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Reconstruction is beginning in the Altadena and Pacific Palisade districts of LA, despite the fact that soils with affected properties have not been tested for toxic substances.
The controversial decision to refrain from soil testing in communities burned by the Eton and Palisade wildfires caused a pushback Wednesday as California lawmakers questioned whether it would prevent them from maintaining the presence of toxic substances on the land before reconstruction began.
Federally employed cleanup crews remove ash and debris from buildings burned in the wildfires, as well as six-inch layer of topsoil. However, when asked by the Times last month, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that they would not test soil at these facilities after they had finished cleaning, breaking long-standing practices aimed at preventing homes and schools from still not including excessive levels of harmful chemicals after environmental disasters such as wildfires.
Leading by California’s eight federal lawmakers conditioner Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), opposed FEMA’s decision to refrain from soil testing on the agency’s representative manager, Cameron Hamilton. Lawmakers pressed Hamilton to explain the change in strategy. One important question was how can FEMA ensure that removing 6 inches of soil is sufficient to remove the properties of the toxic substance.
“Residents of Greater Los Angeles should be informed of potential toxins in the soil as they navigate the complex recovery process,” it says. “Wildfire survivors deserve to return to their safe, toxin-free properties.”
The Eton and Palisade wildfires were one of the most devastating in California’s history, destroying or destroying more than 13,500 properties across Los Angeles County. The resulting public health risks are too great to skip environmental testing, Friedman said.
“After cleaning up a wildfire in Los Angeles County, testing for toxins in FEMA soil is unacceptable,” Friedman said in a statement. “Families deserve to know that there are no safe and dangerous chemicals in their homes. This is a break from decades of FEMA precedent, and there is a risk that puts the entire community under long-term health threats.”
This letter is because reconstruction efforts are moving forward quickly. So far, federal cleanup crews have cleaned up ash and tile bleaches from more than 860 facilities, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Approximately 200 reconstruction permits have been submitted to local agencies, and at this point how many are unknown, some have already been approved.
Officials from the city and county of Los Angeles say soil testing is not required before issuing most reconstruction permits. Without soil testing, many residents are worried that new buildings will be built on contaminated land, and by sucking in dust from the air, it increases the likelihood that residents and workers will be exposed to toxic chemicals. Environmental and health officials warn that wildfire ash from burned buildings can contain dangerous substances, including cancer-causing arsenic and brain damage lead. Experts warn that safety precautions should not be raised, which require a pace of reconstruction.
“The country is fascinated by how and how LA recovers,” said Mohamed Sharif, co-chair of the local branch of the U.S. Institute of Architects’ Wildfire and Disaster Response Task Force. “We know that it’s not the only source of California’s catastrophe and disaster. Whether it’s an earthquake, a landslide or a rainy event, we have a multiplex of things. But fire really revealed how vulnerable we are as a society.”
Soil testing in the aftermath of previous wildfires found that even after the cleanup crew removed the 3-6-inch topsoil layer, a significant portion of the properties still possessed excessive levels of heavy metals. In these cases – for properties where contaminants exceeded California standards, such as the 2018 camp fire in Northern California and the Woolsey fire near Malibu in the same year, the cleanup crew returned to remove another layer of soil and additional soil testing was conducted.
However, FEMA officials now argue that excavating six inches of soil from the facility is sufficient to remove fire-related contamination. They argue that anything deeper is likely to be existing contamination. This is beyond the scope of the institution.
FEMA encouraged state and local officials to pay for soil testing if they deemed necessary.
So far, no state or local plans for soil testing have been announced.
“We’ll have to show a definitive test that shows that material under 6 inches is due to fire or debris caused by fire,” FEMA Region 9 administrator Robert Fenton told the Times in a recent interview. “I haven’t found it yet.”
However, the decision to skip FEMA soil sampling makes many homeowners unsure of what follows: Her husband and one-year-old son, Abigail Graydanus, evacuated the Altadena home shortly after the fire in Eton broke out. When the neighbor returned to check on the house, the property was not recognised.
“It was a pile of smoldering ashes,” Graydanus said. “You could still see the shells in the oven. The way truck my husband had in the garage. But everything else was melted and destroyed.”
The couple signed up for the Army Debris Removal Program. But even after the crew has cleared the tiles and debris from their property, they are careful to rebuild without checking whether residual contaminants are still in the soil.
“If it’s not safe, no one wants to go back home. [exposed to] Leading from the performance in the backyard,” Graydanus said.
Instead of a government-led soil testing, homeowners and school districts may have to pay for soil sampling if they require a response. Some research institutions are stepping into violations, including USC, which offers free lead testing, and a coalition of researchers from UCLA, Loyola Marymount and Purdue Universities, offers a complete panel of soil testing to people in affected areas.
Meanwhile, some school officials in these areas have already hired companies to test for toxic chemicals and are paying through their pockets.
Three schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were damaged or destroyed in a Pallisard fire. Marquez Charter Primary School, Palisade Charter Primary School, Palisade Charter Primary School, Palisade Charter High School. The Army Corps of Engineers oversaw the cleaning of these campuses earlier this month.
A LAUSD spokesperson said the district will “conduct a full environmental assessment across campus, including soil sampling for existing landscaping and areas that will be part of the construction of the interim campus.” They hired environmental consultants to assess the soil in their primary schools.
Because Palisades Charter High School is an independent charter school, Lausd introduced a request for comment on its management. The high school representative did not respond to requests for comment.
The Pasadena Unified School District has experienced major fire damage on several campuses, including public and charter schools, including Franklin Elementary School, Elliott Arts Magnet Middle School, Odyssey Charter School, Pasadena Rosebud Academy, Oaknor Montessori School and Aveson School leaders. District officials did not confirm whether the district would conduct soil testing on its property.
“Pasadena Unification is actively working across governments at all levels and is further looking into whether there is any remaining risk,” the spokesman said. “The discussion is ongoing. Our commitment is to keep the school community safe and informed throughout this process.”
Under state law, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control is required to oversee soil sampling in newly constructed schools or campus expansions to comply with state standards. But when asked about how it would approach the reconstruction of Altadena and Palisade schools in the Pacific, the state agency was uncommitted.
“In limited circumstances, such as when new property is purchased to build a school with state funds, a sampling plan is required by law,” a representative from the DTSC told The Times. “For schools in the community of Altadena and Pacific Palisades, the DTSC will provide technical assistance to the district upon request, including helping prepare a sampling plan and reviewing the results of the samples collected.” The agency will not say whether a test is required before schools begin reconstruction.
Meanwhile, real estate owners may find it difficult to hire contractors to rebuild without government regulators involved.
“Professional geotechnical engineers don’t test the strength of the foundation unless they know that the site has no toxins,” says Sharif of the American Institute of Architects.
He noted that reconstruction is complicated and involves many economic, environmental and safety considerations. It is unwise to leave decisions to thousands of individual property owners.
After all, contamination at one facility can affect neighboring homes.
“I tremble at the thought of what the owner of the lot next to the fictional owner is not doing,” Sharif said. “This means that while the majority of the damage is on private property, it’s insane to entrust public health to private citizens.”
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