Destruction of the Tustin hangar is underway, with efforts focused on the side walls of the building.
Recent high winds in the area have been complicating cleanup efforts, but officials said steps were taken in advance.
“We’ve been taking measures for the last few days to saturate the site and the structure with water to try to mitigate some of the the dust and debris from getting airborne. We’ve also placed 33 air monitoring units in and around the site so that we’re actively monitoring the air conditions,” Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard said Monday. “It’s sort of a comprehensive approach, but there are still ongoing concerns.”
Air monitoring and sampling units are set up surrounding the site to keep an eye on air quality levels and results are being posted to the Tustin city website. Officials are using “a moderate threshold” to gauge the readings, meaning those in sensitive groups might experience health effects if that level were reached, but the general public would be “less likely” to be affected.
“The Orange County Health Care Agency has suggested that if you have respiratory issues, you could wear a mask, but it’s not not required,” Lumbard said. The city is providing masks as they become available. Between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. impacted community members can pick up N95 masks while available at the Columbus Tustin Recreation Center, 17522 Beneta Way.
“We do have proactive crews out clearing neighborhoods and they will be moving on to residential properties soon,” Lumbard said. “So we’ll be collecting any debris that residents have.”
Lumbard said a “surgical approach” is being used for the “deconstruction” of the hangar. As a safety precaution, the doors and concrete pillars will remain standing while plans are developed to stabilize them in place.
“We are not currently touching the doors, but we will be moving into that phase where we’re going to dismantle the doors in a methodical approach,” Lumbard said. “Residents should not expect to see a wrecking ball out there. We’re going to try to secure them and lower them down as safely as possible. Once those go, the concrete pillars will remain or columns will remain for the time being while we figure out if they’re structurally sound.”
In terms of collaboration, Lumbard said agencies are working together much more smoothly than at the start.
“Initially the major concern obviously was the active fire and getting that extinguished. Nobody thought it was going to last nearly 12 days of active smoke,” Lumbard said. “I know there was some frustration from the community and frankly, from the city, on the initial data sharing, but I would say the last nine days or so since we stood up our incident management team, we’ve gotten the level of collaboration that we need. And it will continue until we get through this incident.”
The nearby OC Animal Care shelter in Tustin was temporarily closed to the public due to the high winds and the shelter’s close proximity to the hangar. It is expected to reopen on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Most activities have been moved indoors and OC Animal Care staff remain on-site to care for the more than 450 animals in the shelter.
“The animals right now in their kennels have a nice ventilation system. If the animals are potty trained, then we take them out to the yard just to let them use the restroom real quick, but we’ve limited all nonessential activities to indoors,” Alexa Pratt, public information officer at OC Community Resources, said. “Normally, on any given day, under normal circumstances, we have large yards where a lot of the dogs would be for most of the day or they go on walks with our volunteers. Obviously, a lot of that has been eliminated.”
The shelter put out a call for volunteers to take in foster dogs for a couple of weeks in response to the Tustin hangar emergency. Prior to the posting last week, Pratt said there were 26 dogs in foster homes. Now, 80 dogs have been placed in foster care.
“Thanks so much to the community and everyone for the outpouring of support that allowed us to get so many of our large dogs and animals into foster programs and out of the kennels for a limited period,” Pratt said. “We’ve taken, since the start of the fire, every precaution possible in modifying operations just to make sure everyone is safe. We have had HEPA filtration systems as well as masks available.”
During the initial fire and flare ups, Pratt said wind mostly pushed debris away from the shelter, however, they have recently seen debris on-site. A cleanup crew has been contracted to dispose of any debris to keep staff and pets safe, she said.
Daily updates will continue to be posted to the city’s website at tustinca.org.
