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Toxic wildfire debris removal causes concerns for nearby LA County residents

Toxic wildfire debris removal sparks fear in communities near LA County burn scars
Toxic wildfire debris removal sparks fear in communities near LA County burn scars 04:02

The 30-day deadline to clear the toxic debris from the Los Angeles wildfires has sparked health concerns in the communities near the burn scars. 

"For the President to say let's do this fast and let's move on," said Azusa resident Milagros Serrano. "He didn't think about the consequences that some people are going to face."

The Azusa City Council updated residents about the Lario Staging area, which is on federal land along the San Gabriel River Watershed. The area has been designated as a temporary processing site for toxic household waste such as paint, propane tanks and lithium-ion batteries from Altadena. 

"You're moving this toxic waste across cities and you're putting it in an area really close to a water source," Azusa resident Erik Armstrong said. 

US-WEATHER-FIRE
Contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) remove household hazardous waste as they search through homes damaged and destroyed by the Eaton Fire in the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles county, California, on January 30, 2025. Fires erupted almost simultaneously in two separate neighborhoods of Los Angeles during a furious windstorm on January 7. Whole streets were engulfed as hurricane-force gusts flung fireballs from house to house. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

However, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Harry Allen tried to soothe the community's fears by explaining the installed protective measures. 

"At the floor, there's a thick plastic liner, and over the top of that, we have mats covering the whole area," he said. "The stuff we bring in is in a double-lined plastic bag. We put it down on a covered table and sort it into lined boxes so the material never touches the ground."

Allen added that this is the fastest his agency has been asked to clear debris from a wildfire. They had little time to secure a large enough available site. 

"The pressures to repopulate the burned areas were very great from all levels of the federal government," he said. 

The same conversation regarding the hazardous materials from the Palisades Fire happened during a city meeting in Malibu.

"The way that you figure out there's a health risk is when people start getting sick," one resident said during the meeting. "Because there are so few of us here, we don't matter at all."

While the EPA is set to use state land on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, they believe there is not enough room for the sheer amount of fire debris.

"We need over 20 acres of staging areas," FEMA Regional Director Michael Montgomery said. "We need significantly more staging areas."

The EPA said most of the debris will be taken out of state for processing. However, other nearby locations will be evaluated as potential sites. 

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