Two University of Southern California professors have found that Southern California may have dodged the worst of a hidden danger of the recent fires: lead exposure.
Lead’s former prevalence in everything from paint to gasoline presents a danger to the public, but it’s especially hazardous in the case of fires, as ash can carry the heavy metal.
Fortunately, when Seth John tested street dust and Sam Silva sampled sandboxes at public parks and preschools near the site of the Eaton Fire, their findings showed lead may not be as widespread as initially feared, as LAist reports.
While it’s true that street dust from the middle of fire-ravaged Altadena showed levels of lead rising to more than 20 times the California EPA soil screening limit, “material gathered from nearby neighborhoods had barely any lead present,” LAist explains.
“ We were actually very relieved to discover that although there were higher amounts of lead in this dust, it really was not nearly as concerning and not nearly as toxic as we had feared it might be,” John told LAist.
Lead is just one heavy metal, and others could still present serious hazards to the public, but as Silva pointed out when discussing the sandbox findings, the study does provide some solace.
“As a scientist, this result is not remarkably surprising, but as a parent I was deeply relieved,” he said.
