Private disaster company hired to clean up Kobe Bryant crash site

Workers in hazmat suits have started cleaning up the debris and toxic material at the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash site. 

The team from BMS-Cat, a Texas-based company, which specializes in emergency cleanups, was hired by AIG Insurance to clean out the area, according to the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which has a headquarters that borders the crash site.

“They’re making sure any piece of the crash, anything from the fuselage, or glass, and those types of things, are completely removed from the site,” spokesman Mike McNutt explained after The Post spotted the workers and asked the agency why they were there. 

“If God didn’t want it there, they don’t want it there either.” 

The site of the accident is situated in a remote, mountainous area in Calabasas, on publicly maintained land that’s typically used for hiking, according to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which oversees the area.

The Las Virgenes headquarters borders that land and has been at the center of the clean up because of their proximity to the hard-to-reach site. 

“Getting to the site has been very challenging and the most direct route for the response team was to basically just go straight up through the back of our property to the crash site,” McNutt explained. 

Dash Stolarz, the public affairs director for the MRCA, said a lot of work needs to get done before the area can be opened to the public again. 

“When the helicopter crashed, it released a lot of jet fuel and a lot of hydraulic fuel, which is toxic,” Stolarz explained. 

“It is very contaminated, there’s a really strong scent of fuel and it’s a public trail so they have [to clear it out.] The public cannot have contact with jet fuel.” 

Once the debris is removed, the private companies will clear out the soil, replace it and then have it tested by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to ensure it’s safe.

Just over a week ago, Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, along with seven others were killed when Bryant’s helicopter crashed into a side of the mountain after flying through bad conditions. 

The group was expected at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a basketball game about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles when the devastating wreck occurred.