SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Nearly a week after evacuation levels officially dropped for the Spokane Complex Fires, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) teams are preparing their work of removing hazardous materials from the remnants of properties.
“We’re so grateful for the first set of responders that came to get the fire out,” Washington Department of Ecology’s Eastern Washington Director Brook Beeler said Monday. “And now the second wave of responders and our federal partners come in and move us to the next step.”
The next step: removing the materials that need to be carefully disposed of.
“That includes pesticides, herbicides, pool chemicals, degreasers,” EPA Hazardous Materials Incident Commander Brooks Stanfield explained. “Every property is different and the types of contaminates on the property is different.”…