L.A. County leader calls for residents to be relocated as garbage burns inside Chiquita Canyon Landfill

As a massive underground garbage fire continues to spread sickening odors and noxious fumes over Castaic area neighborhoods, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has called on Chiquita Canyon Landfill owners to relocate affected residents until the issue is resolved. We will have more to report on this and other mitigation updates at next week’s Community Advisory Committee meeting.” Barger’s call to action follows the release of a county-ordered health study that determined toxic fumes escaping from Chiquita Canyon Landfill might result in short-term health effects but did not pose a significant long-term threat of cancer. After collecting more than 200 air samples over six weeks, environmental investigators concluded that Chiquita Canyon might produce a “small incremental amount” of cancer-causing benzene, but local levels remain lower than in many other parts of Los Angeles County. The firm’s air quality data also appeared to contradict Chiquita Canyon’s community air monitoring, which showed large spikes in benzene and sulfur in the area over the same period.