EPA says 300 million tons of hazardous material were cleared from 9,200 properties.
300e6 [tons] / 9,200 [structures] = 33 thousand TONS per structure. Grok 3 estimates that the average 3,500 sq ft single story furnished house weighs 125–175 tons. 33,000 tons vs 175 tons? Close enough for government work, right?
For reference, digging an 8 ft deep basement for a 3,000 sq ft house removes 1,200 tons of soil.
So that doesn’t add up. Maybe EPA scraped the entire towns clean? The Palisades fire burned 23,448 acres and the Eaton fire burned 14,021 acres. You would have to scrape 40 inches of soil from the ENTIRE BURNED AREA to get to 300 million tons.
As usual, innumerate writers and officials are spewing garbage out of their asses.
You have to remember that FEMA contractors are paid by the ton. All the houses that burned near us in 2017 had huge craters dug to remove “toxic” materials and soil.