As a chaotic wildfire season winds down, many Oregonians have piles of potentially hazardous rubble where their homes or businesses once stood.
Environmental regulators say is carefully cleaning up the hazardous waste left behind and making sure it is disposed of properly.
For the past two weeks, cleanup workers with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been doing that work in Jackson County as part of a that includes federal, state and local governments with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
This week, they , and they expect the work to continue for at least another month.
At one of many houses in the town of Gates that burned in the Beachie Creek wildfire last month, EPA workers wearing hazmat suits and respirators dug through scraps of metal looking for hazardous material.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking for acids, petroleum products, any kind of ammunition they might find,鈥� EPA Incident Commander Randy Nattis said, noting that things like paint and asbestos are common household hazards that can pollute the environment or make people sick if they鈥檙e not carefully removed after a fire.
鈥淎ll this hazardous material that is now exposed to the environment and can be dangerous to human health,鈥� he said.
So far, his agency has removed and disposed of hazardous waste left behind by wildfires at more than 450 properties across Oregon. Nattis said he鈥檚 expecting that number to reach 2,500.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here to help,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to keep the residents safe. We want to do this job for them. We want to make these hazards go away so they can start the recovery process.鈥�
Nattis said his agency is advising property owners not to walk through their properties until hazardous waste cleanup work is done.
Storms could create additional hazards for property owners in areas that burned, he said, and it鈥檚 safer to have trained EPA experts do the cleanup work.
鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly erosion as the rain comes in, the soil is loose, tree roots have been burned out,鈥� Nattis said. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 big issues from just a health and safety standpoint.鈥�
The service is free to homeowners who that gives officials access to their property.
Oregon Department of Transportation Director Kris Strickler said he is encouraging anyone with property in a fire zone to submit a right of entry form to allow government agencies to help with the cleanup and rebuilding process. The state has extended the deadline for the forms to be completed.
鈥淐learly, the devastation of the impact here cannot be overstated,鈥� Strickler said. 鈥淭he emotional trauma that people are dealing with is real, and we want to be sensitive to that. This is the first step in many steps along the way for our cleanup effort.鈥�
Strickler said debris and ash cleanup can begin after the hazardous waste cleanup, and only then can property owners start rebuilding.
鈥淲e recognize this is a long process,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he EPA and others are doing great work right now for the hazardous waste portion, but then the rebuild effort that comes after that is going to take some time, and we recognize that people are impacted that entire time.鈥�
Strickler said some property owners might not be filling out the right of entry form because they want to do the cleanup work themselves to speed up the process and have more control.
鈥淢aybe some have the individual means to address the cleanup on their own,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 will own and recognize that it鈥檚 probably not always a welcome conversation to say, 鈥楾he state鈥檚 coming in to help,鈥� and we want to make sure that people see us as a good partner.鈥�
But he said while property owners can hire certified contractors to do the work, he still recommends signing a right of entry form so the state can help ensure safety and find proper disposal sites for the material.
鈥淎sh is still a hazardous material, and so we have to be cognizant of that, and we鈥檙e asking homeowners to be cognizant of that as well,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he hazardous nature of the material doesn鈥檛 change.鈥�
Brian Nicholas, Marion County Public Works director, said about 800 residential houses and commercial properties suffered structural fire damage in his county, and about 70% of the residents have submitted right of entry forms for the state to start cleanup work.
鈥淭his really is the best way for property owners to get that work done right now,鈥� he said. 鈥淕etting a contractor right now is going to be difficult."
Nicholas said he鈥檚 concerned that the contamination will spread pollution into the soil and local watersheds.
鈥淚t really needs to be removed,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he longer this material is allowed to sit 鈥� household hazardous waste in particular, heavy metals, acids, that sort of thing 鈥� the more opportunity there is for that material to seep into the soil and then potentially the more soil has to be removed.鈥�
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