The Sandy fire is burning near a toxic waste area in the Simi Valley where a partial nuclear meltdown once took place, sparking concerns about the potential for contaminants to be released should the area catch fire.
The Ventura County Fire Department announced Wednesday evening that air quality monitoring is being conducted around the fire’s perimeter due to the blaze’s proximity to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The 2,850-acre laboratory complex was formerly used for rocket engine testing and nuclear research and is currently undergoing a state-led environmental cleanup.
Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd said monitoring had been “deployed to establish a background air quality, so that if the fire advances further into that sensitive area we would have a baseline to compare against.” He noted that the fire had not yet reached the field laboratory area and that crews were making strong progress containing the blaze.
The fire had burned 2,141 acres and was 30% contained as of Thursday afternoon, at which time several evacuation orders and warnings were downgraded.
“Today we’re experiencing lower winds and higher relative humidity, so we’re seeing reduced fire behavior,” said Dowd. “Because of that, the risk of the fire spreading in any direction is less than it was before.”
The field laboratory is currently in an evacuation warning zone to the east of the fire. The Department of Toxic Substances Control, which oversees environmental remediation of the site, said it is working closely with local and federal agencies to monitor the incident and potential impacts to communities near the laboratory site.
“To ensure we are aware of any off-site impacts, the emergency response team has deployed air monitors to support response efforts and safeguard public health,” the department said in a statement. Boeing, which owns the Santa Susana site, said it had evacuated all personnel and was working in coordination with local authorities and emergency responders to monitor fire conditions near the facility.
Nichole Quick, the county health department’s chief medical advisor, said that protection from smoke is critical any time there is a wildfire and that “there is particular sensitivity related to Santa Susana right now. … But as of now, that facility has not been affected by the fire.”
Some people living near the laboratory have expressed unease at the wildfire’s proximity to the heavily contaminated site — especially given its toxic history.
During the 1950s and 1960s, workers would regularly burn toxic waste in open pits and cleaned engines with solvents that later contaminated the groundwater. In 1959, there was a partial meltdown of the core in one of the lab’s nuclear reactors that is considered among the worst nuclear accidents in U.S. history.
In 2005, Boeing agreed to pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that pollutants from the hilltop lab were responsible for range of cancers, auto-immune disorders and tumors afflicting nearby residents. A 2006 study found that radiation at the site may have contributed to hundreds of cases of cancer in the surrounding community.
Part of the Santa Susana site burned in the Woolsey fire in 2018, which also raised concerns among the local community. Health officials said, however, that there was no increased risk to the public beyond what is normal for wildfire smoke. Testing from the Department of Toxic Substance Control found no radiation levels above background and no hazardous compound levels other than those normally present after a wildfire.
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