{"id":2049,"date":"2016-05-12T19:58:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T19:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/?p=2049"},"modified":"2016-05-12T19:58:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T19:58:07","slug":"wild-fires-causing-pollution-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wild-fires-causing-pollution-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Fires Causing Pollution Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>environmental Strategist\u00ae, between the lines:<\/strong>\u00a0 In follow up to our recent article on \u201cNatural Disaster Seasons Are a Great Time To Talk Pollution Insurance\u201d, please see the article below that reviews pollution liabilities created by wildfires.\u00a0 These same contaminants are released during a residential or commercial building fire.<\/p>\n<p>Fire policies typically exclude coverage for the cleanup of resulting contamination caused by a fire. \u00a0Since the majority of real estate owners cannot afford to self-insure their exposure to pollution liabilities as a result of a fire, what is their risk transfer strategy?\u00a0 Pollution insurance fills in the gap created by fire policies excluding pollution resulting from a fire. Any insureds who own property need to have a strategy in place for handling the aftermath of a fire.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.environmentalriskmanagers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/caustic-ash.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-913\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-913\" src=\"http:\/\/www.environmentalriskmanagers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/caustic-ash.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.environmentalriskmanagers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/caustic-ash-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.environmentalriskmanagers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/caustic-ash.jpg 620w\" alt=\"Research from California fires that have burned through homes and communities suggests such blazes leave a threatening legacy of caustic ash and toxic heavy metals. (Scott Olsen\/Getty Images)\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fort McMurray wildfire will leave toxic legacy, experts say<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4 class=\"story-deck\"><em>Mixed with water, ash almost as caustic as oven cleaner, U.S. Geological Survey says<\/em><\/h4>\n<p class=\"small lighttext\"><em><span class=\"spaced\">By\u00a0Bob Weber, The Canadian Press<\/span> <span class=\"delimited\">Posted: May 09, 2016 1:22 PM MT<\/span> Last Updated: May 09, 2016 2:12 PM MT<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Danger from the Fort McMurray wildfire that has destroyed entire city blocks in the northern Alberta city won\u2019t end when the flames stop.<\/p>\n<p>Research from California fires that have burned through homes and communities suggests such blazes leave a threatening legacy of caustic ash and toxic heavy metals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt, it is hazardous,\u201d said Scott Stephens, a fire scientist at the University of California Berkeley.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/fort-mcmurray-tour-notley-media-1.3572982\"><strong>Rachel Notley, mayor and fire chief tour Fort McMurray destruction<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>LIVE BLOG\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news2\/interactives\/breaking\/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-may5\/\">Breaking news from the Fort McMurray fire and its aftermath<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/hundreds-of-abandoned-fort-mcmurray-pets-rescued-1.3573902\"><strong>Hundreds of abandoned Fort McMurray pets rescued<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>California has sad experience with wildfires raging through urban areas. Every summer, said Stephens, the state loses homes to marauding flames from the woods.<\/p>\n<p>Wildfires big and bad enough to force their way into communities are generally hot enough to burn off hydrocarbons such as vinyl siding, nylon carpets or household chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFires really do incinerate most of that material,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cNo doubt that has an impact on air quality, but the vinyls, the tires, the materials that you\u2019d never think would burn \u2026 most of that stuff is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>House fires can burn for more than an hour at temperatures reaching 1,500 C, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ll look and try and find your dishwasher or your refrigerator. You might find its motor, you might find a few things, but a lot of it has just disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the ash left behind poses real threats.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Geological Survey found ash left after California\u2019s home-destroying wildfires in 2007 and 2008 was far more alkaline than ash from wood fires. Mixed with water, the ash was almost as caustic as oven cleaner.<\/p>\n<h3>Ash contaminated with heavy metals<\/h3>\n<p>It was also significantly contaminated with metals, some of them toxic. Arsenic, lead, antimony, copper, zinc and chromium were all found at levels exceeding Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>Ash particles from urban-wildfire blazes tended to be smaller and more easily inhaled. Both arsenic and hexavalent chromium \u2014 a form of the metal known to cause lung cancer \u2014 were more readily taken up by lung fluids than they were in water.<\/p>\n<p>Many counties treat ash from such fires as hazardous waste, said Geoff Plumlee, a geochemist who conducted much of the U.S. research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen large numbers of buildings burn, that does create a situation where there\u2019s potential for much higher levels of metals to get out into the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>California experts say anyone returning to a home burned in a wildfire should dress protectively \u2014 long sleeves and pants, gloves, boots, masks and goggles. People are urged to stir up the ash as little as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Alberta\u2019s last experience with a forest fire destroying homes came in Slave Lake, where more than 400 homes and other buildings were levelled in 2011 \u2014 about one-quarter as many as were burned in Fort McMurray. The ash from that fire was disposed of as hazardous waste.<\/p>\n<p>Tests of the ash found lead, a powerful neurotoxin especially dangerous to children, was at three times the recommended levels for residential soils. Dioxins and furans, some of which are highly potent carcinogens, were anywhere from 13 to 52 times the guideline levels.<\/p>\n<p>Government officials argued the ash shouldn\u2019t be held to the same standards as soil and said the ash was not a health risk. But scientists at the time questioned that assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Plumlee emphasized that risks are manageable and fade over time. Ash quickly becomes less caustic when it mixes with small amounts of carbonic acid in rainfall.<\/p>\n<p>But the risks are real.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not alarmist at all. We don\u2019t really know if there are long-term effects,\u201d he said. \u201c(But) there are common-sense things people can do to minimize their exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>environmental Strategist\u00ae, between the lines:\u00a0 In follow up to our recent article on \u201cNatural Disaster Seasons Are a Great Time To Talk Pollution Insurance\u201d, please see the article below that reviews pollution liabilities created by wildfires.\u00a0 These same contaminants are released during a residential or commercial building fire. Fire policies typically exclude coverage for the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wild-fires-causing-pollution-losses\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Wild Fires Causing Pollution Losses<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[216,215,162,170,9,202,200,214],"class_list":["post-2049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources","tag-caustic-ash","tag-cleanup","tag-es","tag-estrategist","tag-pollution","tag-property-owners","tag-toxic","tag-wildfire","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2050,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049\/revisions\/2050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}