Manager of Fire-Damaged Building Now Says Some Units Contaminated with Asbestos, Tenants Still Locked Out

A property management company that locked dozens of tenants out of a Pasadena apartment building after a December fire citing safety concerns now says asbestos contamination has been discovered in 18 of the units, and its employees have been threatened with shooting.

“Trilliant has received written threats of violence, including shooting our employees with a shotgun. It has been speculated that this threat is from one of these tenants, and is currently under investigation,” Erik Rivera, CEO, told Pasadena Now.

According to the email from Rivera, 18 of the 36 units located in an apartment building in the 200 block of South Madison Avenue are contaminated with asbestos, but residents claim they have seen no proof of that claim.

“They haven’t given us any proof of anything,” said Joshua Blumenkopf. “They say they found asbestos in all the common areas as well as in half of the apartments, including mine.”

American Environmental Group has completed contamination testing in all units and reportedly found the evidence of the asbestos.

According to Blumkopf, Trilliant Property Management has claimed cleanup of the common areas has been completed.

“My apartment they said was contaminated. Again, there’s been no proof of that. I tried speaking with the company they hired, but they said ‘we can’t speak with you about that.’ This is kind of ridiculous.”

Tenant Navroj Ravi also said he has not seen any hard proof of asbestos contamination.

According to Rivera, the units have not yet been remediated because it requires tenants to sign the respective paperwork.

“While some have been very cooperative, there are others who are refusing to cooperate with the requirements,” Rivera said.

Tenants have not been allowed in their unit since the blaze broke out on Dec. 19. After the fire, the displaced tenants told Pasadena Now they received very little communication or help from Trilliant and earlier this month objected to paying February rent.

A meeting by Trilliant with the tenants at City Hall in January was canceled. Under the rules of that meeting, tenants would have been forced to submit their cell phones and speak for less than two minutes. They would be recorded. Trilliant officials also said they would not make copies of the meeting transcript available to tenants, and threatened to have them physically removed if they disrupted the meeting.

City officials objected to the rules and the meeting was canceled. Tenants were then told they would not have to pay February rent.

The 18 units will require a Procedure 5 clean up. Under Procedure 5, the Environmental Protection Agency mandates a specialized clean-up process must be completed by a licensed abatement company.

Asbestos is six silicate mineral composed of long, thin, fibrous crystals. The fibers are composed of microscopic ‘fibrils’ that can be released into the atmosphere by abrasion and other processes. Inhaling asbestos can cause cancer.

Asbestos was used as a building material for years because it is an excellent electrical insulator and is highly resistant to heat.

However due to the associated health risks, the use of asbestos as a building material is now illegal in many countries.

It is not known when the building was last examined or how long asbestos has been in the units.

Cleanup will be performed by Burns Environmental Services (BES).

Tenants living in uncontaminated have been told they can remove their personal belongings from their apartments. However they have been told to limit their time in their units to three hours.

Tenants who had lived in the contaminated units could lose many of their belongings.

Under the cleanup plan, porous contents are considered ‘asbestos waste,’ including papers, clothes, beds, and any items that cannot be wiped down. It also includes computers, appliances, TV’s, and any electronic items that have a fan.

Hard items like tables, dishes, and golf clubs can be cleaned.

The tenants will have three options on the removal of their items.

Under the first option, BES will dispose of all personal contents as asbestos waste. The cost of this disposal will be covered by property ownership and insurance.

The second option allows the tenant to accept all contents as asbestos waste. BES will double bag and burrito wrap all content and take that content outside of the containment area. Once the content has been removed from the containment area, the tenant will need to immediately take possession of it. BES and ownership won’t accept any responsibility for individuals that elect to accept asbestos-contaminated content. Content left behind will be disposed of. The content cannot be brought back into the unit.

Under the third option, BES will take 1.5 hours to bag specific items that the owner wants to accept as asbestos waste. The owner of the content must be on site (near the property, but not in the containment area) to better direct BES as to what items they want. Once content has been removed from the containment area, the tenant will need to immediately take possession of that content.

Content left behind will be disposed of. Additional time removing content from unit will be billed to tenant. All remaining content will be disposed of.

“Our hearts are heavy to see our tenants having to go through this,” Rivera wrote.