On Friday afternoon, some Topanga residents will be protesting over the location of a processing facility for hazardous materials from the Palisades Fire zone.
The processing facility is expected to be located where Topanga Ranch Motel was, which is at 18711 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The motel burned down in the Palisades Fire.
The site will be there for 90 days, according to Malibu officials.
Rusty Harris-Bishop, a spokesperson from the EPA, told Fox 11 the site was chosen because it’s flat and at least five acres in size.
"This is a very temporary operation," he told the outlet. "We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure nothing we do impacts the community."
L.A. Fire Captain Adam Van Gerpen told KNX News’ Jon Baird some of the hazardous materials crews are looking to remove are lithium-ion batteries that can be found in electric cars and scooters.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
“So many households do have these lithium-ion batteries still that are in their home, and there is still a potential that they could create a hazard,” he said. “They can spontaneously ignite or they could potentially explode.”
Baird reported that some residents are upset because of the proximity of the site and because of the potential dangers of having hazardous material in the environment.
One man told Baird it's better for officials to keep the debris moving.
"Well, I went to the city town hall meeting and the Army Corps of Engineers talked about how they were going to burrito wrap - whatever that is - and double tarp the top 6 inches of soil from everybody's house and truck it and it wouldn't become airborne," he said. "So my thing is just keep on trucking it to wherever it's gonna end up."
The protest will be held near the proposed site.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
