Seven months after flames tore through the foothills, Altadena residents filled the community hall with a shared urgency: to understand what lingered in their soil, their gardens, and their homes. The Soil Testing Town Hall, presented by LA Fire Justice, was a community coming together to take control of its future.
Chris Holden, CEO of LA Fire Justice, welcomed the audience and introduced James Farr, host of Conversation Live: Altadena Rising on KBLA Talk 1580. Farr set the tone from the moment he took the microphone. "As long as this Black-owned radio station is on the air, we will not let anyone be forgotten," Farr declared. "Every week, we bring forward the voices that matter. Tonight is about knowledge, safety, and action." The town hall wasn't just an academic exercise; it was about protecting their families.
The panelists reflected on that urgency. Erin Brockovich, an LA Fire Justice team member and a consumer advocate whose name has become synonymous with environmental justice, did not sugarcoat the reality residents face. "Fire survivors are left to figure out contamination on their own," she said. "And too often, by the time state resources or funding show up, it's already too late. Don't wait for permission. Don't wait for someone else to step in. Test your soil. Protect your family. Safeguard your home." Each sentence was a call to act, not later, but now.
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Brockovich was one of the 2018 Woolsey fire survivors and knows firsthand about the terrifying impacts it had on her, her family, her pets, and community.
Professor Josh West, a soil chemist and environmental studies scholar from USC, laid out the science with clarity and urgency. He described how his team collected soil samples from neighborhoods scarred by the fire. The results showed a stark pattern. "Most soils we tested came in below the state's screening threshold of 80 parts per million," he explained. "But then there were properties showing lead levels in the hundreds, even thousands. And contamination doesn't follow neat lines. It can be different from one yard to the next, even between two neighbors."
He recommended residents not to rely on do-it-yourself kits that often produce misleading results. "The differences in soil types, and the way people interpret color changes on test strips, can create real confusion," he said. Instead, he encouraged families to use county resources or trusted labs. He also shared small, but crucial steps families can take: wash hands after outdoor work, remove shoes before stepping indoors, and take special care when planting food in backyard soil. "It's not just about numbers on a chart," he said. "It's about knowing what you're living on."
For Dr. Aranda Trapati, an environmental chemist and justice advocate from UCLA, the issue is as much about people as it is about data. She emphasized the need for recovery that comes from within the community itself.
"The best recovery happens when the people most affected lead the work," she said. She described partnerships with the Gabrielino Tongva Nation, the aboriginal tribe of the Los Angeles Basin, known as the true First Angelenos, including youth programs and efforts that bring together indigenous knowledge with modern science. "When young people collect samples, when elders share their history of this land, when residents see the results themselves -- that's when you get real power. That's when rebuilding is rooted in equity and truth."
Christine Lenches-Hinkel, an organics management strategist and planning consultant and principal of 301 Organics, brought a different kind of expertise -- the work of healing soil itself. Her firm uses compost, beneficial microbes, and phytoremediation plants to draw out or neutralize toxins left behind by fire.
"Biology comes first," she said. She explained how compost not only nourishes the ground but reintroduces organisms that detoxify it. She showed how certain plants can lock up harmful metals before they spread. And she shared results from local properties where measurable reductions in toxins were already visible. "We've seen lead levels drop. We've seen hydrocarbons broken down. This isn't theory -- it works. But the most powerful thing is when neighbors come together, because when you protect one lot, you create a buffer for the entire block."
Residents asked, "Could they still eat fruit from backyard citrus trees? How was fire contamination in a city different from wildfires in untouched forests?" The panelists answered each with honesty, sometimes with caution, always with practical guidance. Their answers reminded residents that recovery is not a checklist -- it's a process that requires persistence, awareness, and collective care.
One of the solutions offered to residents was Eco2Capital, Inc. & Associates, which, 15 years ago, was hired by Mexico's National Polytechnic Institute to clean a heavily contaminated oil site in Mexico City using advanced soil and water remediation technology and proprietary microbes now supplied by ClearGreen. In just six months, the land was restored and is now an ecological park.
"We use ClearGreen products, which are pet, people, and wildlife-friendly, manufactured in the United States," said John Braden, CEO of Eco2Capital, Inc., located in Marina del Rey, California.
James Farr brought the town hall to a close. "This is about more than soil," he said. "It's about how we rebuild -- safely, sustainably, together. Take what you've learned tonight and put it to work in your neighborhood. That's how Altadena moves forward."
The Soil Testing Town Hall showed what happens when knowledge meets action, and when a community refuses to stand still in the face of uncertainty. Residents gained resources, strategies, and a shared responsibility to rise above the bureaucracy. In Altadena, recovery will not wait for outside solutions. It will be built, block by block, by the people who call it home.
About the author
Dr. Marie Y. Lemelle, PhD, President of the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce, Beverly Hills Chapter, is a long-time advocate for seniors and underserved communities. Follow her on Instagram @platinumstarpr.