Guiding Wildfire Response and Recovery
CSS supports communities following catastrophic wildfires to ensure that items discarded during site cleanup are properly identified, sorted, and sent to an appropriate disposal facility.
Air Monitoring and Household Hazardous Waste Removal Help Devastated Communities During Recovery Efforts
Homes are filled with hundreds of items that are safe in normal conditions but pose significant environmental and health risks after being engulfed in fire. CSS supports communities following catastrophic wildfires to ensure that items discarded during site cleanup are properly identified, sorted, and sent to an appropriate disposal facility. In the aftermath of the recent North Bay/Sonoma, Camp, and Santa Cruz/Carmel wildfires in California, we led teams conducting household hazardous waste (HHW) collections, environmental and asbestos assessments, and multimedia sampling. We also performed on-site air monitoring to protect the health of workers and returning residents, checking for unsafe levels of asbestos, volatile organic compounds, and other airborne hazards that may have been released in the fire. Our staff oversaw safety compliance, prepared daily Incident Command System (ICS) reports, coordinated with senior EPA leaders, and handled requests for special services. We also performed quality assurance reviews of completed removals and assisted with data management.
Additional Projects
Coastal Aquaculture Program / Coastal Aquaculture Siting & Sustainability Program
CSS supports the NCCOS mission to provide high quality science, guidance, and technical support to coastal managers to grow sustainable aquaculture while maintaining and improving ecosystem health.
Analytical Support for the Drinking Water Emergency in Flint, Michigan
Helping 100,000 Residents Affected by Elevated Lead Levels in Local Water Supply Lead contamination found in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan had a catastrophic impact on the community and its residents. CSS supported EPA’s response to the crisis by providing mobile and fixed analytical laboratory services and data review. Over a nine-month period, our…
Emergency Response Planning for New York City
CSS’ staff worked EPA Consequence Management Advisory Division (CMAD) to develop an integrated framework for responding if a biological agent was released over a wide area in New York City.
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