WEBVTT - After Disasters: Making Homes Safe Again 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:04.640 Now really. 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:11.320 Really now really Hello, and welcome to Really No Really 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.920 with Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden to remind you that 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.280 subscribing to our show helps us to keep the home 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:20.560 fires burning. And speaking of fires, earlier this year, we 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.960 collectively watched in horror as huge parts of Los Angeles 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:27.200 went up in flames. In all, at least twenty nine 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.360 people were killed, two hundred thousand were forced to evacuate, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.800 and more than eighteen thousand homes and structures were destroyed. Many, 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.800 like our own Peter Tilden, were forced to evacuate their 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.560 homes with virtually no notice. And while thankfully Peter's house 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.720 wasn't destroyed, it remains covered in a toxic soot consisting 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:49.880 of noxious chemicals and other unknown particulates deemed so dangerous 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.440 that even months later, his home, like so many others, 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:57.639 is still uninhabitable. Really No Really. As Peter and other 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:02.720 Angelina's struggle with insurance companies, contractors, temporary housing, and more, 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.560 we wondered, how are people, whether by fires or floods, 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.399 hurricanes or tornadoes, able to go home again after those 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.440 homes are damaged by disaster? So we invited James Mayfield, 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.679 CEO of Mayfield Environmental, to educate us on what we 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.280 all need to know in the aftermath of catastrophe. For 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.040 two generations, James and his family have served southern California 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:28.760 as general contractors for environmental cleanups, from biohazard and homeless 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.640 encampment removal to crime scene and drug lab cleanups. Mayfield 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.319 Environmental has seen it all and done it all when 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.160 it comes to eradicating a disaster. And though we hope 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.720 disaster never touches you, this is an episode that may 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:43.559 just help. Here's Jason and Peter. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.760 Not long ago you saw it come on the screen 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.680 and say that we were not going to have an 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.720 episode that week because of the fires in Los Angeles 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.720 and because members of our own little production community here 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.920 it really know, really, we're all so affected. And I 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.160 can tell you that one of those people that was 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.680 affected was my partner Peter here, who has not in 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.200 fact lost his home in the Palisades, but he is 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:11.480 also not able to get into his home. There's a 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.799 lot of remediation that needs to be done it. I've 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:20.520 been hearing about it, he's been living it. It has 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:24.400 been god awful and part of what I was fascinated in, 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.160 and we'll talk to the extent that you're comfortable with 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:29.840 what's happening and what your journey is and what you're 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.680 hearing about things. But what I was fascinated about was 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:38.919 the fires were a horrific disaster, and as we've been learning, 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.600 what is left in the areas, especially in the Palisades 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:46.640 where those fires burned, is a residue that is as 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:52.080 toxic as anything we can imagine, between lithium batteries that burned, 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:55.720 and metal and asbestos and all kinds of noxious chemicals 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.320 and materials that are now potentially in the water table, 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:00.280 in the ground. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:00.960 You know. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.880 In my house, which is as far away from the 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.359 fires as anybody could be, we had a crew come 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.200 in today to clean the ash that had fallen on 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.800 our windows and screens off so that we felt comfortable 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.080 opening the windows again. And we're still looking for somebody 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.360 to come in and tell us if anything horrible has 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.560 gotten into our pool that we need to perhaps drain 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.880 it or remediate it. So I wanted to talk to 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.400 somebody who knows about what those efforts are going to 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.519 be in the world of toxic cleanups and disaster cleanups, 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:37.480 because what we're hearing is that the the effort that 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:42.600 it will take to clean all this up could be 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.400 as equally a devastating toxic event as the fires themselves. 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.240 And to that point, so I was hesitant talked about 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.560 this because it's emotional for me because I'm a tough guy, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.040 but I'm watching my family and it's very hard. But 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.280 the other part of it is I just so many 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.240 people have it worth off, but it's just it's hard 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.600 to talk talk and as part of it being being 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.080 escorted by a police patrol for your home, I've never 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.240 had it, So yeah, I don't want to just make 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.520 it about that. I wanted to widen it for people 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.920 who've been through hurricanes, who've been through storms, who lean 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.000 through all kinds of stuff. But my question to you, 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:22.000 James Mayfield is our guest getting the whole bit. But James, 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.920 my question for you after the introduction is I've also 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.799 hearn from people that there's alarmist parts to this where 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.920 not all smoke has Benzie has all this crap in it, 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.680 And you've got to be careful because a lot of 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.359 summer the remediation companies will charge up to a zoo 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.240 for stuff that doesn't need to be done because it's 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.280 not always all toxic. I heard that the rain has 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:49.720 washed away a lot of stuff. A friend of mine 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.080 who lives in the area has a friend who owns 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.359 a testing company. It does a testing and said, I 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.600 tested your order A there's no benzine in there, and 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:59.479 be do you know the level of benzene that you 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.480 would have to drink the rest of your life for 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.240 me anything? And they said, I'm drinking particles of plastic 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.160 every day. So introduce James and then maybe you can 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.159 start us. And so hold that question in your head 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:11.400 as I introduce. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:16.279 James Mayfield, who's the CEO of Mayfield Environmental. He and 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.599 his family have served the southern California area as general 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:21.799 contractors for environmental. 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.120 Cleanups generations, two generations. 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:24.480 I know that's a long time. 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:30.400 Hazards and homeless encampment removals, to crime scenes, that's always fun, 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:35.440 drug lab cleanups, murders, suicide. It's a family business. 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:37.200 They this I love. 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:41.279 So they specialize in firesoot, smoke, ash cleanup, disaster response 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:48.599 as well as radioactive work, Bobcat services, vehicle cleanups, hoarding, 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:55.279 mold and lead removal, hazardous waste, disposal, pumping, dewatering, soil contamination, debatement, 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.760 erosion protection, and mundane work like testing for water safety. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:01.360 I shook his hand. I gotta go. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.360 I gotta run before this guy is. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.960 Covering crap that goes his cousin does the radioactive stuff. 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:07.640 He's a reading lad. 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:09.240 He's the toxic of vender bringing him. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.720 His cousin sits there and the wife goes turn off 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.520 the light, and he goes me, so wow, second generation 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.840 of all of this stuff grew up. Did you grow 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:19.920 up going to crime scenes? 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.200 No, that was actually my stupid idea. My dad, when 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.640 I started branching out and covering these new territories, said, what. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.880 The man I've heard the Dutch about his bad That's 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.600 pretty bad, right it is. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:36.960 You know, some decontamination or decomposition jobs are atrociously dangerous. 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.760 You can get HIV, hunt a virus, hepatitis very very common. 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:41.839 Others aren't so bad. 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:43.440 Did they look like TV crime scenes? 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.080 Well, generally, when you go into a crime scene, you 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.520 start to piece together the puzzles yourself, and then you 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.839 realize how creepy that is. And then when you go 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:52.520 home at the end of the job, you realize that 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.960 You've been stewing on this all day over dinner, and 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.760 that's some families suffering that you're running. The family keeps 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.440 calling you crying. They come back the next day and 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.680 they say, I can still smell it, And I know 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.440 what happens with the human brain is all the odor, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.440 all the decontamination waste is gone, but the brain literally 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.760 continues to smell the odor, and they often can accuse 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.960 you of not doing improperly. Yeah, it's demonstrably gone. It's 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:23.800 literally the result of trauma is scientific. Yeah, do you 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.560 how when you I mean, we're gonna get. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:29.720 But how do you how do you? 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.800 I mean, when you started doing that kind of remediation 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.240 in a crime scene, how do you avoid being traumatized 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:39.240 by what you're experiencing? 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:42.120 Or do you Maybe you are traumatized. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.920 You know, a death is tragic because you see the 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.400 pain of the family. Other jobs where it's a murder 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:53.000 suicide are kind of creepy and they feel eerie and awkward. 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.280 So how do you, I mean, you've got this in 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.880 your head? How does it? It's one of the reasons 0:07:59.920 --> 0:08:01.440 I always thought it'd be kind of cool to be 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.880 a police officer, you know, but I thought, and I 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:05.600 worked in the hospital. 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.280 I grew up in the hospital, my mom around the hospital. 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.880 I saw a lot of grizzly stuff, but it was 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.160 grizzly in a positive vein. 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:13.840 It was people trying to save people. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.400 This is violence and mayhem, and I don't know that 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:23.559 I could have handled it and been quite the same 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.240 person that I would like to be. You know, does 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.600 it do you inure yourself to it? 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:34.439 Well, depending upon the crime scenes with which you're saturated. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.800 If they are of a murderous nature, it does make 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.040 one nihilistic, very negative about the world. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.800 But you also see the pain that that person went 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.120 through to do that, what they must have been experiencing. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.760 So let's leave murder for a minute. Let's get to 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.280 the happy things. That's the initial question I put out. 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.240 There is somebody said to me who does this testing, said, 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:55.920 you know a lot of times the ashes like your 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.960 your fireplace ash, and it doesn't always have the most 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.320 danger chemicals and stuff. So you've got to be careful 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.080 in projecting that it's always that because not always that. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.319 Yeah, well, I can say as a FEMA vendor and 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.240 an Army Corps of Engineers vendor, we were one of 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.959 the first people on site after the cleanup, and we 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.480 were one of the first to sample. Depending upon where 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.880 you sample, you know how proximal it is to an 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.360 industrial facility that may have that kind of contaminant material. 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.600 You have the heavy winds of Santa Ana. They blow everywhere, 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.760 so you'll have a different contamination profile depending upon where 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:31.120 you go. 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.600 Not everybody is honest with that sodial. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.600 If it's purely residential. 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:37.480 It's purely residential. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.040 Depending upon the age of the buildings, you might have 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.800 substantial asbestos. But I tell my clients there's no point 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.680 in me as a as an environmental contractor sampling it 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.360 because the particles will be so fine that there's no 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.320 reason for me to make five hundred dollars off you. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.160 I can just tell you that it's a contaminant, you know. 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.679 So I try to be honest with people. My competitors 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.400 may or may not, but it's the fallacy is a 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.560 bank run to make a substantial amount of money. Everybody's there. 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.600 Half of them are not licensed, and you're to your point. 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:11.439 Restoration the companies that tend to decontaminate for smoke, fire 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:12.280 and mold. 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:13.559 They're classified as restoration. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.960 That's one of the few industries in California that requires 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:18.319 no contractors licenses. 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:23.400 WoT So what you're eating fire this hurricane? What should 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.160 you ask for for a restoration person? 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.559 Depending upon the particular situation. If there is heavy soot 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:34.040 contamination that you know is actually contaminated material, you should 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:38.520 have HASMAD contractors. Because we our insurance and liability is 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.320 so high, we have to have our men fully prepared 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.760 with Haswhopper certification. That means they're has MAD trained. They 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.079 were respirators, a big giant restoration people. They tend to 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.880 hire migrant labor and they work hard, but they don't 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.120 pay them insurance. They don't pay their benefits. They pay 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.240 them cash. They don't wear masks at all. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.400 Are they trained to do what they're doing? 0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:59.400 A lot of them is the first time they've ever worked. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.440 But but again they do their job. They've they've found 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.640 a way to profit off of insurance. The companies like that. 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.920 They tend to go in and they just wash every 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.800 square foot of the house. They charged twenty grand. They 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.160 only needed to do a little bit of hepa vacuuming 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:13.880 in the corners. 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:15.880 That's what I have a vacuum is that what they 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:16.440 have a filter. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.760 Yeah, so hepavacuuming is a very special kind of vacuum. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:21.920 That's not what you get at Costco. I mean, they 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.520 all say have a vacuum, but it's a specialized vacuum, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.360 usually three to five thousand dollars. And what that does 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.199 is it mitigates dispersal in the air as you vacuum 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.920 it up. So, for example, in the Palisades, I'm going 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:37.280 around vacuuming up the obvious contamination I see in the doorways, 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.040 for example, in the windowsills. Just a day, I can 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.240 get the bolt materials and I'm out of there, and 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.240 then you can go home if it's safe. Other companies 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.880 in restoration might wash the whole house. They'd say, you've 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.720 got to go to an Airbnb for a month, and 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:50.520 I'll rip out all. 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.120 Your walls while i'm at it. 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.520 It's not necessarily rapacious because they're charging insurance. 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.600 They get their money. You don't pay for it. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.880 Of course, they raise your premium, so you're paying for 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.280 it in the end, but it's a money machine. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.439 How do you mitigate smoke smell? Can you really get 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:06.040 out smell? 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.680 Smoke is the most effective way to remediate it is 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.440 ozone gas, which is very very effective. Although it has damage. 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.880 It inflicts damage on rubber and insulation, and my competitors 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.200 and restoration might not know that much about it, so 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.000 they tend to not warn their clients. 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.520 And what happens at that point that's ruined. 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.679 Oh well, it ruptures, ruptures apart and find fine art 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.520 painting statues for example, they can They can be damaged 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.080 in the process, so that is a risk. But ozone 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.600 works very well because it literally rips apart the odor 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.360 molecules at a molecular level. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.679 What about stuff that's porus furniture. 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.240 It barely goes through it, so that. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.480 Furniture needs to be mitigated. Can firsion be cleaned enough 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.319 that it actually is cleaned to the point where for. 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.240 The most part, yeah, really, yes, well, ozone is the 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.480 best technique. And again restoration companies will say the only 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.599 way to do it is to rip it apart completely. 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:00.240 But do they take them They pick the front, sure, 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.520 take it up, take it out, clothing out and then 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.040 do it somewhere in a professional place. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.120 Yes, it's it's often morphed into a side industry called 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.120 pack out and called contents cleaning, which is very very detailed, 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:16.000 meticulous work, but it's immensely expensive. So they'll say, I'll 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.800 have to take apart your entire your living room, all 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.680 your fabrics, all your your grandma's clothing, and it'll cost 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.839 you thirty grand but I'll decontaminate and disinfect every single item, 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.880 and they discharge insurance and it's it's valuable. 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.640 So you generally say, well, you look like. 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:32.079 You're doing a good job, and when it comes back 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:32.640 it really is. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:34.920 Okay. 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:36.600 You would you would do that, you'd be okay doing 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:37.400 it with your own. 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.560 Yeah, I had a lot of money. 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:42.880 I was just sure it. I don't know a lot 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:44.400 of money. So I'm hearing this so. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.760 Far to the extent that because I know you're probably not, 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.160 although I guess from what I understand your company, you could. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.040 But with what they're doing in the palace heads where 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.960 they're going down in the ground which has been toxified 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.160 and they're pulling out I think, you know, three to 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.920 six feet of soil six inches six inches, that's all 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:11.800 six inches, got a little bit okay. My wife keeps 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:16.200 hearing about the idea that it's putting back into the 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.200 air all the stuff that was in the ground. You're 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.240 getting dust, you're getting ash, you're putting it back into 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.480 the air, and then depending on weather conditions, you're spreading 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:25.200 it further than. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:25.880 It went the first time. 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.240 So when when you are folks that are doing this, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:30.880 how are they trying to contain that? 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:31.840 Can they contain that? 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:36.080 Or is it, in fact but a potentially second environmental disaster. 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.200 What I see is many different agencies that joined in 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.160 in the Palisades and in Altadena, and they all have 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:42.800 good intentions. 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:43.520 They want to help. 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.280 The problem is as soon as they do, you have 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:50.280 these regulatory contradictions that burden the entire process and drag 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:50.680 it down. 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.640 The first phase was that the EPA. 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.320 Got involved and they shut down the entire city. All 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.240 Palisades was shut down. They were the governing agent. See, 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.000 they dictated everything and what that did during their as 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.320 they did their initial remediation, it made all that the 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.720 substantial contaminants in the ash and the soot wash into 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.080 the ocean. That prevented hazardous waste contractors from doing what 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.840 we do best, which is going in and trapping the contaminants. 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.920 So while the EPA shut down the city, all the 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.080 contaminants were still on the ground. Dispersing in the air 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.160 with the next wind, with the next two atmospheric rivers, 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:27.800 and then it washed into the ocean. 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.920 But if people's houses, roofs, lawns had contaminants on it 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.760 and the rain came down hard and it did run off, yeah, 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.680 did that alleviate the situation immediately around those homes? 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.560 Yes, for the for the most part, if you're talking 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.160 like just on people's homes themselves, yes, that would clean 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.720 it up to the point that you wouldn't need necessarily 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.600 a restoration company to wash everyting about that. 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.440 But then again, it's down the street and into the ocean. 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:55.840 So now you have this entire. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:04.080 Devastated communities worth of toxic materials washed into the ocean. A. 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:06.960 What is the cost of that going to be? But 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:21.240 also is that the end of it? Well, so now 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:28.200 you have this entire devastated communities worth of toxic materials 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.840 washed into the ocean. A. What is the cost of 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.600 that going to be? But also is that the end 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:35.880 of it? 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.840 Well, I've sampled maybe thirty homes outside of the Palisades 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.280 for drinking water. You ask, is there excessive sampling, excessive 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.600 hysteria going on? Yes, I'm sampled maybe fifteen homes for 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:48.960 benzene and the drinking water. And I tell them, I mean, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.400 who's telling you to test for that? Benzine doesn't come 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.120 from fire? I mean it can if you have underlying 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.320 utility issues. I'd tell them right out, I'd make five 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.520 hundred bucks from that, but it's not really worth your money. 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.560 They say, yeah, but the city told us to sample 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.160 for and said, okay, I'll do it. 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.000 Then, So who decides if benzine isn't an issue to 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:08.879 have people sample for benzi. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.280 In that case it was. It seems like it's a 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:12.040 city ordinance. 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.919 So that was substantial sampling for no reason, and not 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.600 one test result came back positive for benzene, So. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.359 What are you What are you finding up there? If 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:20.800 anything at? 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.040 Asbestos is everywhere eyhere? 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.840 Yeah, but the particulates are so fine, which is precisely 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.320 why they're dangerous, and they contribute to spestiosis. 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:31.840 It's difficult to test for them. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.040 So again I say, I'm not going to test for 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:35.960 that because it'll say non detect. 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:37.879 But it's there, I know for a fact because I 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.080 can see it. But it's not worth testing for. 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:41.239 So how do you hear of it? 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.119 Half a vacuuming, and you just wear a mask, and 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:45.640 what do you do. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.840 With alans would have installation and stuff. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.879 You would have to vacu a vacuum and disinfect or 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.879 decontaminate the insulation, presumably. 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:55.000 Rip it out. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.840 If you leave that to a restoration company, they'll probably 0:17:57.920 --> 0:17:59.600 rip it out and blow it all over your house. 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:01.040 That's what they do. 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.320 So you vacuum at first and then bag it up. 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.879 Hepa vacuum carefully contain it. You have multiple air scrubbing 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:08.040 devices HEPA filters. 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.280 What's an aircra that's a new term for me to 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.000 air scrubber, air scrubber. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.399 So I know about those because I've had mold remediation 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.680 of a scrubber. 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:18.720 But air scrubber isn't well. 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:20.800 I mean, you can get them on Amazon right, there's 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.560 hundreds of different types. They're all fake or they really 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.840 don't do anything. That's a growth industry. So a HEPA 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.160 an air scrubber essentially captures microbes in the air and 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.159 traps them in the HEPA filter, but it doesn't do 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.600 anything unless that material is disturbed in the air. So 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:39.720 a lot of the air sampling you're seeing in the 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.879 Palisades is garbage because it only detects what is floating 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.840 your air. So I've done a few properties where I've 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.879 sampled their air quality, indoor air quality. The whole industry 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.600 is a scam because it's settled on the ground. Most 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.080 of the ash is heavy metals, so it's not in 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.359 the air. So I said, I'll do this sample for 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.000 five hundred bucks, but I'm not going to find it. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:01.560 But I'm not gonna find anything. They say it would 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.720 just help me because I have children. I say, okay, 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.879 zero point zero because it measures total dust particulates in 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:08.280 the air. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.760 But Billy's playing it on the floor. Yeah, well so 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.480 you again, hepa, vacuum dat up? Yeah, you just get 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.680 it out. You know it's there among other things. Yes, amazing. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.560 What's does your industry have a good relationship with the 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:22.760 insurers on this stuff? 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.960 No, and that's that's a huge problem, particularly for Alta Dina. 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:31.639 Forgive me for so much detail, but the state is 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.000 presenting this as a free cleanup if you go with 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.240 the Army Corps of Engineers, right, But it turns out 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.280 the state essentially compelled the insurance companies to foot the bill. Now, 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.720 insurance companies, what they do is they calculate cost. Of course, 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.880 so the insurance company has proven with their own metrics 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.119