New floor tests by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have found high levels of lead and other toxic metals in houses destroyed by catastrophic forest fires in January and eliminated by federal cleaning teams.
The County Health Department hired Roux Associates Inc. to carry out a soil sampling at 30 Homesites which had been cleaned by the body of American army engineers – the Federal Agency leading to the elimination of debris for forest fires Eaton and Palisades. The Army Corps and the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared that the crews would erase forest debris and up to 6 inches of topsoil in parts covered with ash of the property.
In the scar Eaton Burn, in areas scraped by federal cleaning teams, around 27% of red floor samples still have lead levels above California state standards for residential properties (80 milligrams per kilogram). In the samples taken from certain parts of these properties where the soil was not searched, almost 44% had lead levels above the state reference.
In the Palisades fire zone, the figures were much more guaranteed: less than 3% of the soil samples from parts scratched from the properties and approximately 12% of the unrived areas had high lead levels.
Adam Love, Vice-President and Main Scientist of Roux, said that the higher percentage of older houses with lead paint in Altadena, where Eaton fire has mainly touched, could be one of the reasons for the great disparity.
“The honest answer is that we don't know all the things that could contribute (the variation in track contamination),” said Love. “This could be linked to the difference in the stock of housing and to the fact that the houses in the Eaton zone are more likely to have lead paint.
“This could come from floors during the crushing that has dislodged,” he continued, “or ashes that have blown up with adjacent plots in the scraped area.”
Heads of love and public health of the Comté now recommend that owners of properties in affected areas consider potential soil contamination before reconstruction efforts.
“The assessment and management of the soil impact should really be part of any reconstruction plan,” said Love. “You may want to consider obtaining an assessment by an environmental professional to make sure you take the appropriate measures to protect.”
This comes as the county and city officials Reconstruction permit issued Without soil test requirements – and some developers have already struck the ground.
County results are added to an increasing number of evidence that a large number of properties could still shelter dangerous contaminants even after the federal cleaning teams have finished the removal of wrecks – contamination which is generally prevented by the directives of the State which call for complete soil tests.
This week, the Los Angeles Times has published a special report built around a Soil test initiative This provided the first evidence that the houses were corrected by federal entrepreneurs still had heavy metal levels above the typical state cleaning objectives. Times journalists have found that two Altadena Homesites were burned and cleaned later by federal cleaning teams still contain dangerous heavy metals above California standards.
Time Reported for the first time in February That the Federal Emergency Management Management and the Corps of US Army Engineers would not pay the soil tests after the fires of Eaton and Palisades. The refusal of federal and state disaster agencies to carry out soil tests after a major forest fire with long -term recovery directives of California which aimed to guarantee fire -related contamination is eliminated residential properties by cleaning teams.
The previous forest tests have found around 20% of the properties fail to achieve the California cleaning objectives for potentially toxic materials after a first cycle of debris elimination, which generally implies winning about 6 inches of top ground. However, the soil sampling has enabled state and federal entrepreneurs to identify which properties still have high levels of contamination, and then redeploy the cleaning teams to eliminate additional soil to ensure that the properties meet the California cleaning standards.
For this cleaning, without floor test, federal cleaning teams will not return to eliminate additional soil, according to the body of army engineers.
The decision not to carry out a complete soil test has been criticized by many experts in environmental health and public health.
“By not carrying out soil tests, the Federal Government and the State Government have made the decision to leave contaminated properties – and not informing owners of the quantity of contamination – is OK,” said Andrew Whelton, professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University who studied environmental disasters.
When Eaton and Palisades fires consumed thousands of houses and cars, they released unpublished amounts of dangerous chemicals. One of the most disturbing is lead, a chemical damage damaging the brain that has always been used in paint and is always a luminaire in the batteries.
“Given these results, it is essential to understand the specific risks for health posed by detected chemicals – in particular lead, which remains one of our main concerns,” said Nichole Quick, chief medical advisor of the county department. “Lead is a powerful neurotoxin, and even at low level, exposure can affect learning, development and behavior in young children. The exposure to lead is not always obvious. Symptoms do not appear immediately or at all as long as damage is not already made. ”
The county health service previously shared Preliminary results House floor tests still size in and around the Eaton and palisades scars. Up to 80% of the soil samples taken under the wind of the Eaton fire had lead levels above state health standards for residential properties.
However, the department officials refused to provide copies of the results of the soil tests, saying that the data had not yet been finalized. The ministry also said that it would not share these results with individual owners. Times has submitted a request for public files for this data.
The County Health Department of Los Angeles is the only government agency to sample floors after cleaning. Federal disaster agencies have repeatedly refused. The Newsom administration has also undertaken any soil test.
In April, the County Supervisors Council of Los Angeles approved $ 3 million to help owners Under the wind of fires to test their lead lessons. This program should start on May 19, and public health officials said that 26,000 eligible properties would receive a postcard invitation with more information.
In this case, the owners should take soil samples themselves and deposit it for analysis.
If the results find contamination, the owners will probably be left to pay additional soil withdrawal or other methods to seal the contaminated areas. While the meeting dragged, many residents of the comments section expressed their concern about how they could pay for such a dismissal.
“We have no money,” wrote a commentator.
