State health officials said Monday that they will expand air monitoring and sampling in Lahaina and Olowalu as the wildfire debris removal phase gears up.
The increased air monitoring and sampling aims
to make sure that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-led efforts to remove 600,000 tons of ash and debris from the Lahaina burn zone do not significantly affect air
quality.
The debris removal effort included the Phase 1 extraction of hazardous household material and bulk asbestos material.
Now, as Phase 2 gears up, the debris will be dampened, wrapped in thick industrial plastic and sealed with an adhesive prior to dump truck transport to the temporary Olowalu storage site.
This “burrito wrapping” method, according to the Army Corps, is designed to prevent debris and ash from becoming airborne during transport.
Health officials said their sampling and monitoring will continue throughout the debris removal project, expected to last a year.
The Department of Health conducted similar sampling during the Kula debris removal process and found
no significant impact on air quality.
However, officials are still recommending that people wear a well-fitting N95 or higher-rated mask and other personal protective equipment when visiting the burn area in Lahaina.
State health officials said they’ve installed 40 real-time air monitors and air samplers in Lahaina and Olowalu, having installed additional air monitors Thursday. They said they plan to augment the air monitoring network as the project expands.
The real-time monitors measure particulate matter that can be a component of ash, dust, smoke and air pollution up to 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, officials said.
Data from the air monitors is available at fire.airnow.gov. Air-quality data is also available on third-party mobile applications such as the iQAir AirVisual app.
On Jan. 14 the DOH began conducting air sampling in Lahaina to test for specific contaminants in the air. After that sampling is completed, samples will be sent to a certified laboratory for analysis. The first sampling reports are expected in
February.
Air monitoring, sampling and testing will continue in Lahaina for asbestos and metals, including antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, thallium, vanadium and zinc.
The department said it would make the sampling
reports available to the public as they are received.
