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.
The blaze that ravaged the LA suburb of Altadena in January stopped some 50 feet short of the freelance cinematographer’s home, but its plumes filtered through doors and windows, leaving behind lead and other hazardous substances.
“It’s embarrassing and it’s dehumanizing to have to do this in front of the entire neighborhood,” said Schneider, who relied on the makeshift remediation center at the church to clean many of her belongings. “It’s bad enough to have to throw out so much of your stuff.”
Months after the smoke from California’s destructive fires cleared from LA skies, residents are still reckoning with a toxic stew of smoke pollutants whose effects on human health are poorly understood. Without federal and local standards on how to deal with contaminants like arsenic and the carcinogen benzene, dozens of researchers and private specialists are combing through yards and homes, work that goes beyond authorities’ post-fire testing.
“‘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 — some of the contaminants might have come from sources other than the fire. But it’s a pressing task as wildfires increasingly spill into communities, fueled by hotter and drier conditions induced by climate change.
Unlike fires in wilderness areas, which mostly consume vegetation, this breed of urban conflagration sucks up buildings, cars and their contents, spitting hazards well beyond the burn area. Some experts say the risks for those exposed could be akin to those of 9/11 and other events that spewed toxic smoke and dust into the environment, though research into this is still in early stages.
The work is also addressing gaps in the government’s response to fires like this one.
California’s insurance commissioner created a task force earlier this year to come up with best practices for smoke claims, but the group doesn’t expect to issue recommendations until early next year.
“In the absence of established standards, site-specific smoke damage remediation will need to be guided by the professional judgment of qualified experts,” a LA County Department of Public Health spokesperson said in a statement.
A Slew of Tests
Inside a burn zone in the affluent Pacific Palisades area, Zhu and two of her postdoctoral researchers scanned the well-kept family room of one of the still-standing homes, on the hunt for invisible pollution fire smoke might have left behind.
They considered a dark knit blanket perched on the couch, before nixing it — too big — and plucked a set of navy and gray throw pillows instead. With gloved hands, they sealed them in white plastic trash bags. Back at UCLA, Zhu’s team tested them for traces of around 30 volatile organic compounds, which compromise air quality and pose health risks such as respiratory issues and cancer.
So-called wildland-urban interface fires, which can unleash dangerous substances into residential areas, now make up a larger share of all fires. Lingering pollutants in still-standing homes can pose similar risks to active wildfire smoke as people kick up and inhale fine particles that settle on the ground or inside homes.
Fires are Increasingly Sparking Where Cities Meet Wildlands | Land affected by wildland-urban interface fires as a share of overall burned areas
After a wildfire the size of the ones in LA or Lahaina, Hawaii, the federal government usually removes hazardous materials, debris and up to several inches of soil from burned areas. But it has traditionally worked in places damaged by flames, not smoke.
“Most government post-fire efforts focus on visible debris removal,” said Zhu. “They rarely enter homes to measure indoor VOCs or particulates.”
The US Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency referred Bloomberg News to federal cleanup guidance for homes affected by fire-related ash, soot and smoke, which calls for homeowners to mist with water before sweeping and to use a special HEPA-style vacuum that captures tiny particles.
LA County’s public health department has warned about the risks from lead and other heavy metals, asbestos and hazardous chemicals to those living near burned areas. But its testing efforts today are mainly limited to lead in soil with funding from a pre-existing lead paint mitigation program.
“Local public health has no funds, to be frankly honest,” said Nichole Quick, chief medical advisor to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “It’s the property owner that has to take that on.”
While the lead levels in soil officials have found are worrisome, independent researchers say there’s a lot more to be concerned about. Data from private homeowner tests compiled by Eaton Fire Residents United, a nonprofit advocating for locals, showed that nearly 20% of 129 homes that screened for it had asbestos, a once common building material known to cause cancer.
The testing also detected other hazardous heavy metals, including nickel, which is toxic in powder form, and arsenic.
Some have been particularly alarmed by the presence of beryllium, a carcinogen that isn’t commonly tested for after wildfires. The metal could have come from computers’ copper wiring or the aluminum in burned cars. While contaminants are generally thought to be more dangerous at higher doses, even exposure to very small amounts of beryllium can lead to disease.
Researchers say it’s hard to determine the risks these chemicals pose to residents because this kind of wildfire-related pollution in homes hasn’t been well studied.
“We really don’t know long-term effects,” said John Balmes, a physician at University of California at San Francisco and UC Berkeley emeritus professor.
Although the federal government has estimates of acceptable daily exposures to the hazardous substances detected in Los Angeles-area houses, the projections have limitations in how they can be applied for wildfire contamination, experts say. The EPA and LA County’s public health department said there are currently no guidelines for gauging the risk of these chemicals when they come from wildfire smoke.
There’s also confusion around the testing itself, with procedures varying widely, experts say. One common test is better known for detecting hazardous materials in landfill-bound waste rather than ash that settles on a floor or windowsill.
California environmental officials released guidance for soil testing in late August, but aren’t working on protocols for smoke pollution in standing homes.
In the meantime, Zhu, the UCLA scientist, hopes her research can help guide homeowners. Her tests inside homes go beyond those typically conducted by officials and industrial hygienists, screening for toxic compounds like ethylbenzene, a possible carcinogen, and toluene and xylenes, which can affect the nervous system.
It’s complicated science — like lead, VOCs might have predated the fires as they are found in common household products. Still, Zhu found acetic acid, a compound of wildfire smoke, in most items that her team has tested so far, indicating that they were affected by fire-related chemicals.
In the Pacific Palisades home, the navy and gray throw pillows Zhu sampled had particularly high levels of toluene, which can be produced during combustion.
The homeowners still haven’t returned.
Homeowner Decisions
As scientists piece together the pollution picture, homeowners are navigating the disaster’s aftermath with little information — and often covering its costs out of their own pocket. Testing alone can cost around $2,500 to $20,000, advocates say.
Nicole Maccalla was billed $83,000 for professional remediators to vacuum, wipe down floors and clean upholstery of the smoke and ash that infiltrated indoors. She’d hoped to test in case traces of contamination had been left behind, but her insurer — which will only cover a portion of the cleaning — has resisted paying, she said. With financial pressures mounting, Maccalla and her family moved back into their Altadena home.
Within weeks, her pets had fallen sick with fevers and pneumonia. The recurring headaches that had long plagued Maccalla also became constant, she said.
“Would I rather live somewhere that I love and die a little sooner, or live somewhere that is not home to me that I don’t like, and live longer?'” said Maccalla, a data scientist who’s been overseeing testing data processing and mapping at Eaton Fire Residents United in her spare time. “I’ve selected ‘stay where I love.’ But I question that decision every day.”
Compared to owners who lost their houses to the flames, there are fewer resources available for residents with homes polluted by smoke, and insurers are reluctant to pay for that kind of work, resident advocates say.
“People whose houses didn’t burn down are in worse shape than people whose houses did burn down,” said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, a network of local environmental justice groups.
She has pushed the state to issue an official warning to communities about contamination, which would help homeowners make the case to their insurers to cover testing and cleanup, she said.
Karen Collins, an executive with the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said in an email that home insurers are usually responsible for remediation when smoke contamination has clearly damaged the property and that professional testing may be covered when needed to assess physical damage. But the lack of standardized protocols for wildfire smoke testing and remediation has given rise to inconsistent practices and disagreements about the need and scope of testing, she added.
The health effects of exposure to chemicals lingering after fires are less understood than those of direct wildfire smoke. Identifying the cause of symptoms, meanwhile, is difficult, especially when many residents breathed in smoke during the initial fires and subsequently experienced the stress of relocating and remediating their homes.
The risk is “potentially people going back into those homes if they’re not properly remediated and getting an ongoing toxic dose,” said Michael Jerrett, an environmental health sciences professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.
Health concerns range from headaches to lower IQ in children, higher risk of pregnancy complications and cancer, he said. Jerrett said residents’ exposure is likely to be relatively low, especially if they get high-quality professional remediation, though it may require a significant overhaul to the property and throwing out items made of soft materials, such as pillows and stuffed animals.
Symptoms like Maccalla’s are common, with about a third of around 1,200 households in the vicinity of the LA wildfires reporting at least one physical health symptom, according to a survey led by Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor. Some also said they needed immediate medical care after moving back into standing homes, he said.
“Evidence is indicating many people got sick going back to their properties and living in their standing homes in and outside the fire perimeter,” Whelton said. Whelton and his colleagues have also come up with their own post-wildfire testing recommendations.
A study done after the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado that focused on homes affected by smoke also found that symptoms were prevalent among residents months later.
Earlier this year, LA county’s public health guidance recommended that residents clean with protective gear and in cases of significant soot, smoke residue or odors, that they consider professional cleaners.
However, there is evidence that pollution can stick around even after cleaning. About 10% of samples taken from cleaned surfaces at houses inside and miles away from the LA fire area still had lead levels at or exceeding the federal limit, found a Caltech study conducted in February. That’s why “thorough, repeated indoor cleaning” is important, according to the EPA.
After testing dozens of homes in the Los Angeles area, Dawn Bolstad-Johnson, a certified industrial hygienist who has long worked at fire sites, tends to have a different recommendation: a gut renovation. Because materials from drywall to insulation absorb substances from the fire, she said, they must be removed, leaving little of the original house but its wooden framing.
“I’m being labeled as the nuclear approach,” said Bolstad-Johnson. “But the data is showing down to the studs.” After finding beryllium in most homes, something that she hadn’t encountered in cleanups for other fires, she’s now concerned about her own exposure.
Some of the scientists studying the public health implications of the LA fires have called for better monitoring of those affected. The LA Fire HEALTH Study, a research team that includes Zhu and Jerrett, is tracking 50 affected homes and their occupants, a costly effort that involves taking measurements at the residences and collecting blood, hair, nail and urine samples from the residents over time. The hope is that work will help reduce how much damage is done by future fires.
For Schneider, the cinematographer who’s still in temporary housing, there’s no question about the stakes. Growing up in New York City, her brother attended high school blocks away from the site where the Twin Towers once stood. He later developed lymphoma, which Schneider and her family suspect was because of exposure to the disaster’s toxic dust.
“I understand what happens if you don’t remediate properly,” she said.
Top photo: Workers vacuum and wipe down items from Schneider’s home in a church parking lot. Photographer: Alex Welsh/Bloomberg.
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