New study, co-authored by faculty from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, suggests particles from 2025 fires settled far from burn zones.
New study, co-authored by faculty from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, suggests particles from 2025 fires settled far from burn zones.
A carcinogen with potentially serious impacts on human health was found in neighborhoods in the months after the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires and may have spread to communities as far as 6 to 9 miles downwind of the fire zones, according to newly published work by researchers at UCLA and UC Davis.
The peer-reviewed research – “Airborne hexavalent chromium nanoparticles detected around cleanup zones for the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires” — was published in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment. The study, which is still subject to final revisions, was published to give early access to its findings to other researchers and the public.
Specifically, the researchers found that the airborne chromium was predominantly in a carcinogenic oxidation state two months after the fire, with measurements below the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health workplace exposure limit but above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s screening levels for indoor air.
Read More: University of California – Los Angeles
