Angora Fire -- debris removal

Unedited version of 08-07 Tahoe Mt. News story

Rebuilding begins, debris on its way out

By Kathryn Reed

It seems as though every number related to the Angora Fire is increasing. The most revealing is El Dorado County has changed the number of sites requiring debris removal to 259 – up from 255.
“I believe there was some discrepancy in the initial counts due to difficulty in identifying actual home sites,” Mike Applegarth, senior administrative analyst with the county, wrote the Tahoe Mountain News on July 31.
Homeowners can have the county remove the debris or find their own contractor. At the beginning of August, 241 had registered for the county to do the cleanup.
On Aug. 9, Stan and Diana Freeman were the first to have their foundation poured.
“I can’t wait to get back in there. My vision is that place is going to be the most desirable area of Tahoe in a couple years,” the real estate agent.
Freeman and his wife had built their 2,700-square-foot dream home 1.5 years ago. They are using the same plans for the house on Pyramid Court. Permits were approved within a week.
At a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors on the last day of July, the board agreed to allocate $1.5million for tree removal in the burn area on private land. According to Supervisor Norma Santiago, 75 percent of that will be reimbursed by the state because of the area being deemed a state disaster area.
The county had prepped 165 of the sites for debris removal, with 84 of them done, 44 in the sampling stage and one certified by the county as ready for a building permit.
The goal is to have all lots cleared by the end of the month.
By the end of July, 19,983 tons of debris had been removed. It took 18 days and 1,154 loads to achieve that amount. The county is using 71 people, eight excavators, nine water trucks, four loaders, three track steers, 61 40-foot long dump trucks and one elevated water drop tank to get the job done.
Some have been critical of the process because local contractors are not being used to remove the debris and open trucks are hauling it to the Class 3 landfill in Carson City.
Applegarth said no sampling of the debris was done to officially determine the toxicity of residential burned acreage. However, previous residential burn areas have shown hazardous materials like asbestos to exist.
He said any potential danger is to people on the ground with intimate contact to the debris, not from what may blow off from the trucks rolling through town.
The state Department of Toxic Substance Control “is allowed to waive normal regulations regarding disposal,” Applegarth said in defense of the open trucks. He said it’s going to the Silver State because Nevada “does not have as stringent of requirements for hazmat disposal.”
Because it is labeled hazardous material, only specialized contractors can do the job. None exist in South Lake. And under disaster scenarios like this, the normal bidding process may be waived and contracts awarded immediately.
“We believe the issue is the direct contact with the debris is what is considered potentially problematic,” Applegarth said. “That’s why you see them in hazmat suits and air monitoring around the sites.”
An industrial hygienist has been onsite to make sure officials are not spreading the waste beyond the burn area.
However, no one is monitoring residents or their friends who are culling through debris for keepsakes.
The county health department recommended people use dust masks while sifting through the muck.
“It’s impossible to know what toxic substance people could have had in the structures that burned,” said Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips of the county health department.