Burn Debris Removal And Soil Testing

CATEGORY OF SERVICE, LOCATION:

Burn Debris Removal and Soil Testing, Paradise, CA

TYPE OF CLIENT:

Commercial Service Station

Burn+Debris+Removal

BACKGROUND:

An active gas station was mostly destroyed during the catastrophic California Camp Fire in 2018. The station (store) building and surrounding area were destroyed but the canopy and product islands were not. The client decided not to rebuild and instead decommission the service station and clean up the property to sell the land. The Butte County Environmental Health Division (BCEHD) required ash, debris, and hazardous wastes to be properly handled and removed from the Site before building. The client hired Trinity to decommission the service station and manage the burn debris removal and post-removal confirmation soil testing.

CLIENT GOALS FOR PROJECT:

Obtain clean certification from the BCEHD

PROJECT APPROACH:

  • Decommission the service station by demolishing the canopy and removing the fuel islands and three underground storage tanks following state and local guidelines

  • Identify potential hazardous waste and segregate burn debris from non-burn debris

  • Pre-characterize the waste for proper transportation and off-site disposal or recycling

  • Develop a burn debris removal work plan following BCEHD, California Office Of Emergency Services (CalOES), and DTSC guidelines. The work plan included an asbestos and metals confirmation soil sampling plan, waste characterization protocols, and an erosion control plan. Metal results were compared to local background levels and human health screening levels.

  • Trinity documented the efforts in a burn debris removal report. The report included before and after photos, laboratory analytical results, erosion control measures, soil sampling protocol, and Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) certifications.

NEXT STEPS:

  • Trinity successfully decommissioned the service station and obtained clean certification from the BCEHD

  • No further work was required.