As students, teachers and staff go back to school after the Eaton fire, the Pasadena Unified School District released the results of environmental testing completed by a third-party vendor on schools affected by the devastating wildfire.

“The district was not required to do environmental testing but in an abundance of caution we felt it was really important for our staff, students and families to return to their schools so we have published that,” Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said. “Every result that’s come back has been positive and our schools are safe places to be.”

Envirocheck, a certified environmental testing provider based in Orange, assessed levels of soot, char, ash and pH, or how acidic a substance is, within impacted buildings in 17 schools.

The company tested a range of campus items, including door handles, lobby desktops, cabinet tops, tops of storage shelves, center carpets and cabinet tops at windows.

The tests assessed levels of contamination following industry-standard protocols using equipment to measure for fire-related contaminants, district officials said.

For example, char and ash were estimated using polarized light microscopes while soot was confirmed and estimated using an electron microscope. At Don Benito Elementary School, soot, char and ash were not detected and pH levels in settled dust were found to be relatively neutral, a result that can be found across all the released reports.

The earliest tests were done on Jan. 17 for Hamilton Elementary School, with samples analyzed the next day.

Blanco said reports and results are available at pusd.us/firerelief-safety are updated as schools reopen. Fact sheets and frequently asked questions are also included in the site.

The report notes that other components were observed in samples, including everyday indoor dust elements like skin cells, insect fragments, pollen, mold spores, sand, paint and fibers from construction materials.

An “X” in this category means some amount of that component was observed and does not mean abnormal presences were detected.

Prior to reopening, more than 1,500 workers cleaned and sanitized all PUSD sites, from schools, offices, and the service center, as well as campuses occupied by charter schools. To date, 159 tons of debris have been removed from district sites.

Blanco said her message to parents is that Pasadena schools are a safe place to be.

“They’re clean, they’re sanitized and we have tested where their children are going to be and we’ll monitor air quality and on days that it’s not safe to be outside we’ll keep them inside,” she said. Students with preexisting heart or lung conditions will also be monitored.

Soil tests in schools were not conducted following recommendations from an industrial hygienist and in collaboration with the state Department of Education, California Department of Emergency Services, Los Angeles County Public Health Department, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The district did hire a contractor to remove the top 2 inches of sand from playgrounds and irrigated the school fields.

Ongoing monitoring includes testing for lead, asbestos and other toxins in the air, performed by the AQMD. Officials from AQMD report that lead and asbestos levels in the Los Angeles Basin have returned to pre-fire background levels.

Worsening environmental conditions in the days after the Eaton fire left some parents feeling anxious about sending their children back to campus, with some having them mask up and others seeking answers to questions about air filters and remediation procedures.

Emily Stough, whose two children attend Blair High School, wanted details about the district’s safety measures. She sent her children with masks when the high school reopened on Jan. 23, part of a phased reopening that as of Wednesday saw 6,700 students return to affected schools.

Nancy Estrella is both a staff member and parent at Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. She was able to walk through the school the day before it reopened.

“As soon as I walked in yesterday and I just got to see how detailed the cleaning was, it definitely settled a lot of those fears,” she said.

Mimi Cristobal, a parent at Don Benito Fundamental School, said children’s health and safety is always a concern, but “we have to trust the people in charge that they’re doing the best that they know and they’re keeping us informed and giving us all the information.”