LightBox, Purdue target Los Angeles fire soil recovery guidance

LightBox donated $25,000 to help fund a Purdue University research project aimed at creating a plain-language guide for testing and managing soil affected by wildland-urban interface fires, according to a company release. The effort is tied to recovery after the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles-area communities, where residents and professionals faced questions about how to evaluate, clean up and restore fire-impacted soil.

The project is led by Purdue professor Andrew Whelton and seeks to produce the Property Owner Guide for Rapidly Restoring Soil Safety after Fires. LightBox said Palisades residents Mario and Chantal Spanicciati contributed an additional $25,000, bringing total support to $50,000.

Purdue’s release said the guide is intended to help property owners, environmental consultants and public agencies make decisions about post-fire soil contamination, debris removal, cleanup, soil sampling and restoration. Planned content includes post-fire soil contamination risks, common debris hazards, debris removal and cleanup steps, soil-sampling protocols, cleanup benchmarks, and visuals showing good versus poor restoration practices.

Eric Bollens, LightBox’s chief technology officer and a Palisades native, said the need grew out of questions raised after the Los Angeles fires. The California Department of Insurance Smoke Claims and Remediation Task Force reviewed Purdue’s earlier paper on building environmental testing, and Bollens described the new soil guide as a plain-language resource to help property owners and consultants restore fire-impacted land safely and confidently.