As firefighters begin to gain the upper hand on the Eaton and Palisades fires, the focus now shifts to clearing debris from thousands of homes that were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving hazardous materials and toxic The ashes complicate.

The process began Friday when a small convoy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveyed a series of charred properties on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Debris clearing of approximately 12,000 private parcels scorched by the fire will be free for affected residents, but the Army Corps of Engineers has not yet determined how the major task will be accomplished.

When members of the Army Corps of Engineers visited properties on the Pacific Coast Highway, they saw chimneys and door frames left behind from burned beach homes. The trip through damaged neighborhoods was somber, facts mattering as officials assessed what needed to be done.

They talked about sea walls and metal, about utilities and the logistics of bringing contractors to the site. Can the site be cleaned with heavy machinery, or will workers need to use hand tools? All of these questions are in the air as military fatigue officers stand on what was once a typical shore.

Proximity to the ocean means the operation can become more complex. Cory Koger, a debris subject matter expert with the Army Corps of Engineers, said the contractor taking over the job will need to spray any debris with water because the ash can contain heavy metals and other compounds.

A convoy of Army Corps of Engineers members planned to visit other communities devastated by the Palisade Fire.

"You look at it and it's just devastating," said Maj. Gen. Jason Kelly, vice president for civil engineering and emergency operations with the Corps.

Koger is heartbroken for several members of several regiments because three families from three regiments lost their homes in the fire.

Col. Eric Swenson, who was on the tour with the Army Corps of Engineers, said each site could take two to four days to clear. He mentioned the work being done by the Army Corps of Engineers in the wake of Maui's devastating 2023 wildfires.

The cleanup will be a two-step process, starting with the Environmental Protection Agency removing hazardous materials. In a second step, Los Angeles County will need permission from the property owner to haul out the remaining debris, Swenson said.

The EPA will need to remove any hazardous materials, such as batteries, paint and automotive oil, and store them for proper disposal. The first phase of a massive cleanup operation by the EPA will see many of the electric vehicles' batteries burn in the fires, along with solar panel batteries.

"There's going to be a lot of electric vehicles, so (the EPA) needs to get those right as well," Koger said. "This is an evolving fire impact."

The next step will be to assess the property and understand what it looked like before the fire. Swenson said residents signed up for a debris removal plan should contact their home insurance provider to determine if it will affect their policy.

"Removing debris is not complicated, but it is complex," Swenson said during a news conference with Los Angeles County officials earlier this week. "We're going to work with the community and the residents so they understand what they're signing up for. , and they understand the services they will receive and the benefits we will provide them as they seek to rebuild their services, lives and livelihoods here."

The operation in Southern California will involve clearing the property to the foundation and scraping six inches of soil from around the foundation to clear the fire.