The gunk has turned up on shorelines from Malibu to Redondo Beach: ghostly lines of charred black bits and melted debris left behind by retreating waves.
It’s a mix of ash, sand and pulverized flecks of burned wood and plastic, material destroyed during January’s fires and then washed into the sea by recent rains.
The county Department of Beaches and Harbors declared last week that the stuff was “not hazardous to beachgoers or the environment,” based on initial testing of samples taken from Will Rogers State Beach and Topanga Lagoon in late January.
The department also said that the sediment won’t be removed under the county’s ongoing efforts to clear fire debris from shorelines.
Initial testing by the Department of Public Works found that heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenol (PCBs), volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, and asbestos were below levels that would characterize the debris as hazardous waste. More here