Healing the burn
Washington Fire cleanup underway 2 months after blaze
Workers in personal protective hazardous materials suits toiled Wednesday to complete inspection, assessment and removal of obvious household hazardous waste materials such as batteries, paint containers and propane tanks on about a dozen parcels where at least 19 structures burned in the Aug. 26 Washington Fire in the City of Sonora and Tuolumne County.
The first phase of burned structure site cleanups that began Monday and Wednesday was supervised in part by a senior environmental scientist with the emergency response unit for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
In phase one, the city and county partnered with the state and its contractors to inspect properties and remove “any household hazardous waste that may pose a threat to human health, animals, and the environment such as batteries, asbestos siding, and paints,” Tuolumne County staff said in a statement. The first phase is mandatory under local emergency declarations.
Phase one was completed Wednesday. The second phase is for removal of all ash, burned debris, and household hazardous wastes from all burned structure sites within the 136-acre Washington Fire burn. A timetable for completion of the second phase has not been released.
The burned structure site cleanups began Monday this
week, two months after the Washington Fire was declared contained on Sept. 1.
Examples of household hazardous wastes to be removed from burned structure sites include pesticides; compressed gas cylinders; aerosol cans; ammunition smaller than .50 caliber; fire extinguishers; car batteries and solar batteries; pool chemicals; fluorescent light ballasts; and suspected asbestos-containing materials.
Cleanup workers Wednesday were with PARC Specialty Contractors. PARC stands for Professional Asbestos Removal Company. The business is based in Sacramento and under contract with the state. One of the workers Wednesday morning used two kinds of sensors — one for gases and vapors, another for radiation — to help detect hazardous materials on a burned structure site.
It’s crucial for public health that people stay out of all burned structure sites until both phases of the cleanup are complete, said Nancy Mcgee with the state Toxic Substances Control Department; Dore Bietz, Tuolumne County’s emergency services coordinator, Mary Rose Rutikanga, the Sonora city administrator and emergency operations coordinator; and Walt Kruse, a contracted wildfire debris removal coordinator with the Tuolumne County Community Development Department.
“The ash and debris contain hazardous materials,” Mcgee said as she used a tablet to enter data into a public dashboard website that includes information about structure site cleanups in the Washington Fire burn. “The
public shouldn’t be digging through the ashes. We’re done with assessments. You can search for your address on our site. Green means phase one assessments are done, and we’ve removed visible household waste.”
Bietz emphasized green coding for burned structure sites means phase one is complete, but does not mean a specific site is clean, clear, or OK to visit.
“It’s still a health hazard issue,” Bietz said while workers prepared to inspect, assess and remove obvious household hazardous waste from a final burned structure site on Golden Dove Lane. “We don’t want anyone up here going through this area, and that means everyone: property owners, lookyloos, the general public.
Rutikanga said it takes time and resources to thoroughly clean up burned structure sites after a blaze like the Washington Fire.
“Thankfully the state has stepped in, and they’re taking care of business here,” Rutikanga said Wednesday.
The state Department of Toxic Substances Control is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, also known as CALEPA.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it was not clear whether any local or state agencies have tested local soils and waterways within the Washington Fire burn area to determine whether toxins and hazardous materials from the Aug. 26 fire have leached into the dirt slopes that comprise most of the burned watersheds, before and after the record-setting storm that dumped more than 3 inches of rain on Sonora at the Tuolumne Utilities District plant at Stockton
Road and Highway 108, on one edge of the Washington Fire burn.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Sacramento and other weather agencies predict more rain is possible for Sonora on Thursday and again Monday and Tuesday.
While the county and city are communicating a sense of urgency about the public health concerns in the Washington Fire burn, the governments have not yet communicated any sense of urgency about runoff from still-contaminated burned structure sites perched above Woods Creek.
Less than two weeks ago, on Oct. 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency to support multiple Golden State counties recovering from wildfires, including Tuolumne County due to the Washington Fire.
The proclamation allows the county and city govern
ments to access resources under the California Disaster Assistance Act to help with recovery efforts, helping residents who lost important documents in the fire such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates. The proclamation is also intended to extend consumer protections and streamline and expedite removal of ash and debris from burned structure sites.
Some residents are still struggling to recover from losing everything they owned in the Washington Fire.
Janice Thompson, 58, a former resident of Golden Dove Lane who said she lost her residence, her belongings, and five pets in the Aug. 26 blaze, has contacted people with county
government and so far she feels the response to her needs has been limited, she said Wednesday afternoon in a phone interview.
“I lost my home, lost my two vehicles, lost my e-bike, lost my storage shed,” she said. “I lost everything.”
For more information about household hazardous waste removal from burned structure sites in the Washington Fire footprint, visit the state Department of Toxic Substances Control dashboard for Fires 2021 online at https://bit.ly/3ecj6z8 and click on the Washington Fire.