Pacific Coast Highway was temporarily shut down in the Palisades because of rain, a commission was established to help Altadena properly get rebuilt, and county supervisors are taking further steps to ensure businesses don’t price-gouge victims of the two massive fires that swept through chunks of Los Angeles County last month.
The Altadena Recovery Commission has been established, which will advise on how best to rebuild that community, County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said during a Wednesday, Feb. 5, press conference with various officials.
Other topics:
— Caltrans closed PCH on Tuesday, Feb. 4, from Chautauqua Boulevard to Carbon Beach Terrace until at least Friday as a precaution in case mudslides break out, with soft soil on the ocean and inland sides of the highway. PCH had just been opened the day before.
— The Board of Supervisors is seeking to further combat price gouging by increasing the penalty up to $50,000 from $10,000 for areas the panel oversees. The panel is expected to give final approval of the proposal on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
— Law enforcement will retain a heavy presence. “We have tripled or quadrupled our resources in both areas,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Drones are deployed in both the Eaton and Palisades fire areas, and an airship flies over both burn scars, including over Malibu. Horse patrols are in place in the Eaton fire area.
— The debris left by the fires is immense. “The houses that have burned to the ground have generated some 4.5 million tons of debris,” said Mark Pestrella, director of of Los Angeles County Public Works. “This is half the load that we normally throw away in a year in L.A. County.” Further, the debris contains asbestos, lead, mercury and other pollutants.
— Pestrella suggested that those in the burned area not wander about during the rains because of possible debris flow: “I would continue to recommend that residents in burned areas shelter in place.” L.A. County Public Works, he said, is providing free engineering advice and sandbagging.
— There have been 17 locations in L.A. County and more in Ventura County identified as landfills that could receive debris materials, Pestrella said. Decisions regarding where the material will go will be made by the Army Corps of Engineers, he said.
— Barbara Ferrer, who heads L.A. County Public Health, advised residents whose homes didn’t get destroyed to damp clean inside them. If smoke odors persist, she said, professional cleaning may be required. For those who are at high risk, staying out of the burned area until it is sufficiently cleaned may be best, she added.