Nuclear research ended at the site in 1988 and rocket testing stopped in 2006. The defunct, 2,800-acre federal research complex\u2014once jointly occupied by NASA, the Department of Energy and Boeing\u2014still has radioactive and chemical contamination. Boeing has owned the site since 1996.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amid the fire, which swelled to over 2,100 acres, and was 40 percent contained as of Friday afternoon<\/a>, the Ventura County Fire Department said that \u201chazardous materials and radiological monitoring teams\u201d continue to track air quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n Air sampling locations have been established in seven areas near the fire northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the county said Thursday evening<\/a>. The Department of Energy is also assisting with air monitoring around the SSFL site \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d county officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between Monday and Friday, residents have observed the Sandy Fire encroaching closer to the site.<\/a><\/p>\n There is \u201cno indication that any radiological material\u201d has been released from the former nuclear site, Andrew Dowd, an engineer and spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department, told Inside Climate News Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fire has not reached the Santa Susana Field Laboratory,\u201d added Dowd, noting residents can track updates online.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n SSFL is known locally due to radiation concerns of local residents\u00a0 as years pass without a finished cleanup. A number of studies have sent families mixed signals over how worried they should be regarding exposure from the site, where possibly<\/a> one of the worst nuclear meltdowns <\/a>in U.S. history was recorded.<\/p>\n The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District noted on Friday in an e-mail that it is \u201cnot aware of any confirmed off-site air quality impacts\u201d specifically attributable to SSFL amid the Sandy Fire.<\/p>\n A spokesman for Boeing said Friday the company is \u201ccontinuing to coordinate with authorities responsible for fire control.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The California Department of Toxic Substances Control also continues to work with emergency response units, a spokesperson with the agency said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n The recent wildfire at one point placed more than 33,000 people under evacuation orders. Some families left voluntarily.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Like past blazes, the growing wildfire makes Amy Marshall, a former resident, nervous, specifically because of SSFL.<\/p>\n \u201c(I\u2019m) very concerned every time there\u2019s a fire,\u201d the 27-year-old said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n She remembers growing up in Simi Valley and hearing of the toxins at the lab site.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely keep all the windows closed,\u201d said Marshall, who now lives in nearby Thousand Oaks and works in advertising. \u201cWe use tons of air filters in every room, and I don\u2019t go outside. If I have to go outside, I\u2019ll wear a mask or I\u2019ll go out to visit a family member up north to avoid the smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n Radiation measurements collected as recently as last year\u2014as well as modeling conducted after the 2018 Woolsey Fire\u2014\u201dcontinue to indicate that the extremely low levels of residual radioactive material at the site pose no risk to public health, even in the event wildfire activity reaches the area,\u201d the Ventura County Fire Department said Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\n However, this time residents are concerned that shifting winds have put more people in the path of potentially contaminated smoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Woolsey Fire<\/a> burned through 80 percent of the SSFL site. Most of the affected area in that blaze was in the southern buffer zone and in the rocket testing area, not the nuclear testing area.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the Woolsey fire, the wind was blowing straight out to sea the whole time,\u201d said one former heavy equipment operator who asked that his name not be used. He said he worked side by side with Ventura County Fire cutting fire lines for decades. \u201cBut this time with all the shifting winds \u2026 I don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cSo yeah, I\u2019m really concerned.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The state Department of Toxic Substances Control told the community during the Woolsey Fire that there was no risk of radioactive contamination, an assertion it confirmed in its 2020 final report on the fire.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n An independent study<\/a>\u2014looking at 360 samples from the area around the burn zone\u2014later found that 3 percent of them contained radioactive particles that could be traced to the SSFL. And still another study, funded by Boeing, found no such contamination.\u00a0<\/p>\n All these years later, the SSFL cleanup plan<\/a> still has not been finalized. Interim measures have meant about 6,000 cubic yards<\/a> of the most contaminated soil was removed in 2024. However, that cleanup was limited to a single area.\u00a0<\/p>\n The scope of the full remediation is still being decided by the state, federal authorities and Boeing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As the Sandy Fire continues, community members remain vigilant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Responding agencies \u201care saying, \u2018Yes, we\u2019re concerned about the air quality coming off that site with this fire,\u2019 so that I think that\u2019s a huge step,\u201d Stephen Andrews, who also lives in Thousand Oaks near the lab site, said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 71-year-old retired construction supervisor was still concerned, but considered the Sandy Fire response progress compared to how things were handled during the Woolsey Fire. During that fire, he doesn\u2019t recall a publicly accessible air monitoring dashboard.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though Andrews hopes more will be done before fire season, he said he is glad that the responding agencies \u201care taking it seriously this time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. 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