Residents within the rugged enclave of Tujunga grew to become suspicious in January after dirt-filled vehicles started inundating their neighborhood streets, dumping their hundreds on close by county-owned property.
Their inquiries revealed that the vehicles carried winter storm sediment dredged from catch basins that have been shortly inundated with runoff in and round fire-scarred Altadena.
The basins, important to flood management within the San Gabriel Mountains, are largely situated above residential burns areas, in response to the county.
However the hauling and dumping operation has led to a dramatic fallout between county officers and Tujunga residents and is one other instance of a group fearful of accepting particles associated to the Eaton and Palisades fires.
The residents say noxious grime is being trucked in. No less than one native sneaked onto the location earlier this yr to gather and later privately check the catch basin soil. The outcomes discovered selenium and arsenic, in response to the group.
“I’m scared and I’m offended,” stated Tujunga resident Karen von Gunten, who lives inside about 150 yards of the county website. She not feels snug gardening for lengthy intervals of time due to a noxious odor she attributes to the location.
County officers contend the soil is protected.
On the identical time, Tujunga locals — who relish their relative isolation dwelling towards the rugged backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains — say they’re suffering from the noise, vibrations and dirt attributable to the hauling vehicles, which traverse alongside houses on this semirural space.
It’s all anathema to Tujunga’s historical past and fame as a clear air group. Beginning within the Nineteen Twenties, the realm started attracting individuals who have bronchial asthma. At present, the neighborhood nonetheless attracts residents trying to escape the pollution and noise of metropolis life. And on the perimeter of the mountains, the realm is house to bears, deer and rabbits.
Caroline Kim Palacios stated she was pressured to quickly transfer her 70-year-old mom, Suki Kim, out of her mom’s house subsequent to the county website after she complained a few sore throat, burning in her eyes and lungs, and nausea in March. Her mom believes these points are linked to the hauling operations, Kim Palacios stated.
She additionally pointed to the wildlife, together with deer, that come by the realm and the close by wash. “I’m fearful in regards to the ecosystem,” Kim Palacios stated.
A county apology, however dumping continues
County officers acknowledged at a March assembly with Tujunga locals that they didn’t warn residents in regards to the operation on the 17.5-acre website.
“I’m sorry for not dealing with it higher,” stated county engineer Laren Bunker, in response to a recording of the assembly. “I believe we may have been just a little bit higher in our communication with the group.”
The Zachau Canyon sediment placement website in Tujunga.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Occasions)
The county started trucking particles to its lot off Sevenhills Drive in January after not utilizing the location for 15 years, in response to county officers. The lot was activated due to the magnitude of storm particles that needed to be faraway from the basins.
Though operations stopped earlier this month, hauling is more likely to resume after future rainstorms, the county stated.
The lot, often called Zachau sediment placement website, is bounded by a tall fence and subsequent to a number of houses.
County Public Works spokesperson Elizabeth Vazquez stated the sediment delivered to Tujunga got here from the West Ravine and Fern basins on the fringe of a mountainous space. Some houses that burned within the hills are above the basins.
The West Ravine Basin in Altadena was swollen with particles on Feb. 14.
(Courtesy of Michael Bicay)
Photographs taken in February by Altadena residents present the basin stuffed with darkish sludge-like particles.
The particles consists of “vegetative matter,” stated Vazquez, who stated operators scraped off the highest layer and despatched it to a Simi Valley landfill, with grime and rocks going to Zachau.
Some ash from the undeveloped hillsides could have ended up within the basin, the underground storm drain system and the landfill, Vazquez stated. She stated Phos-chek, a flame retardant, was not noticed within the particles basins.
Vazquez additionally stated that crews took measures, together with putting in a sort of berm, to forestall burned house particles from washing off properties.
Inundated with rumbling vehicles
Colin Sweeney, a spokesperson for L.A.’s Division of Transportation, instructed The Occasions that the county isn’t required to clear its truck routes with town.
In Tujunga, residents dwelling alongside the route described vehicles rumbling previous their houses. The screech of truck brakes was notably torturous, they stated.
Ara Khatchadourian lives on the nook of Commerce Avenue and Summitrose Road, and moved to Tujunga two and a half years in the past as a result of he and his spouse needed a quiet neighborhood after dwelling subsequent to a highschool in Glendale.
The vehicles started within the morning and went all day, six days per week. Seven tiles in his eating room flooring cracked in March, which he blames on vibration from the vehicles.
“It’s been a really hectic time,” Khatchadourian stated.
Karen von Gunten and her husband, Jon, who dwell close to the Zachau website, moved to Tujunga in 1987 and benefit from the owls and different wildlife that flock to their yard.
At present, she stated, she will’t at all times preserve her home windows open with out an odor wafting into their house. After the vehicles first arrived in January, there was a robust “burnt rubber” odor that ultimately diminished however remains to be bothersome, she stated. Her husband described the odor as akin to an “outdated automotive engine.”
A consultant for the South Coast Air High quality Administration District stated the company has obtained 23 complaints alleging visitors issues, odors and dirt from soil associated to Zachau since Jan. 7.
“South Coast AQMD responded to every criticism and carried out on-site inspections on 9 totally different days,” stated spokesperson Nahal Mogharabi. “Our inspectors didn’t detect odors within the space and didn’t observe any air high quality violations throughout any of these in-person visits.”
A number of soil exams
Dust collected by a resident on the website confirmed selenium, a hint aspect that may be dangerous in heavy concentrations, in response to the outcomes, which have been reviewed by The Occasions.
The lab outcomes additionally confirmed arsenic in quantities larger than federal and state ranges, however under one other frequent stage utilized in California.
The county did its personal testing of Zachau and the 2 storm basins, and people outcomes confirmed no selenium and usually the identical ranges of arsenic, in response to the exams, which The Occasions reviewed.
“You may take two scoops and get two totally different outcomes,” stated Joe Sevrean, the lab director at 1 Laboratories, which dealt with the group’s check.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the realm, instructed The Occasions in an e mail that “the toxicologist reviewed the samples collected by residents and their exams point out that the soil is clear and nicely inside the state’s security requirements.”
Los Angeles Metropolis Councilmember Monica Rodriguez has demanded that the county repair roads in Tujunga that she stated have been broken by the vehicles.
Rodriguez, whose district consists of Tujunga, stated in a March letter to Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, that she is “deeply involved” in regards to the county’s use of the location.
The Tujunga group desires the county to do extra testing. Residents are additionally bracing for the subsequent storm and one other spherical of vehicles.
One county official instructed residents to contemplate eradicating the velocity bumps alongside a part of the truck route, so the vehicles don’t must brake and make a screeching sound.
