Official Apologizes for Failing to Issue Notice on Dump Fire
Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi Friday won an apology from a top city official who agreed that his agency had erred in failing to notify the community about an underground fire that smoldered for a week at the Lopez Canyon Landfill before being extinguished.
“We should have put out a sani-gram” notice to the public about the fire, said Delwin Biagi, chief of the Bureau of Sanitation, the agency that operates the huge, city-owned landfill in Lake View Terrace. The bureau calls its public notices “sani-grams.”
Biagi apologized during an emergency hearing that was quickly organized during Friday’s City Council meeting at the request of Bernardi. Bureau of Sanitation officials said later that the fire was only one cubic yard in size. The fire was detected Sept. 5 and apparently extinguished within days.
Bernardi, who represents the areas adjoining the often-controversial landfill, said not disclosing the fire undermined the bureau’s credibility with the community. The fire’s existence was first reported in The Times on Friday.
Decaying bacteria in the landfill generates heat, which, if sufficient air is available, can start a fire. The air in this fire came from a broken water-drainage pipe, city officials said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
