EPA and LA County Identify Third Staging Area in Altadena
Emergency Response
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the County of Los Angeles have signed a lease agreement effective February 8, 2025, for an additional staging area at the Altadena Golf Course in Altadena, Calif. This is the third staging area that EPA will use for the temporary storage of hazardous materials collected from the Eaton fire burn footprint.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assigned EPA to assess, remove, and safely dispose of hazardous materials from all burned areas as part of the largest wildfire hazardous waste cleanup in the agency’s history. To do this, EPA establishes temporary staging areas where hazardous materials collected from the fire burn footprints are consolidated and repackaged in a controlled environment for safe transportation to final disposal facilities.
Without a staging area, EPA would not be able to continue collecting hazardous materials, which is the necessary first step for the fire-impacted residents of the Eaton fire area to begin recovery from the devastating fire. Securing this third staging area is critical for EPA to meet its accelerated timeline for finishing Phase 1 household hazardous waste removal operations.
"EPA is working to remove hazardous materials from the burn footprint of the Eaton fire as safely and efficiently as possible,” said Tara Fitzgerald, EPA Pacific Southwest Incident Commander for EPA’s Emergency Response to the Los Angeles Wildfires. “Securing this third staging area in Altadena means that EPA will be able to move more hazardous materials from an uncontrolled environment into a controlled environment daily to allow residents to move through the recovery process as quickly as possible.”
EPA implements significant safety and mitigation measures to ensure the public and the environment are not negatively impacted by the temporary staging areas. EPA is installing fencing to prevent any unauthorized entry and will establish a minimum buffer zone that surrounds the staging area.
Additional mitigation measures across all staging areas include:
- Pre-sampling of the area to establish current conditions.
- Lining processing areas with plastic and installing protective measures such as wattles, booms, earthen berms and gravel.
- Continuous perimeter air monitoring for site and worker safety.
- Spraying water three times daily to control dust from vehicle traffic.
- Transporting all materials safely from the burn area to the staging area following Department of Transportation standards.
- Packaging and removing waste from the site nearly daily, without ground contact.
When Phase 1 is complete, EPA will test the area again to confirm no negative impact to the environment.
To see photos showing EPA crews building the staging area pads and protective measures taken at staging areas, please go to our staging area photo tour on the StoryMap.
The public can find more information about EPA’s hazardous material removal operations at epa.gov/california-wildfires. This website will be continuously updated as EPA's work moves forward.
View EPA’s Story Map for the 2025 California Wildfire Response.
Visit the official Los Angeles County website for recovery efforts.
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