Pat Sullivan, senior vice president of SCS Engineers, said his team is assisting the regional landfills in managing the huge amount of debris from the fire cleanup. While the Los Angeles fires covered a smaller area than wildfires in remote regions, they present a different type of challenge – landfill ash management.
“Essentially, the devastation is in a smaller area, but it also means there is a lot more collective debris to remove per acre,” he said.
Sullivan said landfills may need waivers to accept the larger amount of debris and explained that California’s waste policies are typically more stringent than federal regulations, which can cause administrative delays.
Additionally, concerns include the large number of vehicles, the wear and tear on roads not designed for such high volumes of traffic, the need to stage them for offloading at the facility, and the requirement for increased dust control. It’s much more than finding an open cell to dump debris.
He described how fire creates its own weather conditions, characterized by intense heat and “firenadoes” that were literally whirling, swirling flames incinerating material. Burned materials with toxic heavy metals and other contaminants were an immediate concern.
With winds of up to 100 mph, the temperature of the fires could have reached over 2,000 degrees, which can melt metal, rubber, and destroy just about anything in its path, creating an ash that contains a variety of components.
Sullivan continues with considerations for landfill ash management because of the materials’ high density and low permeability qualities.
This article, “After the Fires: Managing Piles of Ash and Lost Homes in California,” was originally published by WasteDive. You may share or print the article using the icons at the bottom of the page.
About Pat Sullivan, BCES, CPP, REPA, is a Harvard-degreed scientist, a Registered Environmental Property Assessor (REPA), Board Certified Environmental Scientist (BCES), Certified Permitting Professional (CPP) in the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), and an accredited Lead Verifier under the California Air Resources Board (CARB) AB 32 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) programs.
He is SCS’s National Expert on the Clean Air Act, the New Source Performance Standard (NSPS), and odor management. He has over three decades of professional experience, all of which have been with SCS. He is active in 12 industry organizations, including the National Waste and Recycling Association (NW&RA), Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), and Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA).
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