehensive soil sampling — federal contractors are leaving toxic contamination behind.”
In addition to lead, substances like mercury and arsenic also pose a risk to human health, and researchers have been concerned about how these toxins may have been spread by the devastating January fires.
Despite the risk to many who’ve already ben victimized by the fires, government help does not appear to be on the way, the Times reports.
“The Newsom administration has urged federal officials to reconsider their decision to forgo testing, underscoring the state’s concern for the potential health risks to returning residents and construction workers,” the Times reports. “But the state has not committed to pay for testing, either. The city of Los Angeles has also not stepped in to fill the void.”
