Almost six months after a forest fire devastated the Pacific Palisades, the final evacuation orders have been completely erected, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
A part of the coastal neighborhood of Los Angeles had remained under an evacuation order due to the dangerous fallen cables, the potentially explosive batteries of lithium ions and the toxic debris of forest fires, according to Lyndsey Lantz, a spokesman for the fire department.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the main agency that supervises the cleaning of forest fires, has supervised federal contractors to eliminate the remains of more than 3,200 properties, relieving some of those concerns.
“Our concern has decreased since much of the rubble has been eliminated,” said Lantz.
Only residents and contractors had been able to return to the part of Pacific Palisades that remained under the evacuation order. The authorities had established vehicle control points, in part, to keep the public away from these persistent hazards.
However, as final evacuation orders are completely risen, the general public will be able to access the area. The Los Angeles Police are expected to maintain a presence in the neighborhood to remove possible thieves and deter real estate.
Although people will be allowed to return to the communities affected by fire, the Public Security and Health authorities are asked to have caution, such as using an N-95 mask to avoid exposure to toxic dust.
Elected officials and environmental researchers have expressed serious concerns about the possibility of persisting soil pollution because federal disaster agencies have decided not to pay soil tests to confirm that strong pollution is not far behind.
Soil sampling projects by Los Angeles Times journalists and, separately, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department found lead and arsenic pollution above California standards for residential properties in properties already cleaned by federal contractors.
