Dozens gathered outside the Calabasas landfill in Agoura Hills on Saturday morning to protest plans to dump up to 5,000 tons of debris a day after last month’s devastating Los Angeles County wildfires .
“Let us be non-toxic,” the group, including children and families, chanted. “Don’t fall in love!” they cried.
Record:
February 18, 2025 at 10:50 amAn earlier version of the story says that the Wasteland Sanitary Landfill and the Lamb Canyon Landfill in Riverside County are sites where fire debris will be received during the second phase of the cleaning. These two landfills do not accept fire debris.
The protests are this week’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The second phase of cleaning began The fire from Eaton and Palisade that destroyed more than 9,400 buildings in Altadena and destroyed more than 6,800 buildings in Pacific Palisades.
Calabasas Landfill is one of at least seven non-hazardous waste landfills in Southern California, and has approved the acceptance of waste, including chimneys, hazardous trees, fire debris and ash, from this latest cleaning phase.
Resident Sandra Lewis and her 5-year-old daughter Isabella left, their neighbor Leah McMullen and her daughter Adelaide, 4-year-old ( Adelaide, right, gathered outside the Calabasas landfill in protest against the debris being disposed of in the Palisades fire.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Army can start dragging debris to landfills As early as MondayAccording to the city of Calabasas. To accommodate debris, the county approved a waiver last week that extends the operation time of landfills and increases the daily tonnage limit from 3,500 tons per day to 5,000.
The demonstration is on the second day of the Calabasa City Council Letter to Los Angeles county Board of Directorsexpressing a “strong opposition” to any fire debris being transported to a landfill, which is close to communities, schools, senior housing, parks, wildlife corridors and other sensitive locations. In the letter, the Council implored county, state and federal officials to explore other disposal options, including redirecting waste to low-population areas outside the state.
“The City Council was forced to respond to public sentiment, namely the urgency of the recovery phase and the effort to remedy a disaster, laying the foundation for future public health and environmental disasters that will affect Calabasas residents,” the city leaders wrote. they wrote.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun Phase 1 In the January 28 cleaning of fire debris, remove hazardous materials such as paints, detergents and solvents, oils, pesticides, lithium-ion batteries and asbestos from the combustion area.
Crew members of the Environmental Protection Agency comb through the ruins of houses burning in the Palisades fire.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
The agency is delivering hazardous materials to temporary installment areas: Lario Park and Altadena golf courses in Irwindale, for debris from the Eaton fire, and the former Topanga Ranch Motel, as well as Will Rogers State Beach for Palisades Fire. The debris will then be sorted, guaranteed and packaged for transport to the permitted disposal facility.
Residents and leaders from the Foothills Community in Los Angeles County have Gave people’s attention Regarding the health and environmental risks that may pose on site at Lario Park, last month from Duarte, Azusa, Irwindale and Baldwin Park The leaders expressed their common opposition to the use of the site.
The EPA said it will take steps to ensure safety at the Lario Park site, including air quality monitoring, the use of water trucks to suppress dust and emissions, and continue environmental testing after the site is closed.
The fire ash and debris collected during the second phase of cleaning will be transported to the lined truck and driven to Approved landfill – It is along with Calabasas landfills, including the Simi Valley landfill, Azusa land reclamation site, El Sobrante garbage in Corona Landfill and Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar.
A dump truck arrived at the Calabasas landfill in Agoura Hills on Saturday, with dozens of protesters protesting. They objected to the wildfire debris that were recently disposed of there due to environmental concerns.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The cleanup will include thousands of contractors from Army Corps and private companies, aiming to handle up to 4.5 million tons of fire debris.
Demonstration Saturday Protect Calabasaswhich is also planned to seek an injunction to stop dumping fire debris in landfills, while the issue proceeds through the court.
According to participant Kelly Rapf Martino, law enforcement officers arrived at the protest about 30 minutes in the protest to prevent the organization from blocking traffic near the landfill. Later, the group marched along the lost mountain road, holding handmade and skilled slogans such as: “Listen to Mother! There is no toxic dumping in Calabasas!” Eventually, it arrived at the nearby Erewhon Market.
“We are very worried that particles from the ash and debris will be dumped into landfills in residential areas,” Martino said. . She said she was particularly concerned that harmful asbestos pellets could end up in the dump.
She noted that at the Calabasas City Council meeting on Wednesday, Colonel Brian Sawser, the Army Corps. He explained that before starting the cleanup process, the Army would walk along the ground of each property, looking for any visible hazardous material, and then chip into asbestos in each house. If any asbestos is found, he said, they will reduce the entire site under state and federal regulations and remove any material containing asbestos and then flow it to the waste stream at the Calabasas landfill.
Demonstrators signed on Saturday at the Highway 101 overpass in Agoura Hills to express their opposition to fragments of the Palisades fire, which was abandoned in Calabasas garbage filling Buried ground. They are concerned about toxic materials that harm their communities and environment.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Still, he told the Council that he could not be 100% sure that hazardous materials would not end up in landfill, saying, “I taught probability and statistics at pastry, so I’m having a hard time getting 100% sure.”
Members protecting Calabasas called on residents to protest again outside the landfill Monday morning when trucks that hauled fire debris could begin to arrive.
“We are just a bunch of moms who want to protect our children, our schools, our health, and don’t want this to be a big deal in 20 years when a bunch of kids got sick and we had to sue for damages,” Martino said. Working to stop this before it happens.”
