The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed its first phase of debris removal amid a major milestone in the recovery of fire in Los Angeles. Officials said Wednesday altadena and Pacific Fence Burning area.
The EPA said harmful household items, including propane tanks and lithium-ion batteries, have been removed from about two-thirds of buildings. The 9,201 buildings cleaned include 4,852 homes Eaton Fire Footprints and 4,349 Palisade fires Burn area.
33% of other buildings burned in January, about 4,400 buildings, were delayed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Officials said additional cleanings were to be carried out before the hazardous waste was removed.
Record numbers of people trying to meet Debris gap deadline for February 25 Depend on Trump administration After the fire opened in January, the EPA said.
EPA’s acting district administrator Cheree Peterson said 1,700 people, including EPA employees and contractors, California workers and about 200 active-duty military personnel, worked to remove about 300 tons of dangerous household debris, including more than a thousand lithium-ion batteries.
The crew manually searched for a variety of types of household waste, including common household waste, including bleach, paint, drain cleaners, pesticides, herbicides and aerosol sprays, as well as lithium-ion batteries, propane tanks, ammunition and asbestos.
“This is the biggest wildfire reaction EPA has ever been engaged in,” Peterson said.
although The biggest storm in winterwhich prompted some mud and flash flooding in the Eaton Fire Zone and forced some areas of the Pacific Coast Expressway to close.
Milestones are a critical step towards reconstruction as hazardous waste must be removed and occupants then bring heavy machinery to the property to start cleaning up the wreckage.
The EPA opens four phase areas to sort and temporarily store hazardous waste, which is then shipped to professional facilities for disposal. These site tips Fierce protest From residents who do not want to waste near homes or near protected waterways.
EPA will close its temporary sites Lario Park In Irwindale and Will Rogers State Beach Peterson said in Malibu in three weeks. She said the agency had to conduct final soil tests at two locations to ensure there was absolutely nothing there. ”
Peterson said processing sites at the former Topanga Ranch motel on the Altadena Golf Course and the Pacific Coast Expressway will remain open to sort, store and transport waste found during Army clearance.
Army Colonel Eric Swenson said the remaining 4,400 remaining properties were not removed by the EPA, which had primarily structural problems, which allowed crews to manually enter and search for hazardous waste inadequate.
He said some houses have no access deep basements because the stairs are burned down while others have walls standing but at risk of collapse. He said the Army will use heavy machinery to remove bows and arrows and other dangers and then start looking for dangerous household items.
Svenson said the Army will use the same process as the EPA to find and eliminate hazardous waste. He said staff will pick up items by hand, place them in sealed containers, and then place them at the EPA’s handling site. He said EPA will pick up the lithium-ion battery.
Residents can use it Interactive graphs of EPA.
