By Chad Terhune
ALTADENA, California (Reuters) – First there were the fast-moving, devastating fires. Now, amid the ruins of homes burned to the ground in the Los Angeles area blazes this month, workers are starting the massive, delicate task of removing hazardous debris as a prelude to rebuilding.
And they are racing against the clock: President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week to expedite the removal of contaminated debris. His administration gave the EPA a Feb. 25 deadline.
Workers in white hazmat suits, hard hats and other protective gear picked through the rubble of a home in the badly damaged community of Altadena on Thursday, plucking out paint cans and batteries by hand.
They carried such things in buckets to the driveway and sorted them into different plastic bags before sealing them with duct tape.
Their slow, methodical work marked the first phase of a huge effort to clear harmful debris and pave the way for thousands of residents to rebuild after the Eaton and Palisades fires tore through the region.
The fires killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
The EPA is running this initial cleanup phase before government or private contractors come in with heavy equipment to clear entire lots.
“We have to move five times the speed based on the directives we are getting,” Harry Allen, an on-site coordinator for the EPA, told Reuters on Thursday, referring to the Trump administration deadline. “Normally, this takes months.”
There are numerous challenges – from the sheer scope of the destruction, spanning thousands of properties, to the increased number of lithium-ion batteries littering the landscape – EPA officials said. Those batteries, used in electric vehicles, bikes and other electronics, can ignite or release dangerous gases when exposed to extreme heat or fire.
To speed up the work, the EPA said it is bringing in hundreds of new personnel in coming days so more teams can fan out across Altadena and Pacific Palisades looking for chemicals, pesticides, asbestos, ammunition and other hazardous materials.
“This may be one of the largest jobs EPA has ever encountered with regard to natural disaster debris collection,” Allen said.
There are about 13,500 properties across the two fires that need to be inspected, the agency said. Thus far, the EPA said more than 4,200 of those properties have been assessed.
However, the removal of hazardous materials takes longer, officials said. Only nine lots had been cleared in Altadena during the first two full days of work this week.
Some families are wary of ever moving back, fearful of the lead, arsenic and other heavy metals that may have seeped into their neighborhoods and pose a long-term health risk. There are also concerns about pollutants spreading beyond the burn zones.
After the Los Angeles fires started on Jan. 7, air samples detected “highly elevated” levels of lead and arsenic several miles away, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
ASBESTOS, PROPANE AMONG THE HAZARDS
On Thursday, workers walked across a burned-out lot and marked potential hazards with different colors of spray paint. Pink marked building material suspected of containing asbestos. Empty propane tanks got a white X.
Nearby on Wistaria Place, a separate crew retrieved items from the remnants of a home that had already been inspected.
They peered inside the shell of a car pocked with shattered glass and checked a tool cabinet. On the ground, small devices monitored the air for any dangerous emissions or radiation. Drones operated by the U.S. Coast Guard buzzed overhead.
The EPA said some properties can’t be safely inspected because the remaining structures are too unstable or covering hidden areas like basements.
Those lots will be marked and left for additional work with heavy equipment during the next phase of cleanup by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That second phase of debris removal could take up to a year, officials have said.
STORAGE SITE
As the EPA teams worked, some homeowners were clearing debris from their property down the street. Torri Huelskoetter, another EPA coordinator, said this normally doesn’t happen after other disasters.
“We haven’t cleared that one yet,” she said, pointing to the residents on their lot. “This is unlike other fires that we have covered because it is open to the public … I can’t stop them.”
“I would like to be able to say, ‘Please don’t come in here until we remove it for your own safety.’ “
The EPA has designated federally owned land east of Los Angeles as a temporary storage site for the hazardous materials removed in Altadena.
Some local officials and homeowners have expressed concern about the potential dangers that the site might pose to residents and the fact they were not consulted about the decision.
EPA officials said the agency has used temporary staging areas like these for wildfires for many years, and all materials will be sent elsewhere for final disposal. The agency said it would take steps to ensure safety, including air quality monitoring and the use of a water truck to suppress dust and emissions.
“We always sample the soil before and after, and there has never been an issue,” said EPA spokesperson Anna Drabek. “We return the site to the same condition as we found it.”
(Reporting by Chad Terhune; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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