Rain that's predicted for late Thursday and Friday could lead to runoff from fire zones in the North Bay that are still littered with toxic ash and debris containing harmful chemicals. While cleanup is underway and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are on the scene, the focus this week has been on the removal of household hazardous waste, as NBC Bay Area reports. Cal Fire has reportedly set up a task force to prevent runoff from entering nearby streams — which could lead to mercury, lead, and other poisons ultimately reaching San Francisco Bay and harming sea life — but it's unclear how much of that work has been completed.

Officials say they hope to have the cleanup of all the burnt home sites completed by December.

KRON 4 reports that widespread rainfall should be hitting the Bay Area by late Thursday, starting in the North Bay, with a half to 1.00 inch falling by the weekend.

A radar gif from the National Weather Service shows what's predicted to be happening, which will include snow coming to the Sierra Nevada.

According to NBC Bay Area, EPA officials say that one to two inches of rain do not pose a serious runoff threat for the toxic ash that will still take weeks to clean up in Napa and Sonoma counties.

EPA coordinator Tom Dunkelman tells the station, "We’re aware that it’s going to rain in the next couple of days, and you know, that’s not really going to change our process. We’ll be out rain or shine, collecting hazardous waste."

As of today, the Nuns Fire is 100% contained, and the Tubbs and Pocket fires are both 99% contained.

All related coverage of the North Bay wildfires on SFist.