Toni Boucher threw up the first time she saw the charred remains of her home and neighborhood after this month’s deadly Los Angeles-area wildfires. Now she wonders if it’s worth it to go back to sift through the ashes and try to find her grandmother’s wedding ring.
It’s not just that she’s worried about the trauma she experienced from seeing the destruction in Altadena, where Boucher, 70, has lived for decades. She is also concerned about possible health risks.
“They talk about asbestos and they’re talking about lead and they’re talking about all of the things that have burned in the loss of the homes and the danger of that,” Boucher said.
Experts warn that the blazes unleashed complex chemical reactions on paint, furniture, building materials, cars, electronics and other belongings, turning ordinary objects into potentially toxic ash that requires protective gear to handle safely. The ash could include harmful lead, asbestos or arsenic, as well as newer synthetic materials.
“Ash is not just ash. Go back to the garage or what’s in your home. What is your furniture made out of? What are your appliances made out of? What is your house made out of?” asked Scott McLean, a former deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s communications bureau. “A lot of it’s petroleum product and different composites that are extreme hazards due to fire when they combust.” […]
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