A group of environmental researchers asks the administration of Newsom to intervene and pay the ground tests in thousands of houses destroyed in the forest fires of Eaton and Palisades.
Nearly a dozen university professors wrote a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday and to the secretary of the California environmental protection agency, Yana Garcia, imploring state officials not to abandon the recovery protocols for California forest fires, namely long -standing policy to sample soil in the cleaning teams after the cleaning team Removing toxy ash and a layer of topso.
Governor Gavin Newsom attended a press conference at Charter Odyssey school while work begins to withdraw the debris from the Eaton fire in January.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Given that the federal disaster agencies have repeatedly refused to carry out soil sampling to guarantee that burnt houses do not contain unhealthy levels of toxic substances, researchers argue that it is imperative for the state to intervene in the ongoing recovery efforts for pales and Eaton forest fires.
“Currently, no specific floor test for packages is required or recommended by the State for the residential properties affected by the late Eaton Fire and Palisades,” said the letter. “In our opinion, this represents a serious risk to public health and the economic recovery of communities.”
The letter has been signed by members of the faculty of nine universities, including the USC and the UCLA, many of which are currently involved in carrying out free soil tests for owners in and around the burning areas of the fires in January. Among them, Andrew Whelton, a professor at Purdue University who investigated contamination after forest fires, said that complete soil tests were essential for the health and safety of the communities affected by fire.
“The decision not to carry out soil tests as in the past – without advanced warning – has really organized personal security and the ability of the community to get back into the air quickly,” said Whelton.
State officials said that the federal authorities were in charge of the effort to recover forest fires, in particular the decision on soil tests and sanitation. State officials had asked FEMA to reconsider payment of soil tests, but the request was rejected in a few hours.
“The state continues to put pressure for our federal partners to carry out a complete soil sampling as part of the debris elimination process,” said Nefretiri Cooley, Calepa spokesperson.
University researchers highlighted the recent soil test efforts by Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles County Public Health Department which found high levels of lead and arsenic in destroyed houses eliminated by teams to move federal debris in Altadena.
The body of army engineers, the agency supervising the debris moving teams, refused to comment on the results of the county. A spokesperson for FEMA said that the agency still maintains that its cleaning approach – eliminate debris from forest fires and up to 6 inches of topsoil – is sufficient to eliminate the immediate risks for public health.
The Los Angeles County Department of County has allocated up to $ 3 million to pay the soil tests, mainly for owners who showed up in toxic smoke and ash in the Eaton fire. But Whelton said these efforts are not enough to analyze the risk.
“A soil sample will be analyzed that a owner submits to a commercial laboratory, then the owner will have to interpret the data by themselves and decide what to do,” said Whelton. “So that will not make people again (back) to safe properties.”
A worker erases the debris of a house destroyed in the fires of Palisades in the Pacific Palisades in April.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Local officials continued to highlight the need for rapid recovery, in part because they are concerned about the precipitous decline in tax revenue. According to Los Angeles, local governments and local governments could undergo tax loss of approximately $ 730 million at $ 1.4 billion due to Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation forest fires, a non -profit organization focused on economic growth.
During a meeting earlier this week, those responsible for the county of the La La County announced that a new program should allow approved architects and engineers to “self -record” that residential reconstructions meet the requirements of the building code, with the help of artificial intelligence software that examines construction plans. The initiative aims to significantly accelerate the calendar for the issuance of construction permits.
More than 10,000 properties have been registered to be cleaned by federal debris moving teams. Until now, they have identified approximately 4,700 properties, which are now eligible for the reconstruction of permits without soil test.
In the past, disaster test agencies on floors in clean properties to ensure that toxic substances do not exceed California standards for residential properties. To the properties where toxic substances have been found above state standards, disaster agencies ordered cleaning teams to return to eliminate more soil and carry out additional tests.
If state officials are moving away from their soil test policy, some environmental experts say hundreds of houses in Altadena and Pacific Palisades will always be contaminated, potentially exposing residents to return to toxic metals, such as lead. But perhaps more worrying, this could also create a precedent for Californian communities devastated by forest fires in the future.
In California, where 30% of the state population lives in high -risk fire areas where buildings mix with wilderness, destructive drilling fires are inevitable. But after the fires of Eaton and Palisades, many owners are confused about the responsibilities of the federal and state agencies during cleaning in the event of a disaster.
“It is certainly appropriate to have a discussion on which is responsible for soil and soil sanitation tests after these forest fires,” said Whelton. “But because there was a sudden decision by several government agencies not to do it, it left a whole bunch of owners with anxiety and a clear path for how they will make their property again safe – or if they want to come back.”
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