A few weeks after Eaton Fire burned Altadena, researchers from the University of Southern California’s Department of Earth Sciences were curious if there was high lead in the soil.
Researchers who live in the area where Eton Fire burned, trekked across the San Gabriel Valley, where they gathered soil and returned it to the lab along the way.
“When the fire ended, like many people in Los Angeles, we began to wonder what was in the ashes,” said Seth John, a professor of geoscience at USC. I said that. “Lead is a toxic chemical, so we all need to be constantly aware of how much lead we are exposed to.”
He gathered soil along with fellow teachers, students and daughters on January 25th.
“We drove from Monrovia through Sierra Madre, then went through the part of Altadena where the structure was burning, then down the other side towards Canada,” John said.
He said the group picked up dirt with dust every half mile, sifted through large materials, placed soil in plastic bags and transported it back to USC’s lab.
“What we found was that the lead concentration was really quite low throughout Monrovia,” John said. “And even if we entered areas affected by wildfires, the lead concentrations were still quite low in the dust. Once we entered Altadena, where there was a city fire, the lead concentrations increased particularly.”
He said they were relieved to discover that the lead concentration was not as bad as they feared.
“We found that much of the soil on the USC campus, which has been exposed to the city’s atmosphere for many years since the 1970s and led gasoline, led as much lead as Altadena’s dust,” John said. I said that.
Another professor tested the sand from the sandbox at the San Gabriel Valley community playground and found that the lead concentration tested in each sample was very low.
The professor says he will reach out to his local school district to see if he is interested in the findings.
They come back to analyze the soil after the rain. We hope that the top layer of dust will cut off potentially dangerous exposures.
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