L.A. Fire Health Study Says Four VOCs Never Surpassed Health Standards During & After Fire
By Laurel Busby
News & Information Editor
The levels of four volatile organic compounds (VOCs) before, during and after the Palisades and Eaton fires never exceeded health standards set by the California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), according to the L.A. Fire Health study.
The 10-year study, which is being conducted by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, University of California at Davis, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, included measurements taken at 16 locations near the Pacific Palisades fire and 9 locations near the Eaton fire during three phases: active burning (Jan. 8-15), smoldering (Jan. 24-31), and off-gassing (Feb. 11-18).
The VOCs benzene, toulene , ethylbenzene, and xylene were found to be higher than usual, and the carcinogen benzene almost doubled during the active burning period, the study reports. Yet, benzene still never rose to 0.4 parts per billion, far below the OEHHA-allowed exposure level of 8 ppb. The recent data release (View Data Set 5) and previous study reports can be downloaded here.
“Outdoor VOC levels during the Eaton and Palisades fires were elevated, but generally remained well below CA and EPA thresholds for exposure,” according to the study. The researchers further noted that “indoor VOC levels remain higher than outdoors in the days and weeks after the fires, likely due to smoke-impacted soft materials (fabrics, furniture, etc. that absorbed smoke during the fires) off-gassing VOCs.”
By mid-February, levels outdoors on average had dropped back to pre-fire levels at the testing locations, which included Santa Monica and Westwood locations in addition to Pacific Palisades.
(The Canyon News approach to coverage of environmental issues can be found here.)
A graphic of benzene, toulene, ethylbenzene, and xylene levels from the L.A. Fire Health Study.
