This episode of our Markets Plus podcast delves into the rebuilding efforts in Southern California following the devastating wildfires in January. I spoke with Veronica Luttrell, operations manager at ECC, a leading construction company that delivers environmental remediation and disaster response services.  

We discussed the incredible efforts being made to rebuild communities and restore hope to the families and businesses affected in the Los Angeles area. 

A summary of our discussion follows. 

Luttrell: When responding to a wildfire debris cleanup, an immediate challenge is bringing the workforce together in a very short time. Debris removal requires significant resources and coordination, and generally there's no way to predict when a disaster is going to hit. So, all we can do is to be prepared and have resources lined up who are aware that they may be called on a short notice.  

ECC has a network ready to respond to natural disasters and contingency situations. We have experienced teams in place that are ready to deploy anywhere a disaster may unfold, and this basically helps fast-track and streamline our mobilization. We have multidisciplined employees that are cross-trained and FEMA-certified who are able to work in unison to hit the ground running and accomplish objectives quickly. We’re experienced with numerous agencies and clients from the federal to county level in the U.S. and abroad. That's probably the one of the biggest challenges—just trying to gather all of required resources in a very short time. 

Luttrell: I would definitely say it was bigger. We were on coming off the heels of Hurricane Helene. Prior to that, we were wrapping up the cleanup of Lahaina [the 2023 wildfire that destroyed a section of Maui]. The fires that we are currently working on is by far the largest that anyone's been part of. It’s on a completely different scale. You have about 10,000 parcels that require some type of cleanup.  

So, in order to help the community rebuild there's a lot of logistics, a lot of coordination, a lot of sharing of resources that comes into play in order to pull it off. There's a lot of data that comes in, there's a lot of personnel coming in. It's constant movement of just continuing to keep the work flowing in a safe and efficient manner. 

Luttrell: Generally housing. There have been a few disasters where we've had to build what we call “man camps”—temporary structures for folks to live in because of the need to be close to the fire-impacted area. A lot of times, the lodging or hotels in close vicinities either no longer exist or they are offered to the survivors, of course. So, occasionally lodging can be a little bit of a challenge when we're bringing in mass amounts of workforce. When I talk about temporary lodging, I'm talking about very, very large camps that get built within a very short time. 

Luttrell: We take a multistep approach. Initially, we do an assessment on all of the damage and then focus on what that long-term restoration process would look like. Once debris removal has been completed, an environmental team would collect soil samples that would be analyzed to determine the extent of contamination from ash and soot and other fire-related debris.  

Once the analysis has been received, that team would then determine if soil removal would need to be conducted. A fire can introduce contaminants into the soil. That includes heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other pollutants from burning vegetation, buildings and debris. By removing that topsoil, it helps eliminate or reduce exposure to those contaminants, making it safer for people and improving the quality of soil for future use as well.  

The remediation process would also involve collaboration with various stakeholders as well. That would include government agencies, local communities and other organizations. Another little tidbit about ECC is that we began as an environmental cleanup company. So, we are not only remediating the environment, but we also provide solutions to that help prevent environmental damage and defend against natural catastrophes. That way, we can protect, restore and preserve the land for future generations. 

Luttrell: I'm always amazed because it takes a lot of a lot of collaboration, a lot of meetings with all agencies, and both [the public and private] sectors have been engaged from the beginning with services that include everything from financial assistance to workforce support, to streamlining processes like contractor licensing to rebuild homes and businesses. 

The private sector has been leading initiatives that helped launch small business relief funds to help direct financial support to affected businesses and nonprofits. These community organizations play a huge role in shortening the recovery time by organizing community members and building social capital.  

With the public and private sectors, resource sharing and collaboration is so important. It allows individuals and groups to combine skills, knowledge and resources to achieve the common goal, which leads to enhanced productivity, and that can end up leading to an expedited recovery process. 

Luttrell: I'm hopeful that in the wake of all of this destruction, these natural disasters will spur communities to come together to proactively create action plans to help fight and mitigate the harm caused by these tragedies. As these fires showed, firefighters cannot be everywhere at once, so equipping citizens with more tools to help protect their communities would be a proactive step.  

Providing communities with capital and assistance will be imperative to creating improved, resilient neighborhoods. As Californians have seen over the past seven to eight years, fires continue to impact communities all over the state.  

The state of California has the fifth-largest economy in the world and also has some of the most progressive policies in our country. Within this framework, I'm quite hopeful that government and business leaders will allow communities to rebuild in a manner that honors their neighborhoods’ history while also creating infrastructure that is capable of withstanding these increasingly destructive fires.