A new paper published in ES&T Air by Dr. Joseph Allen and his team at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health examines the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCS) in the air inside 50 homes in and near the burn zones in Altadena and Palisades following the January 2025 wildfires. This is a follow-up to the data originally shared in Data Brief 2: Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality (VOC and PM Levels) in the Burn Zone and Recommended Safety Precautions.
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in wildfire smoke pose health concerns, yet limited information exists on their exposure levels and sources in postfire residential environments. We measured 24 VOCs indoors and outdoors at 50 homes across Los Angeles (LA) County from February 10 to April 1, 2025, within roughly two months following the 2025 LA wildfires. For most VOCs, indoor concentrations were up to 10 times higher than those at outdoor levels. Indoor benzene, perchloroethylene, and trichloroethylene exceeded U.S. EPA or California cancer risk screening levels in 52, 20, and 14% of homes, respectively, while outdoor benzene surpassed its screening level at 28% of sampling locations. Indoor-outdoor correlation and principal component analyses indicate that the observed indoor benzene could be primarily attributed to typical outdoor sources (e.g., vehicle emissions). Household products (particularly cleaning agents) and building material off-gassing were major sources of most other indoor VOCs. The analysis also suggests a possible association between indoor naphthalene and wildfire smoke infiltration, although this finding is limited by the low detection frequency of naphthalene and should be validated in future studies with larger sample sizes. These findings can inform the VOC exposure risk assessment and targeted interventions for communities affected by wildfires.
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