Council reviews LAFD hazmat capabilities after recent large fires; asks for staffing plan

The Los Angeles City Council received and filed a Board of Fire Commissioners report on the Los Angeles Fire Department’s hazardous materials teams and capabilities and asked the department to include a proposed HAZMAT staffing plan and future budget requests to more fully staff response hubs.

The action follows committee review after recent large fires, including the Palisades and industrial fires, which prompted council members to question how hazardous materials (hazmat) move through and beyond burn sites and how the city is tracking and responding to those risks.

Captain Rich Thompson, program manager for the LAFD HAZMAT and Joint Hazard Assessment Team, told the council the department performed on-foot, incident-level assessments after the Palisades fire and that long-term tracking of debris removal and contaminated materials was taken over by federal agencies. “After that, we weren’t really part of the cleanup,” Thompson…