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This time last year, Los Angeles was on fire, and more than 16,000 homes and buildings burned to the ground. Cars, batteries, solar panels, insulation, and cleaning supplies went up in flames, releasing chemicals like lead, benzene, and asbestos into giant smoke plumes that wafted across the city.
A year later, scientists are trying to understand the fallout of this urban wildfire—what chemicals got left behind, how to remediate them, and the threats to our health. Host Flora Lichtman talks with Yifang Zhu and Francois Tissot, who are at the forefront of this research. And for one of them, this work is personal.
Further Reading
- Many of Altadena’s standing homes are still contaminated with lead and asbestos even after cleanup, via the L.A. Times.
- Yifang Zhu writes how smoke lingered inside homes long after the wildfires were out for The Conversation.
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Segment Guests
François Tissot
Dr. François Tissot is a professor of geochemistry at Caltech in Pasadena, California.
Yifang Zhu
Dr. Yifang Zhu is a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Segment Transcript
The transcript is being processed. It will be available 2-3 days after this story’s publication date.
Meet the Producers and Host
About Rasha Aridi
Rasha Aridi is a producer for Science Friday and the inaugural Outrider/Burroughs Wellcome Fund Fellow. She loves stories about weird critters, science adventures, and the intersection of science and history.
About Flora Lichtman
Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.