State officials at the Debris Removal Operations Center (DROC) in Calabasas have submitted final inspection reports to local officials in Los Angeles and Ventura counties for more than 600 of the 932 properties affected by the Woolsey and Hill fires that are participating in the state’s Consolidated Debris Removal Program, debris removal officials announced today.
Submission of the reports to Los Angeles County Public Works and Ventura County Environmental Health Division, respectively, clears the way for 547 property owners in Los Angeles County and 66 in Ventura County, including all six affected by the Hill Fire, to rebuild.
The 613 final inspection reports submitted by debris removal officials to local authorities in both counties represent 65.77 percent of the 932 properties eligible for the state program. The 547 submissions to Los Angeles County officials represent 65.58 percent of the 834 L.A. County properties participating in the program, while the 66 submissions to Ventura County represent 67.35 percent of its 98 participating properties.
During the Debris Removal Operational Program, the state contractors conduct site assessments, asbestos surveys and abatements as required for every site. Crews also remove the fire debris, which consist of burnt metal, ash and other burn debris, concrete and contaminated soil. Following this debris removal process, the surveying contractor returns to the site and conducts soil sampling which is shipped off to state certified laboratories for testing.
Once the state certified laboratories verify that the samples taken from the properties meet state environmental health and safety criteria, contractors then install fiber rolls and apply a virgin-based, biodegradable mulch to every cleared property whose owners have opted to have contractors implement the two types of erosion control measures. Following these erosion control measures, State officials and staff conduct a walkthrough of each property to ensure all of the requirements of the State Program were completed to the States high standard.
Under the state program, administered by CalRecycle and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), property owners who opt in incur no direct costs for the removal of eligible debris.
To date, contractors have removed debris from 888 properties – 794 in Los Angeles County and 94 in Ventura County. The 888 cleared properties include the 613 sites for which final inspection reports have been submitted.
The 888 cleared sites in both counties represent approximately 95.28 percent of the 932 properties currently eligible for the state program. The 794 cleared properties in Los Angeles and the 94 cleared properties in Ventura County represent approximately 95.20 percent and 95.92 percent of the eligible properties in those counties, respectively.
State contractors also have completed:
- Site assessments on 916 properties in Los Angeles County and 111 in Ventura County;
- Asbestos surveys on 914 properties in Los Angeles County and 104 in Ventura County;
- Asbestos abatements on 145 in properties in Los Angeles County and 22 in Ventura County; and
- Erosion control work on 539 properties in Los Angeles County and 65 in Ventura County.
Property owners who have submitted Right-of-Entry permit applications (ROEs) can meet one-on-one with debris removal experts from their respective counties to discuss the status of their ROEs and issues related to their property at the Debris Removal Operations Center (DROC) located at 26610 Agoura Road in Calabasas. The DROC is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Debris officials will notify property owners who have opted in to the state program 24-48 hours prior to the start of debris removal operations on their property. Property owners may meet with crews before work begins.
For more information in Los Angeles County, visit lacounty.gov/LACountyRecovers or call 1-626-979-5370. For more information in Ventura County, visit www.venturacountyrecovers.org or call 1-805-504-7869.
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