The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that they will not order soil testing on properties damaged by the Eton and Palisade fires after being cleaned by civilian federal contractors. After a wildfire.
Federal and state agencies are calling for soil samples to be collected and analyzed at homes and schools that have been cleaned by workers’ crews after almost every major wildfire in California over the past 20 years.
This process, known as confirmation sampling, means that when soils of these properties are removed with toxic ash and tile ble, up to 6 inches of topsoil, there is no longer any toxic chemicals present above the state’s cleanup standards. It is intended to confirm that.
But now, shortly after the most expensive wildfires in the state’s history, Army officials simply excavate six inches of topsoil, enough to remove the fire-evaporated properties of dangerous contamination. He says there is.
At a press conference held in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, Army Corps Colonel Eric Swenson explained the decision by stating that soil sampling was not permitted in the disaster response.
“When states demand direct federal assistance… they make that request [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]Swenson said. “And we’re going to do a certain range, and these are the limits of what we can do under this disaster.”
The federal cleanup crew clarifies the debris from the Altadena home, which was destroyed in the Eton fire.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
The Army says, “These are our instructions and guidelines,” and we need to stick to those guidelines,” he added.
FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Los Angeles County officials expressed surprise at the Army Corps’ decision.
“We’re a great leader in our work,” said Katherine Berger, chairman of the LA County Board of Supervisors. “We don’t want to discount it. …So we need to reorganize this and understand it.”
The move could likely transfer the burden to homeowners, businesses and school districts to pay for the test, removing more contaminated soil. Under California’s policy, wildfire experts say contaminated soil must remove contaminated soil until it falls into state restrictions of toxic contamination.
“If they don’t try to do a confirmatory sampling, it tells us that they’re willing to leave contaminated properties,” says Jane Williams, executive director of the California Community, toxic. I said this in response. “They are willing to put people at risk.”
The Federal Cleanup crew clears debris from a home on West Palm Street in Altadena.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Earlier this week, Swenson told reporters that removing the six-inch topsoil was “an acceptable level of debris and removed to ensure that it could have fallen onto the topsoil as a result of a fire. I will,” he said.
But that claim appears to contradict previous analysis showing dangerous levels of chemicals, even after federal cleansing workers clean up the topsoil layer.
During the cleaning up of a 2018 camp fire that destroyed the paradise town of Bute County in Northern California, Pasadena-based consulting firm Tetra Tech has reportedly seen nearly 12,500 after a cleanup crew removed six-inch topsoil. I was hired to test the soil at the facility. About a third of the properties (over 4,200) still contained toxic chemicals that exceeded state cleaning standards, such as lead in brain damage and arsenic, which causes cancer.
In light of soil testing, workers returned to these properties (five times in one case) to excavate more contaminated soil to meet California cleaning standards.
Without soil testing, the Army will not return to carry out additional soil removal in the fire areas of Eton and Palisade.
“Many of these cleanup standards are aimed at protecting people’s health,” said Jill Johnston, an associate professor at USC who oversees soil testing in contaminated areas. . “We’re particularly thinking about vulnerable populations (old people, our young children, people with chronic illnesses), who don’t easily dissolve or disappear.”
Barbara Feller, director of the LA County Public Health, has called for a lack of property due to the property, known as “legitimate concerns.” However, she noted that the county works with federal, state and academic institutions to better understand the toxic substances that ash contains.
So far, more than 7,300 property owners have completed the form to let civil servants know how they intend to clean the dangerous ashes and tile bleach. According to LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, “almost 99%” chose the Army to remove contaminants and contaminated soil, rather than civilian contractors.
This week’s Army Corps began overseeing the federal cleansing crew that settles debris from Altadena and Palisade homes in the Pacific Ocean.
The workers operated the excavator to pull large objects, smashed metal from the building’s foundations, and threw debris into cargo containers. The crew, suited to dangerous goods, shoved the ashes into plastic garbage bags.
They then prepared to remove 6 inches of soil to remove the properties of dangerous heavy metals that could pose a risk of returning residents.
This approach to soil testing is one of the key steps set out in California’s wildfire cleanup plan. In nearby Ventura County, crews are expected to test soil in response to a lesser-known wildfire that broke out in November and destroyed around 200 buildings.
Just a month after the clean-up of the LA County wildfires, there have been some concerns, including a furious pace of removal of dangerous materials and debris. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who toured the fire-hard community, touted it as the fastest debris removal operation for a massive fire in modern national history.
Also at a press conference Wednesday, LA County officials praised the federal efforts to accelerate the pace of cleanup. Mark Pestrala, the county’s director of public works, announced that residents could begin submitting permission for reconstruction.
“We’re open to our business,” he said.
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