After the Eaton fire, Altadena dirt went to Tujunga. A backlash ensued

Residents in the rugged enclave of Tujunga became suspicious in January after dirt-filled trucks began inundating their neighborhood streets, dumping their loads on nearby county-owned property.

Their inquiries revealed that the trucks carried winter storm sediment dredged from catch basins that were quickly inundated with runoff in and around fire-scarred Altadena.

The basins, essential to flood control in the San Gabriel Mountains, are largely located above residential burns areas, according to the county.

But the hauling and dumping operation has led to a dramatic fallout between county officials and Tujunga residents and is another example of a community fearful of accepting debris related to the Eaton and Palisades fires.

The residents say noxious dirt is being trucked in. At least one local sneaked onto the site earlier this year to collect and later privately test the catch basin soil. The results found selenium and arsenic, according to the community.

“I’m scared and I’m angry,” said Tujunga resident Karen von Gunten, who lives within about 150 yards of the county site. She no longer feels comfortable gardening for long periods of time because of a noxious odor she attributes to the site.

County officials contend the soil is safe.

At the same time, Tujunga locals — who relish their relative isolation living against the rugged backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains — say they are tormented by the noise, vibrations and dust caused by the hauling trucks, which traverse along homes in this semirural area.

It’s all anathema to Tujunga’s history and reputation as a clean air community. Starting in the 1920s, the area began attracting people who have asthma. Today, the neighborhood still draws residents looking to escape the pollutants and noise of city life. And on the fringe of the mountains, the area is home to bears, deer and rabbits.

Caroline Kim Palacios said she was forced to temporarily move her 70-year-old mother, Suki Kim, out of her mother’s home next to the county site after she complained about a sore throat, burning in her eyes and lungs, and nausea in March. Her mother believes those issues are linked to the hauling operations, Kim Palacios said.

She also pointed to the wildlife, including deer, that come through the area and the nearby wash. “I’m worried about the ecosystem,” Kim Palacios said.

A county apology, but dumping continues

County officials acknowledged at a March meeting with Tujunga locals that they didn’t warn residents about the operation at the 17.5-acre site.

“I’m sorry for not handling it better,” said county engineer Laren Bunker, according to a recording of the meeting. “I think we could have been a little bit better in our communication with the community.”

The Zachau Canyon sediment placement site in Tujunga.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The county began trucking debris to its lot off Sevenhills Drive in January after not using the site for 15 years, according to county officials. The lot was activated because of the magnitude of storm debris that had to be removed from the basins.

Although operations stopped earlier this month, hauling is likely to resume after future rainstorms, the county said.

The lot, known as Zachau sediment placement site, is bounded by a tall fence and next to several homes.

County Public Works spokesperson Elizabeth Vazquez said the sediment brought to Tujunga came from the West Ravine and Fern basins at the edge of a mountainous area. Some homes that burned in the hills are above the basins.

The West Ravine Basin in Altadena was swollen with debris on Feb. 14.

(Courtesy of Michael Bicay)

Photos taken in February by Altadena residents show the basin filled with dark sludge-like debris.

The debris includes “vegetative matter,” said Vazquez, who said operators scraped off the top layer and sent it to a Simi Valley landfill, with dirt and rocks going to Zachau.

Some ash from the undeveloped hillsides may have ended up in the basin, the underground storm drain system and the landfill, Vazquez said. She said Phos-chek, a flame retardant, was not observed in the debris basins.

Vazquez also said that crews took measures, including installing a type of berm, to prevent burned home debris from washing off properties.

Inundated with rumbling trucks

Colin Sweeney, a spokesperson for L.A.’s Department of Transportation, told The Times that the county isn’t required to clear its truck routes with the city.

In Tujunga, residents living along the route described trucks rumbling past their homes. The screech of truck brakes was particularly torturous, they said.

Ara Khatchadourian lives at the corner of Commerce Avenue and Summitrose Street, and moved to Tujunga two and a half years ago because he and his wife wanted a quiet neighborhood after living next to a high school in Glendale.

The trucks began in the morning and went all day, six days a week. Seven tiles in his dining room floor cracked in March, which he blames on vibration from the trucks.

“It’s been a very stressful time,” Khatchadourian said.

Karen von Gunten and her husband, Jon, who live near the Zachau site, moved to Tujunga in 1987 and enjoy the owls and other wildlife that flock to their backyard.

Today, she said, she can’t always keep her windows open without an odor wafting into their home. After the trucks first arrived in January, there was a strong “burnt rubber” smell that eventually diminished but is still bothersome, she said. Her husband described the odor as akin to an “old car engine.”

A representative for the South Coast Air Quality Management District said the agency has received 23 complaints alleging traffic concerns, odors and dust from soil related to Zachau since Jan. 7.

“South Coast AQMD responded to each complaint and conducted on-site inspections on nine different days,” said spokesperson Nahal Mogharabi. “Our inspectors did not detect odors in the area and did not observe any air quality violations during any of those in-person visits.”

Multiple soil tests

Dirt collected by a resident at the site showed selenium, a trace element that can be harmful in heavy concentrations, according to the results, which were reviewed by The Times.

The lab results also showed arsenic in amounts higher than federal and state levels, but below another common level used in California.

The county did its own testing of Zachau and the two storm basins, and those results showed no selenium and generally the same levels of arsenic, according to the tests, which The Times reviewed.

“You could take two scoops and get two different results,” said Joe Sevrean, the lab director at 1 Laboratories, which handled the community’s test.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the area, told The Times in an email that “the toxicologist reviewed the samples collected by residents and their tests indicate that the soil is clean and well within the state’s safety standards.”

Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez has demanded that the county fix roads in Tujunga that she said were damaged by the trucks.

Rodriguez, whose district includes Tujunga, said in a March letter to Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, that she is “deeply concerned” about the county’s use of the site.

The Tujunga community wants the county to do more testing. Residents are also bracing for the next storm and another round of trucks.

One county official told residents to consider removing the speed bumps along part of the truck route, so the trucks don’t have to brake and make a screeching sound.