A once-thriving California Air Force base has been turned into a ghost town 32 years after it closed due to a major asbestos problem and the presence of dangerous chemicals.
George Air Force Base (AFB), originally known as Victorville Army Airfield, was established in World War II to support tactical combat operations and train aircrews.
It was permanently closed in December 1992, two years after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deemed it a Superfund site due to a shocking discovery of soil, water and air contaminants. Years later, several former residents have suffered a litany of serious health problems.
Since its closure, explorers have posted videos online touring the abandoned site, with homes, shops, schools and other dilapidated facilities destroyed.
“The proliferation of abandoned and sometimes dilapidated buildings, the dead landscape and years of collected weeds create a very eerie place,” said one visitor.
The once thriving George Air Force Base (pictured) now lies abandoned after closing in December 1992
The former medical building (pictured) is covered in broken glass and graffiti
Other images show residential complexes with their windows and stairs smashed, as well as a medical building covered in broken glass.
“I’ll be honest, this place scares me a little,” said another explorer. ‘It’s just a disaster. The pollution on the ground is terrible. It’s just a very sad sight because there’s a lot of history in it.”
The 5,347-acre base is located about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County, near the cities of Victorville and Adelanto.
During its operation, the EPA found that the site was subject to mandatory use and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous materials.
“At least 50 years of military aircraft operations have resulted in several pollutants of potential concern (COPCs) leaching into soil and groundwater, potentially impacting human health and the environment,” the agency said.
The abandoned site has destroyed homes, shops, schools and other dilapidated facilities
Houses with broken windows and broken doors have been broken into
The EPA said groundwater at George AFB is contaminated with jet fuel, trichlorethylene (TCE), pesticides and nitrates.
The soil is contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), dioxins, construction waste, medical waste, pesticides, semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), and various inorganic compounds.
More than 100,000 people were potentially exposed to unsafe levels of hazardous, toxic and radioactive materials at and around the site, the report said. George AFB Infoa website run by a former airman who lived on base.
Nearly 20,000 people lived in the surrounding community and 80,000 worked, lived and attended school on the base.
George AFB Info obtained a copy of a preliminary review of the base’s environmental requirements and concerns from 1993, which showed that 40 percent of buildings constructed on the site before 1980 tested positive for asbestos.
The base was established in World War II to support tactical combat operations and train aircrews
Nearly 20,000 people lived in the surrounding community, and 80,000 worked, lived, and attended school on the base
In 2020, at least 51 plaintiffs attempted to sue the federal government, alleging that exposure to toxic chemicals from the base had led to a range of medical problems, from cancer and heart disease to miscarriages and infertility. The Orange County Register.
However, a judge dismissed their lawsuit, claiming the federal government has “sovereign immunity.”
In recent years, people living on the base have spoken out about the diseases they suffered, and women shared stories of being told by officials not to get pregnant while living there.
Denise Torri and her husband served together at George from 1986 to 1989 Military times shortly after they married in 1987, she became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage.
When she went to the doctor on base, Torri said they warned her, “Don’t get pregnant.”
Pictured: An overhead photo of George FB’s abandoned houses
Denise Torri (pictured) served at George from 1986 to 1989, was advised by officials not to become pregnant and suffered a miscarriage while living there
“Wouldn’t you just assume it was to make you relax?” [in order to have a successful pregnancy]Torri said. “You don’t think they’re actually telling you, ‘Don’t get pregnant.’
Terrine Crooks said Truth that while living on base in 1981, she became pregnant and gave birth to her son thirteen weeks prematurely.
Her son suffered multiple brain hemorrhages shortly after his birth and developed a series of health problems, including cerebral palsy.
Crooks said she also developed health problems that led to her having a hysterectomy at age 31 and a bilateral mastectomy at age 40.
When she learned that George had been named a Superfund site, she filed a claim with the Veteran’s Association and won in 2014. The decision stated that her medical condition was “at least as likely if not” caused by her military service, with especially her time on base.
“I support the military 100 percent, but I am angry and angry that they could do this to me and my family,” Crooks told the newspaper. “I’m crazy, honestly.”