The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday repeated their mandate for property owners to complete fire debris removal by June 30, adding a public nuisance penalty for noncompliance.
Properties in burn areas that are not clear of debris by the deadline will be declared a public nuisance and health hazard, according to a motion revising the county’s emergency ordinance in response to the January wildfires that devastated areas of Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre.
The nuisance penalty applies to property owners who opted out of the federal program to remove fie debris and ash. The deadline to submit right-of-entry forms allowing property access for government-paid contractors was April 15.
Landowners who chose to arrange for debris removal work themselves at their own expense have until June 1 for their contractors to obtain a debris removal permit from the county and until June 30 to complete the work.
Violations will result in a “Summary Abatement Notice and Order” that homeowners can appeal within seven days, according to the ordinance. If noncompliance continues, the county would then have the authority to clean up the fire debris and bill the costs to the property owner. Nonpayment would result in a county lien on the property.
Approximately 10% of property owners impacted by the wildfires opted out of the free debris-removal program run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to Tuesday’s board motion.
“The vast majority of property owners” have either opted into the USACE program or have opted out and are in the midst of having private contractors do the removal work, according to the motion by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Kathryn Barger.
“However, there are some property owners who either never decided on how to have their property cleared or who opted-out but have not made any effort to have their property cleared,” the supervisors wrote. “As neighbors move to quickly recover from the fires, they must have confidence that these ‘non-responsive’ properties will be cleared quickly of this remaining fire ash and debris to avoid the health impacts of uncontained fire ash and debris to themselves and the community at large. Therefore, speedy abatement of this public health nuisance is essential.”
USACE estimates indicate most of the debris removal may be completed as early as late June, according to the motion. The Corps of Engineers has deployed over 200 debris removal crews in LA County that are clearing more than 3,000 properties each month.
More information on fire debris removal is at recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal-2.
