Editorial: How fast can L.A. get rid of all this debris from the fires?

Before anyone whose home was destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires can even start to rebuild, they must remove the remains of what was once built there: heaping shreds of burned, toxic and possibly explosive remnants of houses and possessions.

For the moment, the issue of how long it may take to rebuild is supplanted by the question of how long it will take to remove all the debris. After President Trump toured Pacific Palisades recently, he balked at the idea that it would take 18 months — as some residents told him they had been told by officials. Mayor Karen Bass insisted it wouldn’t take that long to clear property sites.

She’s probably right. But it won’t take a few days either, as Trump suggested it should and residents wished it could.

An estimated 6,100 homes burned in Altadena, and an estimated 5,500 burned in the Palisades fire, which covers all of Pacific Palisades, a swath of Malibu, and some unincorporated coastal communities.

Everyone wants debris gone from their property immediately, or even better, yesterday. And no one wants to take it. Residents in the San Gabriel Valley near Lario Park, where the hazardous waste from Eaton Canyon will be temporarily stored, are outraged it’s being trucked toward them. (Hazardous debris from the Palisades fire will go to a location near Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.)

As Col. Eric Swenson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the longer Phase 2 debris removal process, said at a media briefing on Wednesday, that stage will most likely take “less than a year.” L.A. County Public Works is also managing the debris removal program.

No one has given a specific date when everything will be done, but that would be difficult to calculate and unwise to predict.

L.A. County and L.A. city officials can keep this process moving at a steady clip by making sure each phase is wrapped up efficiently. And there are things residents can do to facilitate debris getting moved as quickly as possible.

Hauling away debris is a logistical challenge.

The first phase, which can only be done safely by the Environmental Protection Agency, is the removal of hazardous waste such as paints, cleaners, car batteries and other batteries. Some properties may take longer than others. “Some of these creative spaces might have technical equipment or artists had lots of paints,” says L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes the Palisades and who is among the officials leading the recovery.

Nonetheless, the timeline for the EPA to accomplish this removal has gone from three months to one month — under pressure from the Trump administration and local officials, says Horvath. And some properties will be cleared earlier than others in the coming weeks. (For more information on the process, residents can call the EPA hotline for the wildfires: 833-798-7372.)

The second phase involves removal of structural debris, foundations, recyclable metals, hazardous trees and up to 6 inches of soil in the ash footprint on the property. This can take two to 10 days per property, according to Swenson of the Army Corps of Engineers. Homeowners can choose between using a private contractor (which can be expensive depending on whether someone has insurance coverage for this) or using the services of the Corps of Engineers, who do the work as a public service free of charge. Homeowners have to file a Right of Entry form, either opting into the corps service or opting out. Those forms are available now online and at Disaster Recovery Centers. They must be filled out by March 31. The sooner they are turned in to the county, the sooner the county hands them over to the Army Corps and the sooner the corps can begin planning.

Here’s how residents can speed second phase debris removal along to a certain extent: They can work together. County officials (as well as the corps) urge residents on a block or in a neighborhood to consult one another and consider making a joint decision on whether to proceed with the corps or a private contractor. “Obviously people have to look at what the best option is for themselves,” says Horvath, but she adds, “It would be good to think about a coordinated community approach to debris removal.” Mark Pestrella, the director of the county Department of Public Works, as well as other county officials, recommend that residents choose the Army Corps.

The more people can coordinate, the faster debris removal can go. “You can’t have 20 houses hiring 20 contractors at the same time in the same neighborhood, or it would be mayhem,” says Horvath.

Nothing about this process is easy or as fast as everyone would like. But it must be done safely, and it should also be done efficiently. Cleanup time is an unfortunate but necessary price for starting over in the Palisades and Altadena.