Before-and-after photos show the cleanup of a school site that was devastated by the Los Angeles County fires. Photos by USACE public affairs specialist Travis England


tons of debris each one carried.” Setting up temporary debris sites in the


area “helped us maximize the efficiency of our trucking and reduce the number of trucks on the road,” Long said. “Tat was really helpful, because LA traffic is no joke.” Tis approach not only increased efficiency but also reduced the project’s environmental footprint and impact to the community. Te project utilized drones in hard- to-access areas such as in the hilly Pal- isades area and the Eaton foothills and also deployed a Blackhawk helicopter to fly debris from some remote cabins in Altadena that were only accessible via a hiking trail.


Safety Takes Top Priority As with any emergency cleanup operation and particularly those that involve con- taminated wildfire cleanup zones such as on this project, the challenges and risks to workers is heightened. Keeping workers and the public safe was always the preeminent goal, according to Long.


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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026


Every day on site began with safety


tailgate meetings, and up to date safety information and alerts were continually distributed to onsite contractors. Crews were required to complete specified safety training prior to working on the job. At one point project management held a safety standdown for the truck drivers at the landfill site, where onsite leaders from ECC and USACE distributed burritos to every driver and went through a short safety briefing with them. “Te drivers were a huge part of the


job, and of course trucking was one of the biggest risks, so that was a way to personally connect with them,” Long commented. “We even had colonels from the Army Corps out there handing out burritos and talking to the truck drivers, which I think showed the com- mitment from the top to the success of this program.” Tose efforts all paid off, and the proj- ect completed with a strong safety record. Among those metrics: with 3.7 million total exposure hours upon the project’s


completion, the total recordable incident rate was 0.59 (compared to an industry average of 4.5, per BLS statistics) and the lost workday rate was 0.23, compared to the BLS reported industry average of 2.0.


AGC of California Companies Play Key Role in Cleanup Bayview, Griffith Company, Sully-Miller, and Kiewit were just a few of the AGC of California member contractors who were involved in the emergency cleanup work in the Eaton and Palisades burn zones. As one of the first contractors brought on the jobsite, Bayview performed critical asbestos cleanup and remediation work prior to the general debris removal stage. To execute some of their work around challenging, hilly topography, they had to specially train some of their crews to rappel down steep hillsides in five-point harness seats, equipped with respirators. “They were picking up debris that


had fallen down from a large apartment complex that burned down,” said Austin Viramontes, Bayview president. “So the


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