Measuring the aftereffects of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires has just begun, and results show that the city’s air quality has been drastically lowered to toxic levels.
With the burning of both the Pacific Palisades and most of Altadena (a town just north of Pasadena), over 15,000 structures went up in smoke, sending plumes of toxic ash into the air that included lead, asbestos, and many other chemicals. According to the New York Times, the neurotoxin lead reached 100 times “average levels even miles from the flames,” while levels of chlorine reached 40 times the average:
The spiking levels underscore the added danger from wildfires when cars, homes, and other structures burn, researchers said. Lead is often present in paint and pipes used in older
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