Agoura Hills officials outline testing, transport and monitoring for Palisades fire debris bound for Calabasas Landfill

Mayor Sylvester told the Agoura Hills City Council on March 4 that contaminated materials from the Palisades wildfires are being handled in multiple phases and that the ash and top six inches of soil — not hazardous wastes — are planned for the Calabasas Landfill. "It is not the hazard hazardous toxic debris… What is coming to the Calabasas Landfill is the ash debris and the top 6 inches of soil," Sylvester said, summarizing information collected from state and federal agencies.

The update gave residents a run-through of how the debris removal is being staged: hazardous materials were removed in an initial phase and routed to other landfills; remaining ash and shallow soils are being tested at burn sites and, where asbestos or regulated hazardous materials are found, removed and sent to specialized handling. Sylvester said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies wrap contaminated material in government-regulated plastic, load it into dedicated…