'At Least 1 More Week' Before LA Fire Victims Can Return Home: Officials

LOS ANGELES, CA — Residents displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires shouldn't expect to return home for at least one more week as the search for missing people continues and danger remains in the evacuation zones in the form of toxic waste, broken infrastructure and ongoing fire hotspots.

"The repopulation of residents in the evacuation-order areas will not occur for at least one more week — for the areas that are deemed safe," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Thursday morning. "When I say one more week, that does not include the entire evacuation order area — we're doing our best, as we know this is a challenge for our residents."

Sheriff Robert Luna declared the one-week timeline is a minimum estimate — "I believe it's going to be longer than that," he said Thursday.

Marrone underscored that timeline also applies to those who want to return to their homes — or what remains of them — for only 15 minutes to grab items or assess damage.

Officials earlier this week outlined the "first step" they're taking to prepare the impacted areas for residents' return, which includes clearing out hazardous waste and repairing infrastructure. They provided more details on those efforts Thursday.

While the vast majority of those who were forced to evacuate remain under evacuation orders over a week later, some evacuation orders have been lifted, Sheriff Robert Luna said Wednesday.

Evacuation orders for a small part of Altadena (south of Canyon Crest Road and west of Lincoln Avenue) were lifted Tuesday afternoon.

No evacuation orders have been lifted for the Palisades Fire area.

One reason residents cannot yet return is that search-and-rescue efforts are ongoing.

"Our deputies are holding several locations where we are waiting for the appropriate resources to come in and unfortunately recover remains," Luna said.

Speaking to impacted people, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said she and her colleagues "understand your desire to return to your community. However, significant safety and infrastructure issues remain, including downed power lines, broken gas lines, hazardous materials and unsafe water."

EPA Responds

Gov. Gavin Newsom requested that the federal government remove all household hazardous waste from properties impacted by the fires, according to Robert Fenton Jr., regional administrator FEMA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was directed to perform that task, with an initial $100 million budget. Over the next few days, 40 teams comprised of 500 people total will go through the fire-impacted areas and remove paint, cleaners, pesticides, fuel cylinders, batteries, larger asbestos debris and other materials, Fenton said.

"This will be the first step in getting survivors back to their homes and communities," he said. "By removing the hazards ... we can get into the greater debris clearing and ultimately rebuilding."

The teams are working "tirelessly for the purpose of ensuring that when the evacuation orders are lifted, our community members can rest assured that their homes have been scanned and screened and cleared of any dangerous chemicals,"Crowley said. "This will take time."

The EPA's Tara Fitzgerald on Thursday said her teams would begin that work Thursday with assessments in both burn footprints.

The remediation work will focus on the "removal of the items of most immediate risk to public health and workers returning to work within the burn footprint — pesticides, batteries, fuel and other things that would normally go to a household hazardous waste management landfill," she said.

Further Cleanup, Utility Repairs

After the EPA completes its work, "what remains is a load of debris that also has to be removed from the site," Mark Pestrella, director of LA County Public Works said. "We are working on that process of debris removal."

"The properties have been damaged beyond belief. They are full of sediment, debris, silt and hazardous materials," he added.

Pestrella is working with his LA city counterparts and utility companies to restore power, water and sewer service — "all of which have been damaged to the point that they cannot be delivered safely currently in most of the areas," he said.

It's important for that utility work to be completed because it ensures that potentially live, downed wires and cut back and gas infrastructure is fixed to prevent explosions, Marrone said.

Officials are in the process of assessing damage to all properties within the fire. The assessments are posted on an interactive map online and include photos and descriptions of damage. (Palisades Fire map, Eaton Fire map)

Meantime, FEMA has begun distributing the initial $770 payments to those impacted by the fires and on Tuesday began directing applicants through the process of obtaining Transitional Sheltering Assistance. In that program, FEMA pays for hotel stays to allow residents time to look for other temporary or permanent housing options, Fenton said.

Here's a list of helpful links:

• Apply for FEMA aid
• Up-to-date information on evacuation warnings and orders
• LA County fire-emergency information