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County, FEMA and EPA to remove household hazardous materials; health officer's right-of-entry will shape speed of cleanup
Summary
County emergency management said FEMA and EPA teams are on-site to remove household hazardous materials including lithium-ion batteries; the task force is seeking a blanket right-of-entry from the health officer to speed work on hundreds of destroyed properties.
Emergency management briefed the county commissioners on a household hazardous-materials task force that includes FEMA and the EPA. "Teams are on the ground, and we're identifying staging areas," Chandra said, adding that EPA teams will go onto burned properties to remove hazardous items such as household chemicals, paints and lithium-ion batteries.
Chandra said the pace of work hinges on obtaining a blanket right-of-entry (ROE) from the health officer, Dr. V, which would allow the task force to schedule block-level work. Without a blanket ROE, crews would need individual property-owner permissions for more than 600 destroyed properties, a process that would slow cleanup considerably. Chandra said the task force will flag other hazards and coordinate with Ecology, local solid-waste and the health district to prepare for broader debris removal.
