An article in the March 2025 issue of Science News, which dedicated an entire feature section to the LA fires, spoke with environmental health experts to look at the risks for residents that remain even long after the fires are extinguished.

Among the experts profiled in the article is Joseph Allen, LA Fire HEALTH Study consortium member and Associate Professor of Exposure Assessment Science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“There’s a general misperception that after the flames go out the hazard has gone away,” says Joseph Allen, who directs the Harvard Healthy Buildings Program. Wildfires’ aftermath may expose people to toxic chemicals and harmful particles in the air and water both outside and inside their homes, Allen and other experts warn.

Read the full article here: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/toxic-danger-lurk-burn-los-angeles-fire