"At a church parking lot near Los Angeles, two hazmat-suit-clad workers vacuumed and wiped most of the contents of Elle Schneider's house. Surrounded by stacked plastic bins of books and clothes, they opened up the drawers of a squat wooden dresser and swabbed the outside of a tall white cabinet. Elle Schneider (Alex Welsh/Bloomberg) The blaze that ravaged the LA suburb of Altadena in January stopped some 50 feet short of the freelance cinematographer's home,"
"What are we facing? What are we exposed to? Is it safe?' We hear these questions all the time, said Yifang Zhu, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles's public health school who's been measuring pollution related to the fires since early this year. This knowledge and new insights will be very helpful for the future. It's an unprecedented research effort that's unfolding in real time and made more challenging by pre-existing environmental contamination"
Wildfire smoke left a complex mix of hazardous pollutants, including lead, arsenic and benzene, inside homes and yards across Los Angeles. Residents relied on makeshift remediation centers and private specialists to clean or discard contaminated belongings. Federal and local standards for post-fire decontamination and exposure limits are lacking. Researchers and public-health teams have mobilized to measure pollution and identify risks, conducting testing that often exceeds official post-fire assessments. The work is complicated by pre-existing contamination sources that can confound results. Health effects from many smoke-related toxins remain poorly understood, leaving residents uncertain about safety.
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