Climate & Sustainability / Health & Wellbeing

Helping Families by Monitoring Soil Safety after the LA Fires

About CLEAN

Contaminant Level Evaluation and Analysis for Neighborhoods (CLEAN) is a rapid response soil testing program from the USC Department of Earth Sciences and Public Exchange. This is a developing initiative that aims to quickly evaluate and communicate the levels of lead contamination in soils and playgrounds in fire-impacted areas in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires in January. Anyone in Los Angeles who is concerned about the impacts of the fires on soil may participate in this program, at no cost.

In the interest of testing soil samples rapidly and providing the public with information as soon as possible, this program is currently only testing soils for lead contamination. Lead is hazardous to human health, and testing results can identify areas where more in-depth investigation is needed—whether by government agencies, private landowners, or academic and nonprofit entities. CLEAN does not have the ability to provide testing for other contaminants at this time.

Participating in CLEAN

Review our sampling guide in its entirety for instructions on how to collect your sample safely. Do not collect more than ¼ cup of soil.
Complete our intake survey and receive your Unique Sample ID.
Bring your soil sample to one of the drop-off locations, or mail your sample directly to USC.
See our frequently asked questions.

This testing is meant to augment ongoing State and Federal efforts, to more quickly provide Los Angeles residents with general updates on safety and the potential for exposure. It’s important to note that USC’s testing is not as comprehensive as the testing conducted by government agencies or environmental remediation experts, nor is it meant to be used for regulatory compliance with State and Federal requirements for remediation.

To engage with the project team, please contact
cleanproject@usc.edu

Submitting Your Sample

You can submit samples to the CLEAN project by mail or at one of the following community-based drop-off locations. We are working to add drop-off locations to this list. If you would like to suggest a drop-off location in your community, or you would like to volunteer your business/organization as a location, please contact the project team at cleanproject@usc.edu.

Please submit a maximum of two samples at this time. Do not collect more than ¼ cup of soil in each sample.

By Mail:

To mail samples, you must pay for your own postage and ship samples to:

CLEAN c/o Professor Seth John
3651 Trousdale Parkway
USC ZHS 117B
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Drop Off Locations:

Please note the hours that samples will be accepted. Be sure to replace the lid of the bin after you’ve deposited your sample.

Palisades Fire:

American Legion, Post 283 (authorized resident access required)
15247 La Cruz Dr, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Mon–Sat: 9 AM – 5 PM

Santa Monica YMCA
1332 6th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Mon–Thu: 5 AM – 10 PM | Fri: 5 AM – 9 PM | Sat: 7 AM – 8 PM | Sun: 8 AM – 5 PM

Eaton Fire:

Grocery Store Outlet
2270 Lake Ave, Altadena, CA 91001
Open daily: 9 AM – 7 PM

Accessing Your Results

Results will be uploaded to this google sheet as soon as possible, likely within 1-2 weeks after we receive the sample, and mapped onto the interactive map shortly thereafter. Results may be delayed depending on volume of submissions.

Preliminary Findings

Soils Testing Graphic

Explore Interactive Map

The map above will be periodically updated as samples are processed and analyzed.

Preliminary results have been reassuring regarding the potential for lead exposure: samples in the burned areas had the highest lead levels, with lead concentrations decreasing farther away. Within the Eaton Fire burn area, in the middle of neighborhoods where many structures burned, lead levels in roadside dust exceeded the EPA regional screening level (200 parts per million, ppm) for residential soils.

Lead levels have been low in playground sand across all samples. Therefore, the research team can infer that lead is likely not a dominant contaminant of concern in playground sandboxes. Even locations that were heavily covered in ash but outside the burn zone had relatively low lead levels below the EPA soil lead threshold.

The animation above represents the movement of smoke across the Los Angeles area between January 7 and January 24, 2025, with dark red patches representing extremely smoky conditions (“heavy” smoke) and yellow representing less smoky air (“light” smoke). This is an estimate of the smoke’s behavior—the boundaries between orange and red, for example, should not be interpreted too precisely. The team expects that areas that were covered in red and orange plumes, particularly over consecutive days, may have greater overall exposure to pollution from the fires.

The researchers behind this analysis are Los Angeles residents and parents, and they find these results reassuring, particularly for areas outside of the burn zone. These findings can inform what actions and precautions other residents might feel comfortable taking—like sending children back to school.

Frequently Asked Questions

Visit bit.ly/CLEANFAQ to learn more about the project and how to interpret your results.

Support CLEAN

Your donations help support the team that retrieves and tests samples, and builds capacity for testing contaminants other than lead in the future. Click here to make a donation.