LA County's wildfires generated 4.5 million tons of waste, nearly half of typical annual total

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The January wildfires in Los Angeles County generated 4.5 million tons of waste, or nearly half of the county's typical annual waste total of 11 million tons, L.A. County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said Wednesday as debris removal efforts continued.

Pestrella announced the remarkable number at a morning news conference, where he and other officials warned of the potential danger of mudslides and debris flows amid rainfall in recent burn areas.

"The state of affairs is that the area is unstable and high-risk to people," he said. "Whether you're a traveling motorist or a property owner, there is risk in our environment right now -- risk of bodily damage, property damage, risk to lives and risk to the environment.

"The rain is part of it but it goes beyond that," Pestrella said. "We have slopes -- natural slopes and man-made slopes that are quite unstable right now -- that could even fail and have been failing, even when it's not raining."

County officials also urged fire-affected residents to fill out "Right of Entry" forms to either opt in or out of the free Phase 2 debris-clearance program offered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Residents have until March 31 to complete the forms, which are available online at recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal or at any FEMA Disaster Recovery Center.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Wednesday about half of affected residents in the Eaton and Palisades fire areas had filled out the forms to opt in to the clearance program. Residents also have the option of opting out of the program and hiring their own private contractors to perform the work. But that work cannot proceed until the EPA completes its waste- removal program, which is expected to take at least a month.

Status updates on the EPA's work, including an interactive map of individual fire-affected properties, are available online at epa.gov/ca/2025-california-wildfires.