PREVIOUSLY

• (UPDATING) Huge Fire in Downtown Arcata
• ‘We Would Love to Rebuild’: Northtown Books Owner Dante DiGenova Addresses Devastating Fire, Thanks the Community and Looks Toward Next Steps
• Investigation Finds No Evidence of Foul Play in January 2 Arcata Fire; Cause Remains Undetermined
• Insurance Investigators Initiate Inspection
• Four Months After the Downtown Arcata Fire, Cleanup Can Finally Begin

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It’s taken over half a year, but the big pile of rubble taking up half of a city block where multiple businesses and apartments once stood before a fire torched it to the ground is on-track to be cleaned up within the next few weeks. 

Obtaining all of the permits necessary to clean the site up has been difficult, Arcata’s city manager, Merritt Perry, has previously told the Outpost, but the gauntlet’s almost been cleared. The company the property owners contracted to do the cleanup, California-based Environmental Remedies, has secured the demolition permit, the encroachment permit, and completed the air district notifications and Department of Toxic Substances requirements, Perry told the Outpost in an email earlier this week. The only thing missing from the company’s checklist is to register a large-quantity generator with the California Environmental Reporting System.

What does all of that mean? Basically, it means that all of the sundry governmental organizations that like to keep tabs on projects that might disrupt the environment have been notified there’s one commencing, and have given their blessing. (There are likely copious amounts of heavy metals and other nasty chemicals in the wreckage that may start circulating around when it’s being cleared.) 

Perry said the company is anticipating starting in a few weeks, and will share the schedule once it’s finalized. A spokesman for Environmental Remedies told the Outpost that they’ll likely start before the end of July.

The job will be a big one. It’ll take eight to 10 weeks to complete, the spokesman said. The waste has to be catalogued and sorted before it’s taken to a landfill. He said they’ll tamp down on the dust by spraying the debris with a fine mist before any of it gets moved.

Nearby residents don’t need to be worried, he said. They’ll follow all local, state, and federal regulations, and the open, unconfined job site will likely prevent any runaway dust from harming anyone.