Overview: The South Coast Air Quality Management District has extended a windblown dust and ash advisory until Jan. 15 due to strong Santa Ana winds expected throughout Los Angeles County. The Palisades and Eaton Fires are urban fires involving the burning of buildings or structures in cities or towns with potential to spread to other nearby structures. The smoke from these fires contains toxic chemicals that can be harmful to health, especially for underserved minority populations with additional comorbidity risks. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has advised residents to take precautions to reduce exposure to poor air quality by staying indoors, wearing a N95 or P100 mask, and protecting their eyes by wearing goggles.
Breanna Reeves
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) extended a windblown dust and ash advisory until Jan. 15 due to strong Santa Ana winds expected throughout Los Angeles County, which also extends to parts of San Bernardino County and Riverside County. the region until Wednesday evening.
According to the advisory, while windblown ash particles may be too large to be detected by air quality instrumentation and will not influence Air Quality Index (AQI) levels, windblown ash from burned structures may contain higher air toxic levels. Windblown dust may also impact AQI levels that are Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups or worse in parts of Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties in the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachella Valley.
Dr. David Lo, director of the Bridging Regional Ecology, Aerosolized Toxins, and Health Effects (BREATHE) Center at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, explained that the Palisades and Eaton Fires are urban fires. Urban fires involve the burning of buildings or structures in cities or towns with potential to spread to other nearby structures.
“They’re actually urban fires, where you have houses going up in smoke, and so all of the plastics, rubber,
other stored chemicals, as well as construction materials, plaster, all of those kinds of things, that when they burn, they produce a lot of other really toxic components,” Dr. Lo explained.
So far, the Palisades Fire has grown to more than 23,000 acres and has burned 1,280 structures and threatened 12,250 structures, according to the latest California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) update. The Eaton Fire has reached more than 14,000 acres burned and 2,722 structures destroyed, with 39,428 structures threatened.
Although the AQI in Los Angeles and surrounding regions currently measure between good and moderate, Dr. Lo said residents’ exposure to toxic chemicals in the air is likely.
“People who are in very close proximity to the fires can also be exposed to even more toxic chemicals, and these fall under the category of volatile organics,” Dr. Lo said. Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are defined as are chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde and acetone that evaporate at room temperature. These chemicals are found in many everyday products and materials such as gasoline, paints, pesticides, personal care products and aerosol sprays.
According to the California Air Resource Board (CARB), the biggest concern from wildfire smoke is particulate matter (PM)for short-term exposures (hours to weeks). Particles from smoke can be very small (with diameters of 2.5 micrometers and smaller) and are small enough to get deep into the lungs.
The addition of windblown dust, toxic chemicals from the fires, and the existent smog in the Los Angeles basin leaves residents vulnerable to health hazards such as coughing and wheezing, exacerbation of asthma symptoms and cardiovascular disease susceptibility.
“Especially in communities in Los Angeles, where you have a lot of underserved minority populations that have additional comorbidity risks [such as] diabetes, cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Lo said. These communities who are within close proximity to the fires are at highest risk for health impacts due to the fires.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has advised residents to take precaution to reduce exposure to the poor air quality by staying indoors, wearing a N95 or P100 mask to protect their lungs and to protect their eyes by wearing goggles to shield the eyes from airborne ash and debris.
The Los Angeles Public Library announced that N95 masks are available for the public at all locations while supplies last.
A National Weather Service “Short Range Public Discussion” noted that Southern California “continues to see ingredients for high fire danger” wind gusts are expected to reach 45-70 mph range. The Los Angeles Weather Forecast Office also issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warning,” extending to Jan.15 as “the environment will be favorable to rapid fire growth if a fire does start or to current fires ongoing in the region.”
Southern California residents remain on high alert as the Santa Ana winds pick up. On the evening of Jan. 13, a vegetation fire was reported near the Santa Ana River in Jurupa Valley. Evacuation warnings were issued for nearby homes, but the fire was contained by the City of Riverside Fire Department and CAL-Fire, according to a Facebook update by the Department.