In the months following the devastating early January wildfires in Los Angeles, researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have been working to provide real-time information to the affected communities about lingering toxins in the burn zone that could harm health.
The effort is part of the Los Angeles Fire Human Exposure and Long-Term Health Study (LA Fire HEALTH Study), a 10-year, multi-institutional collaboration funded by the Spiegel Family Fund and led by researchers from Harvard Chan School, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Davis, and the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to providing residents with regular updates on air and water quality, the study also aims to assess a wide range of the wildfires’ health impacts, including harms to the respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, reproductive, and immune systems of those exposed to wildfire smoke.
The January fires killed 29 people, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and exposed millions of people to dangerous particles and gases, chemicals, heavy metals, asbestos, PFAS, microplastics, and other toxins.
A May 25 article in Inside Climate News described the work of Parham Azimi—a research associate in Harvard Chan School’s Department of Environmental Health and a member of the Harvard Healthy Buildings program team—as he was collecting and testing water samples in a home in Pasadena, located downwind of the burn zone. The article noted that Azimi was able, after an in-home water test, to quickly share some information with the homeowner about her water quality—which was high in chlorine, likely a result of water treatment aimed at mitigating the effects of wildfire toxins.
The article also detailed Azimi’s previous work with the Healthy Buildings Program, including studying indoor air quality during the COVID pandemic, inspecting mold growth in the wake of Hurricanes Ida and Ian, and studying the toxic after-effects of the wildfire in Lahaina, Maui.
Joseph Allen, associate professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard Chan School, director of the Healthy Buildings Program, and one of the leaders of the LA Fire Study team, told Inside Climate News that researchers started work in Los Angeles even before receiving any funding. “In these national emergencies, I think all of us in this field feel compelled to do what we can to help,” he said.
Read the Inside Climate News story: After the LA Fires, Scientists Study the Toxic Hazards Left Behind
Learn more
The health effects of wildfires (Harvard Chan School news)
Long-term, multi-institutional study on health impacts of Los Angeles wildfires launched (Harvard Chan School news)
