State Steps Up Air Quality Testing As Debris Removal Proceeds In Lahaina
The Hawaii Department of Health has set up additional monitors around the burn zone and the waste disposal site.
Air quality monitoring around the burn zone in Lahaina and around the temporary Olowalu landfill is being enhanced as phase two of the cleanup gets underway.
In addition to the 40 real-time air monitors and samplers that are already in place, state Department of Health staff have installed additional units, according to a news release this week.
The stepped-up monitoring comes as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starts clearing out contamination that covers several acres of Lahaina as the result of August鈥檚 deadly wildfire that claimed at least 100 lives.
More than 2,200 Lahaina homes and other structures burned in the fire or suffered damage, leaving behind some 400,000 tons of waste that is contaminated with a slew of chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants.
Real-time air monitoring and air sampling will provide additional data to the public and help the department determine whether debris removal or other activities are affecting the air, said Deputy Director for Environmental Health Kathleen Ho in the release.
Ho added that her department conducted similar sampling in Kula and found that debris removal “did not significantly impact air quality.”
The Army Corps awarded a $52.5 million contract to Dawson Solutions to assist with hazardous debris removal in Lahaina, a process that began last week.
Large trucks are carrying the toxic fire waste, wrapped in burrito-style coverings, to Olowalu where it is being placed in a lined pit.
Mayor Richard Bissen has promised to use Olowalu only as a temporary disposal site until a permanent landfill can be identified and built.
The air monitors around Lahaina and Olowalu measure fine particulate matter called PM 2.5. The monitors are designed to register particles that are 0.0025 millimeters and smaller in size. That鈥檚 about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, according to the health department.
Particulate matter can come from ash and dust as the fire waste is scooped up and transported to the dump site.
Data from the real-time air monitors is available at . Air-quality data is also available on third-party apps such as iQAir AirVisual.
The health department began conducting air sampling in Lahaina on Jan. 14 to test for specific contaminants in the air. The results are expected in February.
Air monitoring, sampling and testing will continue to be conducted in Lahaina for PM 2.5, PM 10, asbestos and metals, including antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, thallium, vanadium, and zinc. DOH says it will make the sampling reports available to the public as they are received.
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