After fires, the radiant sky las “toxic soup”

On Sunday, in February, white Ford Van drew through fire in the vicinity of Altaden in California, popijowe lasted an frontal. The charred washing machines were on bare concrete foundations.

“I can’t imagine coming back to it,” said Albert Kyi, a student student at the University of Texas in Austin, briefly lifting a laptop and a van window.

However, he and his colleagues were there to assist people find out if it was protected to do it. Mast protruding from the roof of the van sent readings on hundreds of compounds in the air to the laptop. Kyi said that this laboratory on wheels was so sensitive that he can detect the chemicals produced by someone who pearls orange outside.

The data collected by the team was part of the newly launched study that tracking the impact of fires in Los Angeles over the next decade. Traveling 38,000 acres, which include two burn zones in Altadena and Pacific Palisades together with the surrounding region, scientists hope to fill the gaps in data on air, soil and water quality. They have already found a reason for concern.

Over 16,000 houses and buildings were destroyed, and another 2000 were damaged during recent fires. Until now, there is narrow information for tens of thousands of inhabitants returning home to the affected areas, whether it can be protected to cultivate vegetables in the courtyards, swimming in pools or choosing a morning run, especially since reconstruction efforts are potentially caused by toxic ash.

Scientists detected a high concentration of Furfural, a compound associated with burned vegetation. “There are also spikes of styrene and benzene,” Kyi added, and his voice suppressed the respirator’s mask.

These volatile organic compounds or LZO were particularly disturbing, because at a high level they can cause cancer. They could be produced by melted plastic or gasoline in burned cars sitting on the driveways. In the atmosphere they It can create small particles This can irritate the lungs and augment the risk of lung disease, stroke and heart attacks.

That is why the second vehicle behind the van records the number of pollutants in real time so well that they can reach deep into the lungs and swim into the bloodstream and even the brain after inhaling. In the burn zone, the levels of such ultraphin particles were even five times higher than levels usually observed in areas intact by fires or bulky traffic.

Still, many scientists do not know about the threats to the health of these and other emissions that could be produced by fires, including at what level, they can become perilous, or like other factors, such as genetics of a given person or existing health conditions, may affect this risk.

Even with only preliminary data, scientists could say one with little doubts. Nobody should be in the burn zone or near it without a mask – especially not doing any exercises, regardless of whether it was an evening walk or working on cleaning what is left.

After returning home, “toxic soup”

In the past, scientists studying fires and human health have largely focused on the immediate effects of inhalation of smoke and the threats that front employees faced, such as firefighters who are in much more risk developing lung cancer and heart disease.

But because fires around the world have become more recurrent and earnest, they are a greater risk of a much larger number of people. This makes it more critical than ever to know what impurities are in smoke and where they end.

For example, during almost monthly fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the Pilek and ash of the Pencil and ash traveled several dozen miles from the vigorous burn zone, passing the homes of millions of inhabitants before they blew up into the sea.

“People return to their homes and live in a toxic soup,” said Michael Jerrett, a scientist of the environmental health at the University of California in Los Angeles, who cooperates with the up-to-date effort. Previous studies of Dr. Jerrett suggested this Over 50,000 premature deaths In California, in the years 2008–2018, pollution of fires can be attributed to pollution.

Fires were burning for about a week, when the up-to-date research cooperation began to shape. Representative of Spiegel Family Fund, a philanthropic organization created by co -founder Snapchat Evan Spiegel, began to reach outstanding fire researchers, said Dr. Kari Nadeau, a doctor and an expert on the health of the environment on Harvard and one of the leaders of up-to-date efforts. Mr. Spiegel saw his father’s house destroyed Through the fire of Palisades.

Research efforts will be Monitor residents In the case of heart disease, breathing problems, cancer and other conditions over the next decade – an idea from the register established for people exposed to smoke and dust from attacks of September 11.

In the burn zone, the federal government supervises the removal of debris along with six inches of soil to reduce toxins. EPA stated that after cleaning it will not replenish the soil – although soil repairs and reconstruction may arouse potentially harmful molecules that have already settled.

Fires were still on fire at the end of January, when Mr. Kyi and other students from the University of Texas were asked to load a van in Austin and lead to the West to start gathering these samples. Because the van is an electric vehicle – to prevent the machine from sucking their own emission to the tail pipe – the team had to stop for fees every 100 miles along the way.

Scientists so far Let’s say that the readings suggest that the pollution above the mile outside the burn zone has been thinned sufficiently by the surrounding air, that they are a compact danger. “I don’t think people have to worry about leaving Los Angeles,” said Yifang Zhu, a researcher of air pollution from the University of California, Los Angeles, cooperating in research.

However, inside the burn zone, scientists are still trying to determine pollution and long -term risk. While some chemicals that the team identified were associated with cancer and developmental disorders, most were never examined in terms of their health effects. Some early studies have also found Elevated lead levels In samples of ash and dust taken from the region, but it was not as earnest or as common as it was initially afraid.

Another concern that emerged Previous research: Intensive heat of fires can normally transform the gentle form of chromium, metal found in some California soils, in carcinogenic chrome, which can end in air dust and ash. Researchers are waiting for their results regarding chromium levels, and are also looking for the so -called “forever chemicals”, which are used in coolers and non -uncertainty coatings and do not break down in the environment. These and other results will be made available when they appear Project website and in reviewed publications.

Even houses are Escated flames may contain hidden dangers, which is why researchers also test indoor air. Smoke and ash that have arrived home will continue to release volatile organic compounds for many months or longer. Six months after a fire in Marshall in Boulder in 2021, Colo. Some residents who came back A sore throat, recurrent headaches and cough developed into their homes inside or near the burn zone.

Josh West, a professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California, lost about one third of his home in Pacific Palisades. “The house is covered with smoke, but the left side is not structurally damaged,” he said.

He runs a separate research project to understand how pollution on Earth and water spreads from the burn zone, but the biggest personal question is whether any of his home can be safely saved.

“What do you do with what you don’t see?” He said. “It is complex to develop your head around the contamination.”