March 11, 2025 • 33 mins
Earlier this year we collectively watched in horror as Los Angeles burned. In all, at least 29 people were killed, 200,000 were forced to evacuate, and more than 18,000 homes and structures were destroyed.
Many, like our own Peter Tilden were forced from their homes. While thankfully his house wasn’t destroyed, it remains covered in a toxic soot, consisting of noxious chemicals and other unknown particulates. Months later his home, like so many others is still uninhabitable. Really, no really.
As Peter and other Angelinos struggle with insurance companies, shady contactors, temporary housing, and more, we wondered: How are people, whether by fires or floods, hurricanes or tornadoes, able to go home again?
That’s why we invited James Mayfield CEO of Mayfield Environmental, to educate us on what we all need to know in the aftermath of catastrophe.
For two generations James and his family have served Southern California as General Contractors for environmental cleanups. From biohazard and homeless encampment removal to Crime scene and drug lab clean-ups, Mayfield Environmental has seen it all and has a litany of certifications - making sure that when the worst happens, they clean it up the right way without taking you to the bank.
***
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Peter’s house is still standing but...
- Testing for safety – What tests are really necessary?
- How traumatizing is it to cleanup a crime scene?
- Secrets to hiring the right firm to detox your life.
- HEPA vacuuming?
- What’s that smell? Can noxious smells be removed?
- Improper cleaning can actually create a second ecological disaster.
- So… what was in that smoke & how do you get rid of it?
- Hoarding, exploding rats and the threat of Hantavirus!
FOLLOW JAMES:
Website: mayfieldenv.com
X: @mayfieldenviro
Yelp: Mayfield environmental solutions
Facebook: Mayfield Environmental Engineering
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Now really.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Really now really Hello, and welcome to Really No Really
with Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden to remind you that
subscribing to our show helps us to keep the home
fires burning. And speaking of fires, earlier this year, we
collectively watched in horror as huge parts of Los Angeles
went up in flames. In all, at least twenty nine
(00:27):
people were killed, two hundred thousand were forced to evacuate,
and more than eighteen thousand homes and structures were destroyed. Many,
like our own Peter Tilden, were forced to evacuate their
homes with virtually no notice. And while thankfully Peter's house
wasn't destroyed, it remains covered in a toxic soot consisting
of noxious chemicals and other unknown particulates deemed so dangerous
(00:49):
that even months later, his home, like so many others,
is still uninhabitable. Really No Really. As Peter and other
Angelina's struggle with insurance companies, contractors, temporary housing, and more,
we wondered, how are people, whether by fires or floods,
hurricanes or tornadoes, able to go home again after those
(01:10):
homes are damaged by disaster? So we invited James Mayfield,
CEO of Mayfield Environmental, to educate us on what we
all need to know in the aftermath of catastrophe. For
two generations, James and his family have served southern California
as general contractors for environmental cleanups, from biohazard and homeless
encampment removal to crime scene and drug lab cleanups. Mayfield
(01:32):
Environmental has seen it all and done it all when
it comes to eradicating a disaster. And though we hope
disaster never touches you, this is an episode that may
just help. Here's Jason and Peter.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Not long ago you saw it come on the screen
and say that we were not going to have an
episode that week because of the fires in Los Angeles
and because members of our own little production community here
it really know, really, we're all so affected. And I
can tell you that one of those people that was
affected was my partner Peter here, who has not in
(02:06):
fact lost his home in the Palisades, but he is
also not able to get into his home. There's a
lot of remediation that needs to be done it. I've
been hearing about it, he's been living it. It has
been god awful and part of what I was fascinated in,
and we'll talk to the extent that you're comfortable with
(02:27):
what's happening and what your journey is and what you're
hearing about things. But what I was fascinated about was
the fires were a horrific disaster, and as we've been learning,
what is left in the areas, especially in the Palisades
where those fires burned, is a residue that is as
toxic as anything we can imagine, between lithium batteries that burned,
(02:52):
and metal and asbestos and all kinds of noxious chemicals
and materials that are now potentially in the water table,
in the ground.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
In my house, which is as far away from the
fires as anybody could be, we had a crew come
in today to clean the ash that had fallen on
our windows and screens off so that we felt comfortable
opening the windows again. And we're still looking for somebody
to come in and tell us if anything horrible has
gotten into our pool that we need to perhaps drain
it or remediate it. So I wanted to talk to
(03:24):
somebody who knows about what those efforts are going to
be in the world of toxic cleanups and disaster cleanups,
because what we're hearing is that the the effort that
it will take to clean all this up could be
as equally a devastating toxic event as the fires themselves.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
And to that point, so I was hesitant talked about
this because it's emotional for me because I'm a tough guy,
but I'm watching my family and it's very hard. But
the other part of it is I just so many
people have it worth off, but it's just it's hard
to talk talk and as part of it being being
escorted by a police patrol for your home, I've never
(04:08):
had it, So yeah, I don't want to just make
it about that. I wanted to widen it for people
who've been through hurricanes, who've been through storms, who lean
through all kinds of stuff. But my question to you,
James Mayfield is our guest getting the whole bit. But James,
my question for you after the introduction is I've also
hearn from people that there's alarmist parts to this where
(04:30):
not all smoke has Benzie has all this crap in it,
And you've got to be careful because a lot of
summer the remediation companies will charge up to a zoo
for stuff that doesn't need to be done because it's
not always all toxic. I heard that the rain has
washed away a lot of stuff. A friend of mine
who lives in the area has a friend who owns
(04:52):
a testing company. It does a testing and said, I
tested your order A there's no benzine in there, and
be do you know the level of benzene that you
would have to drink the rest of your life for
me anything? And they said, I'm drinking particles of plastic
every day. So introduce James and then maybe you can
start us. And so hold that question in your head
as I introduce.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
James Mayfield, who's the CEO of Mayfield Environmental. He and
his family have served the southern California area as general
contractors for environmental.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Cleanups generations, two generations.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I know that's a long time.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Hazards and homeless encampment removals, to crime scenes, that's always fun,
drug lab cleanups, murders, suicide. It's a family business.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
They this I love.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So they specialize in firesoot, smoke, ash cleanup, disaster response
as well as radioactive work, Bobcat services, vehicle cleanups, hoarding,
mold and lead removal, hazardous waste, disposal, pumping, dewatering, soil contamination, debatement,
erosion protection, and mundane work like testing for water safety.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I shook his hand. I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I gotta run before this guy is.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Covering crap that goes his cousin does the radioactive stuff.
He's a reading lad.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
He's the toxic of vender bringing him.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
His cousin sits there and the wife goes turn off
the light, and he goes me, so wow, second generation
of all of this stuff grew up. Did you grow
up going to crime scenes?
Speaker 6 (06:20):
No, that was actually my stupid idea. My dad, when
I started branching out and covering these new territories, said, what.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
The man I've heard the Dutch about his bad That's
pretty bad, right it is.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
You know, some decontamination or decomposition jobs are atrociously dangerous.
You can get HIV, hunt a virus, hepatitis very very common.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Others aren't so bad.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Did they look like TV crime scenes?
Speaker 6 (06:43):
Well, generally, when you go into a crime scene, you
start to piece together the puzzles yourself, and then you
realize how creepy that is. And then when you go
home at the end of the job, you realize that
You've been stewing on this all day over dinner, and
that's some families suffering that you're running. The family keeps
calling you crying. They come back the next day and
they say, I can still smell it, And I know
(07:04):
what happens with the human brain is all the odor,
all the decontamination waste is gone, but the brain literally
continues to smell the odor, and they often can accuse
you of not doing improperly. Yeah, it's demonstrably gone. It's
literally the result of trauma is scientific. Yeah, do you
(07:24):
how when you I mean, we're gonna get.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
But how do you how do you?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I mean, when you started doing that kind of remediation
in a crime scene, how do you avoid being traumatized
by what you're experiencing?
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Or do you Maybe you are traumatized.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
You know, a death is tragic because you see the
pain of the family. Other jobs where it's a murder
suicide are kind of creepy and they feel eerie and awkward.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So how do you, I mean, you've got this in
your head? How does it? It's one of the reasons
I always thought it'd be kind of cool to be
a police officer, you know, but I thought, and I
worked in the hospital.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
I grew up in the hospital, my mom around the hospital.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I saw a lot of grizzly stuff, but it was
grizzly in a positive vein.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It was people trying to save people.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
This is violence and mayhem, and I don't know that
I could have handled it and been quite the same
person that I would like to be. You know, does
it do you inure yourself to it?
Speaker 6 (08:31):
Well, depending upon the crime scenes with which you're saturated.
If they are of a murderous nature, it does make
one nihilistic, very negative about the world.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
But you also see the pain that that person went
through to do that, what they must have been experiencing.
So let's leave murder for a minute. Let's get to
the happy things. That's the initial question I put out.
There is somebody said to me who does this testing, said,
you know a lot of times the ashes like your
your fireplace ash, and it doesn't always have the most
danger chemicals and stuff. So you've got to be careful
(09:03):
in projecting that it's always that because not always that.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
Yeah, well, I can say as a FEMA vendor and
an Army Corps of Engineers vendor, we were one of
the first people on site after the cleanup, and we
were one of the first to sample. Depending upon where
you sample, you know how proximal it is to an
industrial facility that may have that kind of contaminant material.
You have the heavy winds of Santa Ana. They blow everywhere,
so you'll have a different contamination profile depending upon where
(09:30):
you go.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Not everybody is honest with that sodial.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
If it's purely residential.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
It's purely residential.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
Depending upon the age of the buildings, you might have
substantial asbestos. But I tell my clients there's no point
in me as a as an environmental contractor sampling it
because the particles will be so fine that there's no
reason for me to make five hundred dollars off you.
I can just tell you that it's a contaminant, you know.
So I try to be honest with people. My competitors
may or may not, but it's the fallacy is a
(10:00):
bank run to make a substantial amount of money. Everybody's there.
Half of them are not licensed, and you're to your point.
Restoration the companies that tend to decontaminate for smoke, fire
and mold.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
They're classified as restoration.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
That's one of the few industries in California that requires
no contractors licenses.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
WoT So what you're eating fire this hurricane? What should
you ask for for a restoration person?
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Depending upon the particular situation. If there is heavy soot
contamination that you know is actually contaminated material, you should
have HASMAD contractors. Because we our insurance and liability is
so high, we have to have our men fully prepared
with Haswhopper certification. That means they're has MAD trained. They
were respirators, a big giant restoration people. They tend to
(10:48):
hire migrant labor and they work hard, but they don't
pay them insurance. They don't pay their benefits. They pay
them cash. They don't wear masks at all.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Are they trained to do what they're doing?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
A lot of them is the first time they've ever worked.
But but again they do their job. They've they've found
a way to profit off of insurance. The companies like that.
They tend to go in and they just wash every
square foot of the house. They charged twenty grand. They
only needed to do a little bit of hepa vacuuming
in the corners.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
That's what I have a vacuum is that what they
have a filter.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah, so hepavacuuming is a very special kind of vacuum.
That's not what you get at Costco. I mean, they
all say have a vacuum, but it's a specialized vacuum,
usually three to five thousand dollars. And what that does
is it mitigates dispersal in the air as you vacuum
it up. So, for example, in the Palisades, I'm going
around vacuuming up the obvious contamination I see in the doorways,
(11:37):
for example, in the windowsills. Just a day, I can
get the bolt materials and I'm out of there, and
then you can go home if it's safe. Other companies
in restoration might wash the whole house. They'd say, you've
got to go to an Airbnb for a month, and
I'll rip out all.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Your walls while i'm at it.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
It's not necessarily rapacious because they're charging insurance.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
They get their money. You don't pay for it.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Of course, they raise your premium, so you're paying for
it in the end, but it's a money machine.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
How do you mitigate smoke smell? Can you really get
out smell?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Smoke is the most effective way to remediate it is
ozone gas, which is very very effective. Although it has damage.
It inflicts damage on rubber and insulation, and my competitors
and restoration might not know that much about it, so
they tend to not warn their clients.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
And what happens at that point that's ruined.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
Oh well, it ruptures, ruptures apart and find fine art
painting statues for example, they can They can be damaged
in the process, so that is a risk. But ozone
works very well because it literally rips apart the odor
molecules at a molecular level.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
What about stuff that's porus furniture.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
It barely goes through it, so that.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Furniture needs to be mitigated. Can firsion be cleaned enough
that it actually is cleaned to the point where for.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
The most part, yeah, really, yes, well, ozone is the
best technique. And again restoration companies will say the only
way to do it is to rip it apart completely.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
But do they take them They pick the front, sure,
take it up, take it out, clothing out and then
do it somewhere in a professional place.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Yes, it's it's often morphed into a side industry called
pack out and called contents cleaning, which is very very detailed,
meticulous work, but it's immensely expensive. So they'll say, I'll
have to take apart your entire your living room, all
your fabrics, all your your grandma's clothing, and it'll cost
you thirty grand but I'll decontaminate and disinfect every single item,
(13:26):
and they discharge insurance and it's it's valuable.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So you generally say, well, you look like.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
You're doing a good job, and when it comes back
it really is.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
You would you would do that, you'd be okay doing
it with your own.
Speaker 6 (13:38):
Yeah, I had a lot of money.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
I was just sure it. I don't know a lot
of money. So I'm hearing this so.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Far to the extent that because I know you're probably not,
although I guess from what I understand your company, you could.
But with what they're doing in the palace heads where
they're going down in the ground which has been toxified
and they're pulling out I think, you know, three to
six feet of soil six inches six inches, that's all
(14:07):
six inches, got a little bit okay. My wife keeps
hearing about the idea that it's putting back into the
air all the stuff that was in the ground. You're
getting dust, you're getting ash, you're putting it back into
the air, and then depending on weather conditions, you're spreading
it further than.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
It went the first time.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
So when when you are folks that are doing this,
how are they trying to contain that?
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Can they contain that?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Or is it, in fact but a potentially second environmental disaster.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
What I see is many different agencies that joined in
in the Palisades and in Altadena, and they all have
good intentions.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
They want to help.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
The problem is as soon as they do, you have
these regulatory contradictions that burden the entire process and drag
it down.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
The first phase was that the EPA.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
Got involved and they shut down the entire city. All
Palisades was shut down. They were the governing agent. See,
they dictated everything and what that did during their as
they did their initial remediation, it made all that the
substantial contaminants in the ash and the soot wash into
the ocean. That prevented hazardous waste contractors from doing what
(15:14):
we do best, which is going in and trapping the contaminants.
So while the EPA shut down the city, all the
contaminants were still on the ground. Dispersing in the air
with the next wind, with the next two atmospheric rivers,
and then it washed into the ocean.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
But if people's houses, roofs, lawns had contaminants on it
and the rain came down hard and it did run off, yeah,
did that alleviate the situation immediately around those homes?
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Yes, for the for the most part, if you're talking
like just on people's homes themselves, yes, that would clean
it up to the point that you wouldn't need necessarily
a restoration company to wash everyting about that.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
But then again, it's down the street and into the ocean.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
So now you have this entire.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Devastated communities worth of toxic materials washed into the ocean. A.
What is the cost of that going to be? But
also is that the end of it? Well, so now
(16:21):
you have this entire devastated communities worth of toxic materials
washed into the ocean. A. What is the cost of
that going to be? But also is that the end
of it?
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Well, I've sampled maybe thirty homes outside of the Palisades
for drinking water. You ask, is there excessive sampling, excessive
hysteria going on? Yes, I'm sampled maybe fifteen homes for
benzene and the drinking water. And I tell them, I mean,
who's telling you to test for that? Benzine doesn't come
from fire? I mean it can if you have underlying
utility issues. I'd tell them right out, I'd make five
(16:57):
hundred bucks from that, but it's not really worth your money.
They say, yeah, but the city told us to sample
for and said, okay, I'll do it.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Then, So who decides if benzine isn't an issue to
have people sample for benzi.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
In that case it was. It seems like it's a
city ordinance.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
So that was substantial sampling for no reason, and not
one test result came back positive for benzene, So.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
What are you What are you finding up there? If
anything at?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Asbestos is everywhere eyhere?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah, but the particulates are so fine, which is precisely
why they're dangerous, and they contribute to spestiosis.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
It's difficult to test for them.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
So again I say, I'm not going to test for
that because it'll say non detect.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
But it's there, I know for a fact because I
can see it. But it's not worth testing for.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
So how do you hear of it?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Half a vacuuming, and you just wear a mask, and
what do you do.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
With alans would have installation and stuff.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
You would have to vacu a vacuum and disinfect or
decontaminate the insulation, presumably.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Rip it out.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
If you leave that to a restoration company, they'll probably
rip it out and blow it all over your house.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's what they do.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
So you vacuum at first and then bag it up.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Hepa vacuum carefully contain it. You have multiple air scrubbing
devices HEPA filters.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
What's an aircra that's a new term for me to
air scrubber, air scrubber.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
So I know about those because I've had mold remediation
of a scrubber.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
But air scrubber isn't well.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
I mean, you can get them on Amazon right, there's
hundreds of different types. They're all fake or they really
don't do anything. That's a growth industry. So a HEPA
an air scrubber essentially captures microbes in the air and
traps them in the HEPA filter, but it doesn't do
anything unless that material is disturbed in the air. So
a lot of the air sampling you're seeing in the
(18:39):
Palisades is garbage because it only detects what is floating
your air. So I've done a few properties where I've
sampled their air quality, indoor air quality. The whole industry
is a scam because it's settled on the ground. Most
of the ash is heavy metals, so it's not in
the air. So I said, I'll do this sample for
five hundred bucks, but I'm not going to find it.
(19:00):
But I'm not gonna find anything. They say it would
just help me because I have children. I say, okay,
zero point zero because it measures total dust particulates in
the air.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
But Billy's playing it on the floor. Yeah, well so
you again, hepa, vacuum dat up? Yeah, you just get
it out. You know it's there among other things. Yes, amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
What's does your industry have a good relationship with the
insurers on this stuff?
Speaker 6 (19:23):
No, and that's that's a huge problem, particularly for Alta Dina.
Forgive me for so much detail, but the state is
presenting this as a free cleanup if you go with
the Army Corps of Engineers, right, But it turns out
the state essentially compelled the insurance companies to foot the bill. Now,
insurance companies, what they do is they calculate cost. Of course,
(19:43):
so the insurance company has proven with their own metrics
that demolition or a debris cleanup would cost, say fifty
thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
They have no experience with hazmat. Answer your question.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
I go to these clients and I say, well, the
disposal alone of the hazardous debris will be twenty thousand
dollars because it's has mad. The insurance companies have never
dealt with that. So they say, well, poor homeowner, will
only compensate you fifty grand, which means the homeowner, after
losing his house, has to pay me out of pocket
or just sit there and wait for the army for
(20:16):
five years.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So do we have a good relationship with insurance? There
is no.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Relationship because they don't have the relationship. Yeah, and also
this is so many these fire has been so massive.
I feel for them. I mean they're in a business
where they went what happened? Wait, what just happened? Which
is just horrendous. You know, I'm curious because for everybody
listening who isn't in this situation. I had down to
ask you. My wife wanted to no cleaning, what's the
(20:43):
best blown and oil cleaning? Cleaning supply. So this odor
pet owder, everybody, every product I've ever bought the claims
to do something doesn't do the thing. So I'm curious
what you use has to do the thing? So can
we buy from.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Over the Can you realize if answers this question the
trade secret, you don't have to know the type, the type.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Of areas area areas vinegar and bacon.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So I'll tell you yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
So again, my competitors would provide several different chemicals that
are the cutting edge technology. They bring out ozone machines,
hydroxyal machines and all this which I provide usually included
because it's anything that it doesn't cost me anything. The
number one cleaner is hydrogen peroxide. It's a miracle. And
the cool thing about it is if you're on a
(21:33):
blood scene and you can't always see where the blood is,
it stains where it's it's very hard to text.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
So you put down the hydro peroxide bones on protein enzymes.
So it's a miracle.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
So I really come on, really, no, really, that's not really.
I knew that you know hydrogen peroxide bones on protein.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Side did because where did I grow up? What was
my family?
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Livingston?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
New Jersey in the in the hospital.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Bus, my father's family. What do you know? Oh blood,
Now I get it. Yeah, so wait, hydron peroxide foams.
It finds the protein and.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
And it foams, and then you let it sit and
it it disinfects the majority of the material, but you
still have to crebit with scrub it with additional chemicals.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That's how you find it. So we've done some jobs.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Where you have a door and it looks fine and
you you put the hydrogen peroxide on it and it
foams and you can literally see a handprint.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
And then you clean it with other trades.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
My crow antimicrobial towels that absorb the surface.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
And I saw this in your biolet. How are you
getting rid of radioactive materials? What are you doing careful?
Speaker 6 (22:45):
It's a long story, but chiefly my what I what
I see in California is going to be raided on,
which is another homeowner's disaster because it's in it's naturally
occurring in the soil underneath your home, and the gases
go through your home up through the vents and it's
completely inert and it's harmless right on. But when it decays,
it produces polonium and lead as a radioactive byproduct that
(23:08):
settles on the dust in your home and is the
number two cause of lung cancer in the United States.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
And so to remediate that, you're just like using the
scrubbers and.
Speaker 6 (23:17):
The no well, I guess you would for the contaminants
or the radon die particles. Yes, but the way to
mitigate rate on itself is simply to vent it. You
produce negative pressure in the soil and it sucks it
up in the air.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
So I read that. Of all the stuff you got
to do, the hardest issue is when you go into
a hoarder situation and you're not, so, why, what's the
level of difficulty there? That's above everything else.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Porting is difficult because it so often overlaps with issues
like biohazard and death, and they don't often even know,
you know, it's just like, well, the what you see
on the TV shows are generally accurate in the sense
that they are absolutely out of control. Every family member
involved is hysterical, none of them has any money. That's
the hardest part for a business because it's a terribly sensitive,
(24:07):
slow situation. The psychological aspect is very very difficult, so
it takes so long, so eventually you start to you
just start to lose all your profit. Eventually you can
kind of make some progress, get the material out of there,
and then you often find a dead cat or a
dead dog that's been decomposing. Now that may not sound
like a big deal. We've all had dead mice, dead rats.
(24:28):
But if you have decomposition of an organism, it is
a health hazard. It's a severe one. And if you have
like rats, I just cleaned up rats, exploding rats.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Believe it or not, they got into it. Well, back
up another bell.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
I think it's time for exploding rats.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Really do it?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Wait? What are exploding rats? Right? By? Realized the rat
looks at you and boom.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
I wish they just ate insulation inside of a transform
and they blew up so there's guts.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
But tell us no.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
The point for hoarding is if you have a build
up of a film of rat feces it produced, it's
a significant hazard of haunted virus, and haunta virus has
like a thirty percent death rate.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
It's no joke.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
I got to tell you, it's almost like firefighters. When
I went into the house first time, I had on
one of those papers just to keep clean whatever. And
I had on a mask respirator I think loves in
the booties, and I'm trying to just do minor stuff
and I'm sweating like I've never seen I got and
I've never sweated before, so I can't And I was
only in there for a short time. But I got
(25:34):
to tell you, I don't know how you do it. Well.
You must lose forty pounds of weight every job you do,
because it's forget the emotionality of dealing with human beings
that are in a state that they're so sad. But
the work, it's one thing do in lifting car and
cleaning when you're not wearing that. When you're wearing that,
isn't it almost impossible? It's real, very difficult.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
You can't breathe, you can't see anything, You're respirator's fog up.
It's it's scary, especially when you're an environment that is
surrounded by potential danger, very scary.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Do you ever get to a place and go Nope, No, no,
I'm not that smart.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
There's never been where you go my pay right doing.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
It, But thanks for showing us in. It's interesting. Also,
you know, be careful with high pressure, high sales, because
there are a lot of people who run into this stuff.
Whether it's this or you're listening in North Carolina or
whatever tragedy you deal with, you look for somebody who's
certified and registered. Yes, yes, always always to do the work.
Don't don't sign anything or do anything with somebody who's
(26:31):
not not registered for disaster work. Correct and what kind
of what kind of certification is it?
Speaker 6 (26:37):
So is the case with the Palisades clean up? Has
Matt contractors only, so not restoration, not just demolition. All
these people coming out of the woodwork has Matt contractors
only only. We have the insurance and the training to
protect our men. They're paid well, they're insured. That's how
they can mitigate the contaminants from spreading and to protect
the family and themselves well.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
And there's a lot of miss information, So just be
careful right and ask the right questions and get somebody
who's certified.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
And thank you for coming in and once again, ladies
and gentlemen may Field Environmental, Thanks James than.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
So U you feel better. I feel worse, you know what.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
I'll be okay, And it's it's just it's what it is.
But I really the people who've lost their home and
trying to deal with that. I don't know how you
do that where you lost.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Everything, But you know, Peter, in some ways, and we
were talking about this a little bit before the show.
In some ways, for some kinds of people, not everybody,
the complete wipeout is a cleaner break than what you're
left with because you've got one foot in.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Yeah, but you know what, we'll be We'll be okay,
So yeah, we'll we'll It's tough for me to talk
about still because I'm in it, but I'm very cognizant
that we were. We're not in it to the extent
so many.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Before understood, well, here's a man whose house is never
on fire, but it's always in the path of a hurricane.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
David Googan, Right right, Doc, we're talking to here. Comfortable,
I've been, don't jinx me.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
I've I've been lucky so far.
Speaker 7 (28:22):
Just one thing I want to mention about Peter situation.
The house that burns down. I think people understand right,
it's it's gone, everything is gone. But I had mentioned
someone to someone about the toxic dust that and They're like, oh, yeah,
but you know.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You you but that's outside.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
You just I was down that and I'm like, no, it's.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Not outside the house, it's inside the house, right, everything
in the refrigerator you open.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
You know a point, David, we have a friend who
you know, and I'll tell you later who it is.
It's not that far from me. He's a very nice house.
But if your windows weren't one hundred percent secure, there
was a ninety mile Parliament. I never felt anything like that.
He basically had me laughed and he left. He said,
my neighbor's tesla basically blew into my living room. He said,
(29:12):
it's not full, but the cars in there because the
wind just got in. And there's so much good and
ash like he said, my neighbor literally, my neighbor's is
in my living So, yeah, way has been. I'm thinking
a segway out of there.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
The cheery, the cheery episode. This should be the Christmas episode.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Don't you think it's the holiday episode?
Speaker 5 (29:37):
It's a horse, it's a harsh. Yeah, So all those
people lost their homes. Man, you don't know, you just
don't even know what to say in both of those fires,
and and I hope there, I hope they get the
help they need.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
But you know, somebody's house burns down every day, and
it's just as devastating, it's just as awful. And this
is the thing we always try and sound the show,
and we always, Peter and I try.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
And make a point of it all the time.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Although we joke a lot, we could all be a
lot nicer to each other.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
We could take care of it.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Always checked a little bit more because everybody is going
through something.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
And I wish dinner because everybody's got a fifty pound
back of spent on your shoulder. You don't know if
the kids cancer, you don't know what's going on. But
I got to tell you, the kindness and the outreak
was insane. I think everybody so yep, well I'll get
through it, you know we will. And and like I said,
my heart goes out to people who were really really lost,
lost their memories and their houses and family.
Speaker 9 (30:35):
Do you know what they have in this show? Oh
that I'm gonna throw up. I just threw up my mouth.
Really no, really, I can clean that up. James. It's
an out of the park.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
That's another episode of really no really comes to a close.
I know you're wondering what the hell is actually in
all that soot and ash spread over Los Angeles County.
That answer in a moment verse, Let's thank our guest,
James Mayfield. You can contact his business at their website
mayfieldeanv dot com. On x they are at Mayfield and Viral.
On Yelp they are Mayfield Environmental Solutions, and on Facebook
(31:16):
there Mayfield Environmental Engineering. Find all pertinent links in our
show notes, our little show hangs out on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
and threads at Really No Really podcast, And of course
you can share your thoughts and feedback with us online
at reallynoreally dot com. If you have a really some
amazing factor story that boggles your mind, share it with
(31:39):
us and if we use it, we will send you
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thought that counts. Check out our full episodes on YouTube,
hit that subscribe button and take that bell so you're
updated when we release new videos and episodes, which we
do each Tuesday. So listen and follow us on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
(32:01):
And now the answer to the question, what is actually
in all that soot and ash spread across LA? While
the ash dispersed over Los Angeles following the January twenty
twenty five wildfires consists of a complex mixture of substances,
primarily due to the combustion of both natural vegetation and
urban structures. Key components include one particulate matter or PM
(32:22):
two point five. These fine particles measuring two point five
microns or smaller can penetrate deep into the lungs and
even enter the bloodstream, posing significant health risks.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Two toxic metals.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
The burning of urban infrastructure releases heavy metals such as
lead and zinc into the environment. Three carcinogenic compounds. Smoke
from urban fires contains carcinogens, posing long term health risks
to those who inhale it. And four volatile organic compounds
or voceeds. Combustion releases VOCs like formaldehyde, which are harmful
when inhaled. These components contribute to hazardous air quality, with
(32:58):
particulate matter levels reaching thirty six point eight times the
World Health Organization guideline value during the fires. This noxious
mix gets into the soil, the air, the water tables,
and swimming pools, imposes significant health risks, particularly to vulnerable
populations and emergency responders. To everyone whose lives have been
upended by the LA fires, we wish you speedy recovery
(33:21):
and better days ahead. And to all our listeners, please
go online and search for how.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
You can help.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thank you really doing a really is production of Blase Entertainment.
Now really.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Really now really Hello, and welcome to Really No Really
with Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden to remind you that
subscribing to our show helps us to keep the home
fires burning. And speaking of fires, earlier this year, we
collectively watched in horror as huge parts of Los Angeles
went up in flames. In all, at least twenty nine
(00:27):
people were killed, two hundred thousand were forced to evacuate,
and more than eighteen thousand homes and structures were destroyed. Many,
like our own Peter Tilden, were forced to evacuate their
homes with virtually no notice. And while thankfully Peter's house
wasn't destroyed, it remains covered in a toxic soot consisting
of noxious chemicals and other unknown particulates deemed so dangerous
(00:49):
that even months later, his home, like so many others,
is still uninhabitable. Really No Really. As Peter and other
Angelina's struggle with insurance companies, contractors, temporary housing, and more,
we wondered, how are people, whether by fires or floods,
hurricanes or tornadoes, able to go home again after those
(01:10):
homes are damaged by disaster? So we invited James Mayfield,
CEO of Mayfield Environmental, to educate us on what we
all need to know in the aftermath of catastrophe. For
two generations, James and his family have served southern California
as general contractors for environmental cleanups, from biohazard and homeless
encampment removal to crime scene and drug lab cleanups. Mayfield
(01:32):
Environmental has seen it all and done it all when
it comes to eradicating a disaster. And though we hope
disaster never touches you, this is an episode that may
just help. Here's Jason and Peter.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Not long ago you saw it come on the screen
and say that we were not going to have an
episode that week because of the fires in Los Angeles
and because members of our own little production community here
it really know, really, we're all so affected. And I
can tell you that one of those people that was
affected was my partner Peter here, who has not in
(02:06):
fact lost his home in the Palisades, but he is
also not able to get into his home. There's a
lot of remediation that needs to be done it. I've
been hearing about it, he's been living it. It has
been god awful and part of what I was fascinated in,
and we'll talk to the extent that you're comfortable with
(02:27):
what's happening and what your journey is and what you're
hearing about things. But what I was fascinated about was
the fires were a horrific disaster, and as we've been learning,
what is left in the areas, especially in the Palisades
where those fires burned, is a residue that is as
toxic as anything we can imagine, between lithium batteries that burned,
(02:52):
and metal and asbestos and all kinds of noxious chemicals
and materials that are now potentially in the water table,
in the ground.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
In my house, which is as far away from the
fires as anybody could be, we had a crew come
in today to clean the ash that had fallen on
our windows and screens off so that we felt comfortable
opening the windows again. And we're still looking for somebody
to come in and tell us if anything horrible has
gotten into our pool that we need to perhaps drain
it or remediate it. So I wanted to talk to
(03:24):
somebody who knows about what those efforts are going to
be in the world of toxic cleanups and disaster cleanups,
because what we're hearing is that the the effort that
it will take to clean all this up could be
as equally a devastating toxic event as the fires themselves.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
And to that point, so I was hesitant talked about
this because it's emotional for me because I'm a tough guy,
but I'm watching my family and it's very hard. But
the other part of it is I just so many
people have it worth off, but it's just it's hard
to talk talk and as part of it being being
escorted by a police patrol for your home, I've never
(04:08):
had it, So yeah, I don't want to just make
it about that. I wanted to widen it for people
who've been through hurricanes, who've been through storms, who lean
through all kinds of stuff. But my question to you,
James Mayfield is our guest getting the whole bit. But James,
my question for you after the introduction is I've also
hearn from people that there's alarmist parts to this where
(04:30):
not all smoke has Benzie has all this crap in it,
And you've got to be careful because a lot of
summer the remediation companies will charge up to a zoo
for stuff that doesn't need to be done because it's
not always all toxic. I heard that the rain has
washed away a lot of stuff. A friend of mine
who lives in the area has a friend who owns
(04:52):
a testing company. It does a testing and said, I
tested your order A there's no benzine in there, and
be do you know the level of benzene that you
would have to drink the rest of your life for
me anything? And they said, I'm drinking particles of plastic
every day. So introduce James and then maybe you can
start us. And so hold that question in your head
as I introduce.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
James Mayfield, who's the CEO of Mayfield Environmental. He and
his family have served the southern California area as general
contractors for environmental.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Cleanups generations, two generations.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I know that's a long time.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Hazards and homeless encampment removals, to crime scenes, that's always fun,
drug lab cleanups, murders, suicide. It's a family business.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
They this I love.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So they specialize in firesoot, smoke, ash cleanup, disaster response
as well as radioactive work, Bobcat services, vehicle cleanups, hoarding,
mold and lead removal, hazardous waste, disposal, pumping, dewatering, soil contamination, debatement,
erosion protection, and mundane work like testing for water safety.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I shook his hand. I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I gotta run before this guy is.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Covering crap that goes his cousin does the radioactive stuff.
He's a reading lad.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
He's the toxic of vender bringing him.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
His cousin sits there and the wife goes turn off
the light, and he goes me, so wow, second generation
of all of this stuff grew up. Did you grow
up going to crime scenes?
Speaker 6 (06:20):
No, that was actually my stupid idea. My dad, when
I started branching out and covering these new territories, said, what.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
The man I've heard the Dutch about his bad That's
pretty bad, right it is.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
You know, some decontamination or decomposition jobs are atrociously dangerous.
You can get HIV, hunt a virus, hepatitis very very common.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Others aren't so bad.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Did they look like TV crime scenes?
Speaker 6 (06:43):
Well, generally, when you go into a crime scene, you
start to piece together the puzzles yourself, and then you
realize how creepy that is. And then when you go
home at the end of the job, you realize that
You've been stewing on this all day over dinner, and
that's some families suffering that you're running. The family keeps
calling you crying. They come back the next day and
they say, I can still smell it, And I know
(07:04):
what happens with the human brain is all the odor,
all the decontamination waste is gone, but the brain literally
continues to smell the odor, and they often can accuse
you of not doing improperly. Yeah, it's demonstrably gone. It's
literally the result of trauma is scientific. Yeah, do you
(07:24):
how when you I mean, we're gonna get.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
But how do you how do you?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I mean, when you started doing that kind of remediation
in a crime scene, how do you avoid being traumatized
by what you're experiencing?
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Or do you Maybe you are traumatized.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
You know, a death is tragic because you see the
pain of the family. Other jobs where it's a murder
suicide are kind of creepy and they feel eerie and awkward.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So how do you, I mean, you've got this in
your head? How does it? It's one of the reasons
I always thought it'd be kind of cool to be
a police officer, you know, but I thought, and I
worked in the hospital.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
I grew up in the hospital, my mom around the hospital.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I saw a lot of grizzly stuff, but it was
grizzly in a positive vein.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It was people trying to save people.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
This is violence and mayhem, and I don't know that
I could have handled it and been quite the same
person that I would like to be. You know, does
it do you inure yourself to it?
Speaker 6 (08:31):
Well, depending upon the crime scenes with which you're saturated.
If they are of a murderous nature, it does make
one nihilistic, very negative about the world.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
But you also see the pain that that person went
through to do that, what they must have been experiencing.
So let's leave murder for a minute. Let's get to
the happy things. That's the initial question I put out.
There is somebody said to me who does this testing, said,
you know a lot of times the ashes like your
your fireplace ash, and it doesn't always have the most
danger chemicals and stuff. So you've got to be careful
(09:03):
in projecting that it's always that because not always that.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
Yeah, well, I can say as a FEMA vendor and
an Army Corps of Engineers vendor, we were one of
the first people on site after the cleanup, and we
were one of the first to sample. Depending upon where
you sample, you know how proximal it is to an
industrial facility that may have that kind of contaminant material.
You have the heavy winds of Santa Ana. They blow everywhere,
so you'll have a different contamination profile depending upon where
(09:30):
you go.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Not everybody is honest with that sodial.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
If it's purely residential.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
It's purely residential.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
Depending upon the age of the buildings, you might have
substantial asbestos. But I tell my clients there's no point
in me as a as an environmental contractor sampling it
because the particles will be so fine that there's no
reason for me to make five hundred dollars off you.
I can just tell you that it's a contaminant, you know.
So I try to be honest with people. My competitors
may or may not, but it's the fallacy is a
(10:00):
bank run to make a substantial amount of money. Everybody's there.
Half of them are not licensed, and you're to your point.
Restoration the companies that tend to decontaminate for smoke, fire
and mold.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
They're classified as restoration.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
That's one of the few industries in California that requires
no contractors licenses.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
WoT So what you're eating fire this hurricane? What should
you ask for for a restoration person?
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Depending upon the particular situation. If there is heavy soot
contamination that you know is actually contaminated material, you should
have HASMAD contractors. Because we our insurance and liability is
so high, we have to have our men fully prepared
with Haswhopper certification. That means they're has MAD trained. They
were respirators, a big giant restoration people. They tend to
(10:48):
hire migrant labor and they work hard, but they don't
pay them insurance. They don't pay their benefits. They pay
them cash. They don't wear masks at all.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Are they trained to do what they're doing?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
A lot of them is the first time they've ever worked.
But but again they do their job. They've they've found
a way to profit off of insurance. The companies like that.
They tend to go in and they just wash every
square foot of the house. They charged twenty grand. They
only needed to do a little bit of hepa vacuuming
in the corners.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
That's what I have a vacuum is that what they
have a filter.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah, so hepavacuuming is a very special kind of vacuum.
That's not what you get at Costco. I mean, they
all say have a vacuum, but it's a specialized vacuum,
usually three to five thousand dollars. And what that does
is it mitigates dispersal in the air as you vacuum
it up. So, for example, in the Palisades, I'm going
around vacuuming up the obvious contamination I see in the doorways,
(11:37):
for example, in the windowsills. Just a day, I can
get the bolt materials and I'm out of there, and
then you can go home if it's safe. Other companies
in restoration might wash the whole house. They'd say, you've
got to go to an Airbnb for a month, and
I'll rip out all.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Your walls while i'm at it.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
It's not necessarily rapacious because they're charging insurance.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
They get their money. You don't pay for it.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Of course, they raise your premium, so you're paying for
it in the end, but it's a money machine.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
How do you mitigate smoke smell? Can you really get
out smell?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Smoke is the most effective way to remediate it is
ozone gas, which is very very effective. Although it has damage.
It inflicts damage on rubber and insulation, and my competitors
and restoration might not know that much about it, so
they tend to not warn their clients.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
And what happens at that point that's ruined.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
Oh well, it ruptures, ruptures apart and find fine art
painting statues for example, they can They can be damaged
in the process, so that is a risk. But ozone
works very well because it literally rips apart the odor
molecules at a molecular level.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
What about stuff that's porus furniture.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
It barely goes through it, so that.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Furniture needs to be mitigated. Can firsion be cleaned enough
that it actually is cleaned to the point where for.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
The most part, yeah, really, yes, well, ozone is the
best technique. And again restoration companies will say the only
way to do it is to rip it apart completely.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
But do they take them They pick the front, sure,
take it up, take it out, clothing out and then
do it somewhere in a professional place.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Yes, it's it's often morphed into a side industry called
pack out and called contents cleaning, which is very very detailed,
meticulous work, but it's immensely expensive. So they'll say, I'll
have to take apart your entire your living room, all
your fabrics, all your your grandma's clothing, and it'll cost
you thirty grand but I'll decontaminate and disinfect every single item,
(13:26):
and they discharge insurance and it's it's valuable.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So you generally say, well, you look like.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
You're doing a good job, and when it comes back
it really is.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
You would you would do that, you'd be okay doing
it with your own.
Speaker 6 (13:38):
Yeah, I had a lot of money.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
I was just sure it. I don't know a lot
of money. So I'm hearing this so.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Far to the extent that because I know you're probably not,
although I guess from what I understand your company, you could.
But with what they're doing in the palace heads where
they're going down in the ground which has been toxified
and they're pulling out I think, you know, three to
six feet of soil six inches six inches, that's all
(14:07):
six inches, got a little bit okay. My wife keeps
hearing about the idea that it's putting back into the
air all the stuff that was in the ground. You're
getting dust, you're getting ash, you're putting it back into
the air, and then depending on weather conditions, you're spreading
it further than.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
It went the first time.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
So when when you are folks that are doing this,
how are they trying to contain that?
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Can they contain that?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Or is it, in fact but a potentially second environmental disaster.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
What I see is many different agencies that joined in
in the Palisades and in Altadena, and they all have
good intentions.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
They want to help.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
The problem is as soon as they do, you have
these regulatory contradictions that burden the entire process and drag
it down.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
The first phase was that the EPA.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
Got involved and they shut down the entire city. All
Palisades was shut down. They were the governing agent. See,
they dictated everything and what that did during their as
they did their initial remediation, it made all that the
substantial contaminants in the ash and the soot wash into
the ocean. That prevented hazardous waste contractors from doing what
(15:14):
we do best, which is going in and trapping the contaminants.
So while the EPA shut down the city, all the
contaminants were still on the ground. Dispersing in the air
with the next wind, with the next two atmospheric rivers,
and then it washed into the ocean.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
But if people's houses, roofs, lawns had contaminants on it
and the rain came down hard and it did run off, yeah,
did that alleviate the situation immediately around those homes?
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Yes, for the for the most part, if you're talking
like just on people's homes themselves, yes, that would clean
it up to the point that you wouldn't need necessarily
a restoration company to wash everyting about that.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
But then again, it's down the street and into the ocean.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
So now you have this entire.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Devastated communities worth of toxic materials washed into the ocean. A.
What is the cost of that going to be? But
also is that the end of it? Well, so now
(16:21):
you have this entire devastated communities worth of toxic materials
washed into the ocean. A. What is the cost of
that going to be? But also is that the end
of it?
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Well, I've sampled maybe thirty homes outside of the Palisades
for drinking water. You ask, is there excessive sampling, excessive
hysteria going on? Yes, I'm sampled maybe fifteen homes for
benzene and the drinking water. And I tell them, I mean,
who's telling you to test for that? Benzine doesn't come
from fire? I mean it can if you have underlying
utility issues. I'd tell them right out, I'd make five
(16:57):
hundred bucks from that, but it's not really worth your money.
They say, yeah, but the city told us to sample
for and said, okay, I'll do it.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Then, So who decides if benzine isn't an issue to
have people sample for benzi.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
In that case it was. It seems like it's a
city ordinance.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
So that was substantial sampling for no reason, and not
one test result came back positive for benzene, So.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
What are you What are you finding up there? If
anything at?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Asbestos is everywhere eyhere?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah, but the particulates are so fine, which is precisely
why they're dangerous, and they contribute to spestiosis.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
It's difficult to test for them.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
So again I say, I'm not going to test for
that because it'll say non detect.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
But it's there, I know for a fact because I
can see it. But it's not worth testing for.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
So how do you hear of it?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Half a vacuuming, and you just wear a mask, and
what do you do.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
With alans would have installation and stuff.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
You would have to vacu a vacuum and disinfect or
decontaminate the insulation, presumably.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Rip it out.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
If you leave that to a restoration company, they'll probably
rip it out and blow it all over your house.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's what they do.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
So you vacuum at first and then bag it up.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Hepa vacuum carefully contain it. You have multiple air scrubbing
devices HEPA filters.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
What's an aircra that's a new term for me to
air scrubber, air scrubber.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
So I know about those because I've had mold remediation
of a scrubber.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
But air scrubber isn't well.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
I mean, you can get them on Amazon right, there's
hundreds of different types. They're all fake or they really
don't do anything. That's a growth industry. So a HEPA
an air scrubber essentially captures microbes in the air and
traps them in the HEPA filter, but it doesn't do
anything unless that material is disturbed in the air. So
a lot of the air sampling you're seeing in the
(18:39):
Palisades is garbage because it only detects what is floating
your air. So I've done a few properties where I've
sampled their air quality, indoor air quality. The whole industry
is a scam because it's settled on the ground. Most
of the ash is heavy metals, so it's not in
the air. So I said, I'll do this sample for
five hundred bucks, but I'm not going to find it.
(19:00):
But I'm not gonna find anything. They say it would
just help me because I have children. I say, okay,
zero point zero because it measures total dust particulates in
the air.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
But Billy's playing it on the floor. Yeah, well so
you again, hepa, vacuum dat up? Yeah, you just get
it out. You know it's there among other things. Yes, amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
What's does your industry have a good relationship with the
insurers on this stuff?
Speaker 6 (19:23):
No, and that's that's a huge problem, particularly for Alta Dina.
Forgive me for so much detail, but the state is
presenting this as a free cleanup if you go with
the Army Corps of Engineers, right, But it turns out
the state essentially compelled the insurance companies to foot the bill. Now,
insurance companies, what they do is they calculate cost. Of course,
(19:43):
so the insurance company has proven with their own metrics
that demolition or a debris cleanup would cost, say fifty
thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
They have no experience with hazmat. Answer your question.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
I go to these clients and I say, well, the
disposal alone of the hazardous debris will be twenty thousand
dollars because it's has mad. The insurance companies have never
dealt with that. So they say, well, poor homeowner, will
only compensate you fifty grand, which means the homeowner, after
losing his house, has to pay me out of pocket
or just sit there and wait for the army for
(20:16):
five years.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So do we have a good relationship with insurance? There
is no.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Relationship because they don't have the relationship. Yeah, and also
this is so many these fire has been so massive.
I feel for them. I mean they're in a business
where they went what happened? Wait, what just happened? Which
is just horrendous. You know, I'm curious because for everybody
listening who isn't in this situation. I had down to
ask you. My wife wanted to no cleaning, what's the
(20:43):
best blown and oil cleaning? Cleaning supply. So this odor
pet owder, everybody, every product I've ever bought the claims
to do something doesn't do the thing. So I'm curious
what you use has to do the thing? So can
we buy from.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Over the Can you realize if answers this question the
trade secret, you don't have to know the type, the type.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Of areas area areas vinegar and bacon.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So I'll tell you yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
So again, my competitors would provide several different chemicals that
are the cutting edge technology. They bring out ozone machines,
hydroxyal machines and all this which I provide usually included
because it's anything that it doesn't cost me anything. The
number one cleaner is hydrogen peroxide. It's a miracle. And
the cool thing about it is if you're on a
(21:33):
blood scene and you can't always see where the blood is,
it stains where it's it's very hard to text.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
So you put down the hydro peroxide bones on protein enzymes.
So it's a miracle.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
So I really come on, really, no, really, that's not really.
I knew that you know hydrogen peroxide bones on protein.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Side did because where did I grow up? What was
my family?
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Livingston?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
New Jersey in the in the hospital.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Bus, my father's family. What do you know? Oh blood,
Now I get it. Yeah, so wait, hydron peroxide foams.
It finds the protein and.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
And it foams, and then you let it sit and
it it disinfects the majority of the material, but you
still have to crebit with scrub it with additional chemicals.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That's how you find it. So we've done some jobs.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Where you have a door and it looks fine and
you you put the hydrogen peroxide on it and it
foams and you can literally see a handprint.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
And then you clean it with other trades.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
My crow antimicrobial towels that absorb the surface.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
And I saw this in your biolet. How are you
getting rid of radioactive materials? What are you doing careful?
Speaker 6 (22:45):
It's a long story, but chiefly my what I what
I see in California is going to be raided on,
which is another homeowner's disaster because it's in it's naturally
occurring in the soil underneath your home, and the gases
go through your home up through the vents and it's
completely inert and it's harmless right on. But when it decays,
it produces polonium and lead as a radioactive byproduct that
(23:08):
settles on the dust in your home and is the
number two cause of lung cancer in the United States.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
And so to remediate that, you're just like using the
scrubbers and.
Speaker 6 (23:17):
The no well, I guess you would for the contaminants
or the radon die particles. Yes, but the way to
mitigate rate on itself is simply to vent it. You
produce negative pressure in the soil and it sucks it
up in the air.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
So I read that. Of all the stuff you got
to do, the hardest issue is when you go into
a hoarder situation and you're not, so, why, what's the
level of difficulty there? That's above everything else.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
Porting is difficult because it so often overlaps with issues
like biohazard and death, and they don't often even know,
you know, it's just like, well, the what you see
on the TV shows are generally accurate in the sense
that they are absolutely out of control. Every family member
involved is hysterical, none of them has any money. That's
the hardest part for a business because it's a terribly sensitive,
(24:07):
slow situation. The psychological aspect is very very difficult, so
it takes so long, so eventually you start to you
just start to lose all your profit. Eventually you can
kind of make some progress, get the material out of there,
and then you often find a dead cat or a
dead dog that's been decomposing. Now that may not sound
like a big deal. We've all had dead mice, dead rats.
(24:28):
But if you have decomposition of an organism, it is
a health hazard. It's a severe one. And if you have
like rats, I just cleaned up rats, exploding rats.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Believe it or not, they got into it. Well, back
up another bell.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
I think it's time for exploding rats.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Really do it?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Wait? What are exploding rats? Right? By? Realized the rat
looks at you and boom.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
I wish they just ate insulation inside of a transform
and they blew up so there's guts.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
But tell us no.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
The point for hoarding is if you have a build
up of a film of rat feces it produced, it's
a significant hazard of haunted virus, and haunta virus has
like a thirty percent death rate.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
It's no joke.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
I got to tell you, it's almost like firefighters. When
I went into the house first time, I had on
one of those papers just to keep clean whatever. And
I had on a mask respirator I think loves in
the booties, and I'm trying to just do minor stuff
and I'm sweating like I've never seen I got and
I've never sweated before, so I can't And I was
only in there for a short time. But I got
(25:34):
to tell you, I don't know how you do it. Well.
You must lose forty pounds of weight every job you do,
because it's forget the emotionality of dealing with human beings
that are in a state that they're so sad. But
the work, it's one thing do in lifting car and
cleaning when you're not wearing that. When you're wearing that,
isn't it almost impossible? It's real, very difficult.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
You can't breathe, you can't see anything, You're respirator's fog up.
It's it's scary, especially when you're an environment that is
surrounded by potential danger, very scary.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Do you ever get to a place and go Nope, No, no,
I'm not that smart.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
There's never been where you go my pay right doing.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
It, But thanks for showing us in. It's interesting. Also,
you know, be careful with high pressure, high sales, because
there are a lot of people who run into this stuff.
Whether it's this or you're listening in North Carolina or
whatever tragedy you deal with, you look for somebody who's
certified and registered. Yes, yes, always always to do the work.
Don't don't sign anything or do anything with somebody who's
(26:31):
not not registered for disaster work. Correct and what kind
of what kind of certification is it?
Speaker 6 (26:37):
So is the case with the Palisades clean up? Has
Matt contractors only, so not restoration, not just demolition. All
these people coming out of the woodwork has Matt contractors
only only. We have the insurance and the training to
protect our men. They're paid well, they're insured. That's how
they can mitigate the contaminants from spreading and to protect
the family and themselves well.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
And there's a lot of miss information, So just be
careful right and ask the right questions and get somebody
who's certified.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
And thank you for coming in and once again, ladies
and gentlemen may Field Environmental, Thanks James than.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
So U you feel better. I feel worse, you know what.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
I'll be okay, And it's it's just it's what it is.
But I really the people who've lost their home and
trying to deal with that. I don't know how you
do that where you lost.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Everything, But you know, Peter, in some ways, and we
were talking about this a little bit before the show.
In some ways, for some kinds of people, not everybody,
the complete wipeout is a cleaner break than what you're
left with because you've got one foot in.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Yeah, but you know what, we'll be We'll be okay,
So yeah, we'll we'll It's tough for me to talk
about still because I'm in it, but I'm very cognizant
that we were. We're not in it to the extent
so many.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Before understood, well, here's a man whose house is never
on fire, but it's always in the path of a hurricane.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
David Googan, Right right, Doc, we're talking to here. Comfortable,
I've been, don't jinx me.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
I've I've been lucky so far.
Speaker 7 (28:22):
Just one thing I want to mention about Peter situation.
The house that burns down. I think people understand right,
it's it's gone, everything is gone. But I had mentioned
someone to someone about the toxic dust that and They're like, oh, yeah,
but you know.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You you but that's outside.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
You just I was down that and I'm like, no, it's.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Not outside the house, it's inside the house, right, everything
in the refrigerator you open.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
You know a point, David, we have a friend who
you know, and I'll tell you later who it is.
It's not that far from me. He's a very nice house.
But if your windows weren't one hundred percent secure, there
was a ninety mile Parliament. I never felt anything like that.
He basically had me laughed and he left. He said,
my neighbor's tesla basically blew into my living room. He said,
(29:12):
it's not full, but the cars in there because the
wind just got in. And there's so much good and
ash like he said, my neighbor literally, my neighbor's is
in my living So, yeah, way has been. I'm thinking
a segway out of there.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
The cheery, the cheery episode. This should be the Christmas episode.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Don't you think it's the holiday episode?
Speaker 5 (29:37):
It's a horse, it's a harsh. Yeah, So all those
people lost their homes. Man, you don't know, you just
don't even know what to say in both of those fires,
and and I hope there, I hope they get the
help they need.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
But you know, somebody's house burns down every day, and
it's just as devastating, it's just as awful. And this
is the thing we always try and sound the show,
and we always, Peter and I try.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
And make a point of it all the time.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Although we joke a lot, we could all be a
lot nicer to each other.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
We could take care of it.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Always checked a little bit more because everybody is going
through something.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
And I wish dinner because everybody's got a fifty pound
back of spent on your shoulder. You don't know if
the kids cancer, you don't know what's going on. But
I got to tell you, the kindness and the outreak
was insane. I think everybody so yep, well I'll get
through it, you know we will. And and like I said,
my heart goes out to people who were really really lost,
lost their memories and their houses and family.
Speaker 9 (30:35):
Do you know what they have in this show? Oh
that I'm gonna throw up. I just threw up my mouth.
Really no, really, I can clean that up. James. It's
an out of the park.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
That's another episode of really no really comes to a close.
I know you're wondering what the hell is actually in
all that soot and ash spread over Los Angeles County.
That answer in a moment verse, Let's thank our guest,
James Mayfield. You can contact his business at their website
mayfieldeanv dot com. On x they are at Mayfield and Viral.
On Yelp they are Mayfield Environmental Solutions, and on Facebook
(31:16):
there Mayfield Environmental Engineering. Find all pertinent links in our
show notes, our little show hangs out on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
and threads at Really No Really podcast, And of course
you can share your thoughts and feedback with us online
at reallynoreally dot com. If you have a really some
amazing factor story that boggles your mind, share it with
(31:39):
us and if we use it, we will send you
a little gift. Nothing life changing, obviously, but it's the
thought that counts. Check out our full episodes on YouTube,
hit that subscribe button and take that bell so you're
updated when we release new videos and episodes, which we
do each Tuesday. So listen and follow us on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
(32:01):
And now the answer to the question, what is actually
in all that soot and ash spread across LA? While
the ash dispersed over Los Angeles following the January twenty
twenty five wildfires consists of a complex mixture of substances,
primarily due to the combustion of both natural vegetation and
urban structures. Key components include one particulate matter or PM
(32:22):
two point five. These fine particles measuring two point five
microns or smaller can penetrate deep into the lungs and
even enter the bloodstream, posing significant health risks.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Two toxic metals.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
The burning of urban infrastructure releases heavy metals such as
lead and zinc into the environment. Three carcinogenic compounds. Smoke
from urban fires contains carcinogens, posing long term health risks
to those who inhale it. And four volatile organic compounds
or voceeds. Combustion releases VOCs like formaldehyde, which are harmful
when inhaled. These components contribute to hazardous air quality, with
(32:58):
particulate matter levels reaching thirty six point eight times the
World Health Organization guideline value during the fires. This noxious
mix gets into the soil, the air, the water tables,
and swimming pools, imposes significant health risks, particularly to vulnerable
populations and emergency responders. To everyone whose lives have been
upended by the LA fires, we wish you speedy recovery
(33:21):
and better days ahead. And to all our listeners, please
go online and search for how.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
You can help.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thank you really doing a really is production of Blase Entertainment.
Hosts And Creators
Peter Tilden
Jason Alexander
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