2025 Southern California Wildfire Response

On 25 February, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  completed its Phase 1 hazardous materials removal mission  responding to the catastrophic Los Angeles County wildfires,  as directed  by President Donald J. Trump in an Executive Order.

This effort has been the largest wildfire hazardous waste cleanup in the history of EPA. EPA’s Phase 1 emergency response work was part of an all-of-government response to the Los Angeles wildfires.  

EPA and other responding federal agencies approached their work in communities with utmost respect. Our deepest sympathies and condolences are with all in the Los Angeles community who experienced such great loss.

Click the links below to learn more about:

•  U.S. EPA Cleanup Efforts 
•  Parcel Status Lookup 
•  Staging Areas 

Now that household hazardous material work is complete, the recovery process has transitioned to Phase 2, debris removal. This work will be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Deferred to Phase 2 means physical hazards such as unstable trees, blocked access, steep unstable slopes, basements, or unstable structures exist on the property that prevent U.S. EPA teams from safely accessing the property to remove the household hazardous materials. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will complete deferred Phase 1 work during Phase 2 operations.  The status of your property will be updated on the  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wildfire web page  when the HHM removal is complete.

On January 7, 2025, a series of catastrophic wildfires developed in Los Angeles County. On January 8, President Biden signed a federal disaster declaration for the 2025 Southern California wildfires. The declaration released millions of dollars in federal funds to assist with state and local fire cleanup and recovery efforts.  

Click below to view major milestones in our household hazardous material work: 

The time-lapse maps below show where U.S. EPA and DTSC crews worked daily to assess, secure, remove, and dispose of household hazardous materials and lithium-ion batteries in Palisades and Eaton fires footprint.

The figures below show the total number of batteries collected from electric and hybrid vehicles in the Eaton and Palisades fire footprints, and the number of parcels that had energy storage systems (typically used with solar power systems or for a back-up power supply.) U.S. EPA completed recovery of lithium-ion batteries from energy storage systems and electric vehicles on March 10.

EPA partnered with the South Coast Air Quality Management District to collect information on air quality in and near where the Eaton and Palisades fires burned where clean-up teams are working and people have been returning to their homes. Data and information about this work is available on   the AQMD Wildfire Response web page.   

You can find a map of general air quality data for the entire L.A. region  on the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) map . Air monitors look for a very fine dust-like material called "Particulate Matter" or PM. Particulate matter is a general term for a mixture of breathable, solid material in the air. AQMD uses the  Air Quality Index (AQI) , a color-coded index that shows particulate matter levels in your area from healthy to hazardous. Knowing AQI can help you take steps to protect your health. On  the South Coast AQMD map , click the locator icon or use the search box to enter a zip code or address.

When entering areas with burned debris, people  should use masks and other personal protective equipment  to protect their health. Disturbances of burned debris may cause ash and dust to become airborne. 

During the Southern California wildfires response, EPA deployed the largest number of Community Involvement Coordinators, Public Information Officers, and Community Relations Specialists to an emergency response to-date.  

In these roles, EPA staff listened to impacted community members, answered questions and shared information about EPA’s Emergency Response work. Some of those efforts included:

• attending outreach events,  
• providing information to Disaster Recovery Centers, and 
• presenting at town halls, public meetings, and community organizations such as places of worship. 

To contact us, please call the hotline at (833)-R9-USEPA (833-798-7372) or email at  EPALAWildfiresInfo@epa.gov .

For press inquiries, please contact  R9WildfiresPIO@epa.gov 

Updated March 14, 2025