Forest fires in Los Angeles raises concerns about the toxic pollutants that they can release

Influential fire fires in southern California raises concerns about the possible portable risk that they may leave behind.

Experts warn that even after eventually extinguishing fires, pollutants resulting from the structures that destroyed them – which are likely to have toxic substances – can remain in the air and pose unconfirmed health risks.

While the number of buildings that were burnt is still uninterrupted, it is estimated that at least 15,000 buildings surrendered to fire fires with raades and etone initial. Daniel Soyen, the climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, at an online symposium earlier this week, indicated that some “would have been severely damaged by smoke deposits and toxic ash.”

“This is a growing concern in the wake of this urban fire, which not only burned plants, but a large group of structures that contain things such as lead paint, asbestos and many heavy metals found in the batteries that were burned in vehicles and in home systems and said:” backup and solar panels “.

Swin described these losses as a “shocking outcome”, and warned of the indirect damages that the population could be exposed to as a result of smoke and toxic ash.

He added that “health damages, disease, and sometimes death that can result from disasters and widespread forest fires are not only limited to people who cannot get out of the fire area.”

As a possible rainy weekend approached, a Balsadis fire, which invaded the Pacific Balsadis neighborhood, was contained on an area of ​​23,448 acres and 77 percent of it contained. The Etone fire, north of Pasadina, reached an area of ​​14,021 acres and was contained 95 percent. But the new Hughes fire, which started on Wednesday near Lake Castay, spanned 10396 acres, and only 56 percent of it contained.

Forest fire smoke has a mixture of pollutants, although the most well -studying element is the micro particles (PM 2.5). Tariq Bin Mahana, an epidemic of climate change at the Scripps Institute of Ocean Sciences at Saint Diego University, indicated in a recent explanation that when inhaling these small molecules, the lungs can be invaded and penetrated the bloodstream.

Ben Mahnea stated that in addition to exacerbation of current cases such as asthma, the frequent exposure to PM2.5 particles is also associated with lung cancer in the future, cardiovascular disease and dementia. He and his colleagues have recently shown how frequent exposure to PM 2.5 particles emitted from forest fire smoke over several years could increase the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

In highlighting the extent of the arrival of forest fire smoke, Scripps researchers announced on Tuesday that they had identified ash and debris at a distance of 100 miles from the beach – which raised concern about the potential effects on fish fisheries and the broader food network.

“These fires not only devour plants, but also consumes huge amounts of urban infrastructure,” project president, Julie Denkette, said in a statement. “This introduces a new element of” urban ashes “for the source of forest fires, filled with exceptionally toxic substances.”

Among the materials referred to are bullets, arsenic, asbestos, fine plastic particles, and multi -episode aromatic hydrocarbons, which are organic compounds that are naturally present in fossil fuels.

“These fires pose a possible significant threat to both humans and environmental systems by introducing a large amount of toxic substances into the system,” Denkit added.

Public health risks are full of uncertainty

The extent of the threat posed by forest fires on public health, and who will affect this threat and when.

Richard Castroita, a lung disease scientist at Cake College of Medicine at the University of Southern California, pointed to the “big difference” between forest fires in urban areas, such as those that burn in Los Angeles, and those that affect trees alone.

Cognition of the fact that the risks associated with the smoke of forest fires are real, Castroita told The Hill that it is diminishing compared to the potential pollutants launched by a burning building.

He also described a variety of toxic substances that are included in such exposure, including chlorine, lead, asbestos and nitrogen oxides, as well as mysterious materials – created in the form of a high -density flame “that transforms plastic and artificial materials into unknown materials.” “

“The danger is on everyone, but it is worse, of course, for people with lung disease, heart disease, diabetes and weak immunity,” said Castroita.

He stressed that children, at the same time, are especially at risk and should not participate in cleaning burning homes in fires.

Castroita explained that the short -term effects of smoke tend to appear in both the upper and lower airway, where the nose examines many larger molecules and then the lungs act as the “first respondent” for some smaller molecules.

He said: “This is our first immune response, and therefore if there are many of these toxic molecules that enter, they can overwhelm the immune response system.” “This would make a person, regardless of his previous health, suffers from relatively deficiency – unable to withstand additional burdens, such as firefighters themselves.”

Castroita added that in the coming days and weeks, weak immunity may increase the chance of developing respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, influenza, Kovid-19 and bronchitis. As for people already sick, he said that exposure may exacerbate cases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis and heart disease.

However, Castroita acknowledged that he does not know what is the long -term effects of these fires, and that he was “not sure whether anyone knows this.” Noting the collapse of the twin towers on September 11, he pointed to the period that took the health effects on the first respondents. Although he realized the differences between these situations, he described similar doubts.

One of the potential problems in many of the homes that have been burned is the presence of asbestos, which Castroita described as “solid fiber -resistant fibers forever.” He explained that if these fibers enter the lungs, the “first respondent” white blood cells “do not have the ability to digest and destroy them.”

“This is the reason why there is a long latent period of exposure to Asbestos and the harmful consequences of up to 30 years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Castroita indicated that the long -term effect depends on the exposure period and its extent, and that inhalation of one particle of asbestos will not lead to disease.

Things could be worse

Although air pollution levels in these dense urban conditions may be severe, the conditions could have been worse if the fires erupted in the summer instead of winter.

Alexei Khalizov, a professor of chemistry and environmental science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, attributed this difference to the higher levels of the ground ozone that is famous for summer days in Los Angeles.

He explained that forest fires produce high concentrations of chemicals that show a group of volatile substances, as low -volatile vehicles condense rapidly on soot molecules when smoke cools.

The most volatile chemicals are not able to condense at the same speed, instead they are transmitted in the air along with soot and interact with other pollutants, such as ozone, according to Khalizov. He pointed out that only then becomes less volatile and begins to condense on soot, which increases the toxicity of these molecules.

Among the volatile vehicles that sparked the anxiety of Khalizov more than others were PVC chloride (PVC), a common component of plastic. He pointed to the departure of the train from its course in 2023 in eastern Palestine, Ohio, after which officials made the controversial decision to burn the vinyl chloride tanks – a chemical that causes cancer used to produce PVC – to prevent an explosion.

He said, “Polyvinyl chloride is not much different from the chemical used in its manufacture,” he said.

In the scenario of forest fires in urban areas, Khalizov raised concerns about the effects of the complex of multiple pollutants, or what he described as “synergy between pollutants.”

He said: “If you have smoke and ozone together, they actually have a much worse effect.”

Risks of returning home

As the population started returning to their charred homes and cleaning the remains, Castroita recommended this to do so using only N95 masks and glasses, while also warning that air quality indicators do not take into account the toxic substances he mentioned.

“People will look at the air quality index and say: Oh, it is moderate, or good, it’s the usual Los Angeles air,” said Castroita. “But this does not measure the specific toxins that are released from these particular fires.”

Swin, of the University of California, also urged the population to wear particle filtration masks and use HePa filters at home, citing health warnings at the boycott level about the winds that the wind holds, which can “fall out of the sky.”

He stressed that taking such steps can help reduce the future repercussions of the effects of such disasters, especially since smoke and ash can continue even after the fire is largely extinguished.

“The health damages, injuries and injuries in the days, weeks, months, and even the following years are indirect and difficult to count.” “This type of disaster is widely raised more than we can easily measure it in the past decades.”