ROWENA — Cleanup and debris removal for the Rowena Fire is set to begin this week. As directed by Governor Tina Kotek, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is leading the effort at no cost to residents.
Last Thursday, state and county officials, including DEQ’s On-Site Coordinator Charles Kennedy, unpacked the process for those affected during a meeting at the Gloria Center. In the first phase, contractors will comb through properties and discard hazardous materials, such as car batteries, propane tanks and bleach, with the removal of all other debris happening in phase two. At multiple points, Kennedy emphasized the health risks that cleanup poses.
“State agencies strongly recommend that you do not clean up your property yourselves,” said Kennedy. “There is risk of hazardous material exposure if you’re doing this. Older homes have asbestos and lead paint, and that’s mixed in with the ash.”
Asbestos is particularly dangerous when burned because it releases microscopic fibers into the air and can cause cancers like mesothelioma when inhaled. There’s no known safe level of exposure to asbestos, according to DEQ.
The agency will begin air quality monitoring before phase one and continue it throughout, testing ash for asbestos, heavy metals and several petroleum-based compounds as well. Kennedy said Republic Services or Northwest Firefighters Environmental, both of which specialize in hazardous waste removal, will perform phase one, but that DEQ is still lining up a contractor for phase two.
Between the two phases, residents will have an opportunity to visit their property and retrieve any items they’d like to keep. Depending on the results from ash tests, bulldozers may have to perform a soil scrape on certain properties to completely eliminate all contaminants, but workers will wet the soil beforehand to protect air quality.
Contractors will probably begin in the Tooley Terrace area and then work down Highway 30, but that depends on how many residents sign up and provide right of entry to DEQ, as does the total time cleanup will take. Kennedy couldn’t provide a specific date but said work will be done before winter, likely taking between a few weeks to a few months.
All hazardous materials will be taken to a landfill in Arlington, Oregon, with Wasco County’s landfill taking the rest. Residents who participate in the state program can start rebuilding once DEQ clears out.
Commented