Scientific American | "Urban wildfire smoke sensors miss some harmful chemicals"

Scientific American quoted Dr. Yifang Zhu, professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Department of Environmental Health Sciences, about research into how best to measure toxins released into the air during urban wildfires, including the recent blazes in Los Angeles County.

" ... while (existing) Air Quality Index values are a good starting place for knowing what’s in the air, they don’t provide a full picture of pollutants, especially during disasters, said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA. In fact, the AQI could be in a healthy range, 'but you could still be exposed to higher air toxins from the fires,' she added."

Zhu is currently part of a team working on the L.A. Fire HEALTH Study, in response to the blazes in Los Angeles and Altadena. The team also includes the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's Dr. David Eisenman, Dr. Michael Jerrett, and Dr. Katherine McNamara, as well as scientists from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the University of California, Davis, and the University of Texas at Austin.

" ... UCLA’s Zhu said the emerging technology of portable pollution monitors means residents — not just government and scientists — might be able to install equipment in their backyards and broaden the picture of what’s happening in the air at the most local level. 'If the fires are predicted to be worse in the future, it might be a worthwhile investment to have some ability to capture specific types of pollutants that are not routinely measured by government stations,' Zhu said."

Read the Scientific American/KFF article.