The steps and front landscaping stones will not be removed by the Army Corp of Engineers. The trees next to the ash debris/wall will be removed.
There is so much information and misinformation floating around about the Army Corps of Engineers, that this editor took a car ride with Colonel Brian Sawser through Pacific Palisades on February 28.
He was asked about the process, trees, insurance, commercial businesses and recycling. Sawser, unlike City officials, answered every question put before him.
DEBRIS REMOVAL PROCESS:
If a resident has opted in for debris removal and the County has sent the Right of Entry to the Corps, then a call/text will go to the resident approximately 72 hours prior to schedule the start of the process.
Then, 24 hours before debris removal begins, another call will be made to the resident. The day prior of removal of the debris, a Corps member and the contractor will walk the property with the resident to explain the process.
One can opt out of the process at any time, until the Corps set foot on the property to start the removal.
WHAT IS REMOVED AND NOT REMOVED:
A resident can decide if they want the house foundation removed as part of the ROE opt-in process.
The Army Corps of Engineers crews are responsible for removing:
Chimneys
Hazardous trees (dead or at risk of dying within five years)
Fire ash and debris
Foundations (if specified in the ROE)
Up to 6 inches of soil in the ash footprint (if necessary and safe to do so)
Household hazardous materials not removed in Phase 1 by the EPA
Driveways, decks and swimming pools will not be removed by the Corps. Also excluded from removal are burned or partially burned stone, concrete, landscaping features, or statues outside the structural ash footprint. Slope-stabilizing structural walls and other foundational elements will not be removed if their removal could destabilize the property or neighboring areas.
Basements will be completely removed unless the removal impacts structural or slope stability.
TREES:
A California certified arborist works with the Corps. “We go through the arborist’s report,” Sawser said.
The Army Corps of Engineers takes out the trees in the ash perimeter of the home. They will also take out trees that prevent immediate access to the property or trees that are considered hazardous.
Even if a tree outside the ash footprint appears dead, a homeowner can sign a waiver that says, “I’m accepting the liability for a tree,” Sawser said, “and it will remain.”
The blue dots on the tree and a blue circle with a bar code means they are slated for removal and the white marks are a sign that the tree might be hazardous. Those trees will be cut near the ground, but stumps/root balls will not be removed by the Corps of Engineers.
(Hazardous Trees Defined click here.)
(Editor’s note: many trees in the Palisades have been chopped down and residents have blamed the Corps. DWP has been the entity cutting trees, including the pines that lined the baseball field by the pole-top distribution station.)
INSURANCE VERSUS THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS:
All upfront costs will be paid by government agencies for residents who opt-in to the Debris Removal Program. This is true for residents who have insurance, who are underinsured, or have no insurance.
However, check with your insurance provider and LA County. If property owners have homeowners, secondary, or automobile insurance covering debris removal, owners must inform the County by indicating that coverage on their ROE. The County has been assigned the responsibility to collect insurance proceeds. The County will work with insurance providers to ensure any proceeds specifically for debris removal are assigned to the government.
Please note, Federal government agencies, such as FEMA, the EPA, and the Corps of Engineers, will NOT contact you to collect ANY payment related to the government-sponsored Debris Removal Program. The cost of debris removal via insurance, vs. the Corps, is an unknown factor; however, the Government’s Debris Removal Program is free, regardless of the size of the property being cleared.
The Army Corps of Engineers is not doing debris removal from commercial buildings, such as the Business Block Building.
COMMERCIAL STRUCTURES:
Sawser said, “We are now going in commercial structures just for household hazardous materials, but we are not doing debris removal.”
He said that if a businessperson has a contractor that can remove hazardous materials, they do not have to wait for the Corps.
“As it stands now, the Corp is not going to do debris removal in commercial structures,” he said. “We will only do that if FEMA authorizes us to do that.”
OPT IN/OPT OUT:
If you opt in to have the Army Corp of Engineers clean your property, you must provide paperwork to L.A. County and only after they have verified you own the property, will they turn that paperwork over to the Corps. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2025.
In Pasadena and Pacific Palisades there are 13,579 parcels and ROEs from the County are 1,757, with 1,726 given to the contractor click here. There are numerous lots that show the residents have opted in, but ROEs have not either been processed or have not been given to the Corps.
The County also has a website to show its work and of the 13,579 parcels, they have transmitted 1,771 to the Corp.
The Colonel was asked about the lack of ROE’s turned over. He said, “There should be more in the coming days and pointed out that “this is the most expedient fire debris removal the Corps has seen particularly on this scale.”
DEBRIS RECYCLING:
Metal is separated on the residential site and taken to the bottom of Temescal, where it will be bundled, trucked out and then recycled.
Most fascinating is the recycling done by the Corps. First the debris is separated on each parcel. Green waste, which includes trees, plants and organic plant material goes to one location.
Titled property, which means cars and boats, can be deregistered when the Corps comes onto the property and then taken to an appropriated site for recycling vehicles.
Next the concrete and metal are separated and taken to Temescal Canyon Road, which is closed to the general public between Bowdoin and PCH.
“We are going to bale the metals and crush the concrete,” he said, noting that the City had given permission for metal/concrete staging on Temescal.
The steel was stacked on the bottom of the Canyon and will go to a different site in Long Beach. It can be reused.
Mounds of concrete has already been ground, will be shopped and then recycled.
Concrete is separated and reground and can also be reused. If the concrete had rebar, that can be extracted through a magnetic roller crushing process.
Once concrete is brought from the residential site it goes through a grinding process on Temescal Canyon Road.
Currently about 1,400 tons of concrete a day is being recycled and could go up to 2,000 tons a day.
As Sawser pointed out, by recycling on the Canyon, the Corps are also saving extra truck trips, “We can consolidate the waste stream.” And the trucks they used to transport concrete and steel can be larger and travel off-peak times.
Sawser could see recycling going on for most of the year, but “When we leave a site, we leave it in better shape than when we found it,” he said.
And the Class III landfill in Calabasas, which has been in the news? They are receiving the ash debris. (This debris does not include hazardous materials which were removed earlier by the EPA).
“If a house burned in November, for example,” Sawser said, “that ash was likely taken to that site, which has been used for many years, including for the Woolsey Fires.”
Asbestos does not go to that site because it is transported to a specific site for that material.
The downhill side of Temescal, which the city was supposed to have fixed and has a sinkhole, is off limits to everyone. Supposedly, while the Corps is recycling.
Concrete on properties are taken to Temescal, broken up, ground and then recycled.
I’m not sure why there is such a focus on ROEs completed and approved by the LA Dept of Public Works, when the Army Corps of Engineers has plenty to work on (1,771 in your article) but has only completed 58. It would make more sense to go after the ROEs if the Army Corps was almost caught up and sitting around waiting for more, but they’re not. They’re understaffed, maybe the lots are taking longer than they thought to clear, but either way, at 58 completed, it’s way too SLOW.
THANK YOU, as always!
“When we leave a site, we leave it in better shape than when we found it,” he said.
Hmmm, maybe the downhill Temescal sink hole will get repaired hahaha 🙂
Lynn,
The 1,771 is Palisades and Eaton fires. I was told that the Army Corps have crews waiting.
Sue
there is such a hard push to opt-in and barely no info re: opt-out. The process is made so complicated for anyone who wants to opt-out! Even in this article, there is a heading for “OPT IN/OPT OUT”, yet no info or links for opt-out forms.
Shana,
I’ve been told by people opting out, that it is taking a long time, too, for those forms to be processed. The one thing that I learned is that Phase 1 clearance from USEPA and permit from L.A. Public Works is required before the work can start and that the contractor needs to deal with asbestos, first. Additionally at the Disaster Center I picked up an Opt-out form and there is along list of specifications that are required, including where waste can be disposed of and the requirements for air monitoring/dust.
Sue