The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been spearheading efforts for over two months to clear properties damaged by the Eaton and Palisades fires in anticipation of future rebuilding.
The extensive operation encompasses scraping the top six inches of soil and ash, cutting down damaged trees, dismantling concrete walls and foundations that were compromised by heat, and extracting melted metal for recycling.
According to the Army Corps, the cleanup is projected to affect nearly 14,000 parcels, with an estimated 4.5 million tons of debris set to be removed upon the completion of operations, tentatively slated for fall.
This initiative marks the largest municipal wildfire cleanup operation in recent history. In comparison, the destructive 2023 fires in Hawaii generated around 400,000 tons of debris.
The Army Corps is utilizing 18 different facilities in this extensive operation.
The Simi Valley, Calabasas, and El Sobrante landfills are receiving the fire debris and soil, while any material containing asbestos is directed to the Azusa landfill.
For those curious about the disposal process, a complete list of locations and hauling routes from the Eaton and Palisades burn areas is available for public viewing.
The majority of the hazardous material — approximately 80% — is packed into trucks, wrapped in 10 millimeter plastic, and sent to nearby landfills, where it is dumped, spread, and covered with dirt daily.
Conversely, recyclable materials such as concrete, metal, and trees are redirected to separation sites located in Temescal Canyon and the Altadena Golf Course.
Recently, LAist visited the golf course to gain insight into the massive, ongoing cleanup operation.
At the processing facility, trucks arrive, weigh their load, and subsequently dump materials into designated piles.
Metal is extracted and transported to recyclers in Irwindale and El Monte.
To manage dust, both the materials and the roads the trucks traverse are regularly wetted.
Trees are collected into a towering 15-foot pile, which is then shredded and transformed into mulch for landscaping throughout the region.
Concrete chunks are crushed into smaller pieces, facilitating more efficient transport to a recycling facility in Sun Valley, where they can eventually be repurposed for building roads or other applications.
Cory Koger, a debris subject matter expert with the Army Corps, emphasized the objective of the debris removal operation:
“The whole point of this debris removal operation is to get it off the properties into a consolidated state,” he remarked.
He noted that by processing the materials into smaller sizes at the separation sites, the number of truckloads required could be reduced from 150,000 to 75,000 throughout the cleanup effort, significantly shortening each truck’s travel time from 45 minutes to just eight minutes.
However, local residents are voicing concerns about the proximity of cleanup operations to their homes.
Geore Gund, a resident living a block away from the golf course, expressed his apprehensions:
“This is a safety issue. Not a NIMBY issue. Because this would not be safe in any neighborhood,” he stated.
Gund believes it is a matter of common sense to recognize the potential risks tied to nearby toxic waste operations.
The grinding of concrete is known to release substantial amounts of silica dust, which can drift in the air before settling.
Although reported safety measures are in place, residents remain skeptical about whether the process can sufficiently contain hazardous materials like heavy metals and asbestos from dispersing into the environment.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health has issued warnings advising that individuals living within 250 yards of fire debris, ash, and soot may face exposure to asbestos, particulate matter, heavy metals, and hazardous chemicals, posing risks for both short and long-term health effects.
In response to these concerns, the Board of Supervisors has authorized funding to conduct lead testing on properties not immediately affected by the Eaton Fire, particularly those located downwind, after findings of lead in soil samples taken a mile away from the burn area.
Gund is adamant:
“If it’s safe, show me the data that says it’s safe.”
Koger acknowledged the locals’ worries, stating,
“We understand that there are people that still live in this neighborhood. We don’t want to have an impact on them as well. I think we just need to ask the surrounding community to be patient with us. We’re doing it as quickly, but as safely as we can.”
Dust mitigation measures are actively employed at the golf course, with material and road surfaces continuously wetted to minimize airborne particles.
Air quality monitors have been installed around the golf course to detect particulate matter measuring 10 micrometers and less (PM 2.5 and PM 10), although they do not specifically measure lead and other harmful materials.
If levels surpassing half of national ambient air quality standards are registered, alarms are triggered.
On the morning LAist visited, alarms went off due to wood chipping operations, as explained by Trevor Durning, an air monitoring technician for Tetra Tech.
In response to triggered alarms, crews may increase watering or temporarily halt work until dust levels lower.
image source from：https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/la-fires-debris-toxic-where-does-it-all-go
