Altadena residents call for reconsideration of golf course's use as temporary wildfire debris recycling center
Altadena residents are protesting the use of the Altadena Golf Course as a debris recycling site as cleanup continues in the Eaton Fire burn zone.
Despite reassurance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who say that they're committed to the community's safety, residents are skeptical and have taken to protesting outside of the golf course.
The 12-acres of land began functioning as a temporary recycling center on Monday.
"Just to be clear, the fire, ash, debris, the stuff that is the hazardous material that is actually burned, that will continue to go directly from the homes into a sealed truck and then taken directly to a permitted landfill," said Colonel Sonny Avichal, who is working at the facility.
He says that vegetative debris, scrap metal and clean concrete will be broken down at the golf course.
"That's concrete that we've rinsed and have also tested for asbestos and will be asbestos free," he Avichal said.
On top of that reassurance, he also said that they will use mufflers on equipment that will be placed in specific spots on the property to reduce noise impact to residents in the surrounding area. Air quality monitors are already on-site, working to ensure that there is no poor quality detected from their work.
"We will shut down operations immediately and that really is just for safety and what we will do, is we will make sure that we mitigate all the dust with misters, which we will be using anyway," he said.
Still, residents are fighting against the use of the area due to what they believe are potential health concerns. Army Corps workers say that the work will be conducted a distance away from where anyone lives.
They chose the location because it's near the Eaton Fire burn zone and will allow homeowners to rebuild faster. They plan on utilizing the area for at least 10 months.
Residents have planned another protest on Sunday, one week after they took to the streets to voice their concerns.
