Burning at Pesticide yard

Location: 28 W Young Rd, Calipatria, CA 92233, USA

Category: Air

Description:

The marker is set at a burn in the pesticide applicator plant I took this photo from the school.

Administrator Comment: 03/03/2017: DTSC Imperial CUPA - Telephoned Enrique Campos, shop foreman of the Dune Company of Imperial Valley, LLC-Calipatria Yard. Campos states Dune Company does not burn anything in the Calipatria yard ever. He suggested an adjacent agricultural property may have done a controlled burn, and the complainant mistook the location for the Dune Company yard. I next contacted Hiram Rocha, Agricultural Biologist, at Imperial County Ag Comm. I asked Rocha to give me contact information for the owner of the agricultural parcel to the west. Rocha states he needs more information regarding the location of the burn relative to the two canals to complete the request. He gave me the contact information for a nursery (Bloom to Box Crop Care) located SE of the burn. Nursery owner Mark Bloom states no one burned anything at the nursery location today. Rocha states he is working until 5:00pm and suggests we have the complainant contact him for further assistance. He will suggest the complainant also contact APCD. *******Ag Commissioner's Office: Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner staff have looked into this incident due to the mention of the pesticide plant. While our office doesn’t have jurisdiction over agricultural or residential burning, we would investigate wherever allegations of pesticides are concerned (burning or otherwise). We have contacted the nearest pesticide company and found that they do not store pesticides at their facility in Calipatria, only fertilizer. Additionally, they have reported to DTSC that “they [do] not burn anything in the Calipatria yard ever.” Based on the photograph and the report description the exact location of the burn is unclear, but does not appear to be in the vicinity of the pesticide company. The alleged burning of pesticides or pesticide containers is an issue of serious concern to our office. In the event of future concerns of potential pesticide misuse please contact the Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner’s office at 442-265-1500.