EPA begins hazardous waste cleanup in Los Angeles

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun wildfire waste cleanup in Los Angeles, NPR reports.

EPA crews in hazmat suits are digging through potential hazardous waste left behind by the wildfires, according to the report. Typical household items including pesticides, fertilizers, paint solvents, cleaning fluids and propane tanks have been transformed into potential hazards by heat from the fires, Steve Calanog, the EPA’s deputy incident commander for the Southern California wildfires, tells NPR.

Those items and other detritus from hobbies such as auto repair and pottery kilns as well as damaged ammunition from sporting rifles could catch fire, react, explode or leak toxic and corrosive chemicals when compromised by the high heat and destruction of the wildfires.

While some of the fires continue to burn, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order clearing the way for hazardous waste crews to start cleanup “as soon as it is safe.”

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“Rebuilding efforts cannot commence until hazardous debris is removed from affected properties,” he noted in the order.

In recent wildfires, a major source of hazardous waste has been lithium ion batteries, commonly used in e-bikes, solar panels and electric cars. A chief cleanup priority is the electric vehicles that were abandoned by the road as people fled the fires.

Calanog says the initial hazardous waste cleanup phase could take a few months. After hazardous waste removal, the cleanup gets turned over to the Army Corps of engineers, recycling agencies and contractors for debris removal.