Palisades and the firefighters of Eaton had high levels of mercury, leading in their blood

The immediate risks facing the firefighters who were on the front line fighting against the palisades and the fires of Eaton who have torn the County of Los Angeles may have decreased, but long -term health problems remain.

A team of researchers tested the blood of a group of 20 firefighters who were called to functions when forest fires struck the Los Angeles County communities, and found that they had lead and mercury levels in their blood which were significantly higher than what health experts considered to be safe – and also more than firefighters exposed to forest fire.

The results are part of the longer -term study of the Fire Health, which studies the impacts on the health of the fires of January on the people exposed to the toxins which it released in the environment. The team includes researchers from the Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, UC Davis, from the University of Texas to Austin and the USC Keck School of Medicine.

“What you need to worry about is some of these metals that when they are burned, they get up in the air,” said Dr. Kari Nadeau, president of the Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health Health Harvard Department and one of the researchers working on the project. “They can enter your lungs, and they can get into your skin, and they can be absorbed and enter your blood.”

The group of 20 firefighters – who came from northern California to help in efforts – were tested only a few days after fire content. They had worked for long hours while the two fires shaved entire communities, fire houses, cars, businesses and a still unknown list of chemicals and metals. Combined, fires killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.

On average, Nadeau said, the firefighters had respectively lead and mercury levels five and three times higher, that a control group of firefighters who fought a forest fire alone. According to the California Department of Public Health, the average blood lead level for adults in the United States is less than 1 microgram per deciliter.

Researchers always seek to extend the number of firefighters in the study, as well as the range of toxins to which they have been exposed. However, even these limited and preliminary results strengthen growing concern among firefighters that the fires of the can have exposed them to metals and chemicals with long -term health effects.

“The results are quite alarming,” said Dave Gillotte, captain of the Los Angeles County fire service and president of Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014. “We are not only afraid, but we are very convinced that we will see impact on health with our firefighters who fought these fires on the first line lines.”

Firefighters regularly risk exposure to chemicals and metals – including lead and mercury – when they respond to home and commercial fires, said Gillotte. But the response to a single house fire, for example, would probably last a few hours, not the days at the end of the palisades and fires from Eaton. Firefighters are also generally faced with prolonged exposure to smoke particles when fighting forest fires in rural areas – but not the chemicals of an urban framework. Eaton and palisades fires presented a combined risk: a forest fire with firefighters on the ground for long periods in urban areas, with electric vehicles, batteries, chemicals and burning metals over high heat, mixing and spreading with the same wind that spread the flames.

“It was a more intense exhibition following the wind of these toxins, even with our protective equipment,” said Gillotte.

According to Gillotte, these types of urban forest fires could cause long -term health impacts for the first stakeholders similar to those of events such as the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Already, managers of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, the Sacramento fire service and the County of Los Angeles started to test their firefighters Chemical exhibitions, and Gillotte said Gillotte.

Meanwhile, as part of a separate study, Los Angeles City fire managers also examined health effects on its firefighters.

“We are very worried and worried,” said Los Angeles firefighters Kevin Frank. The LAFD has so far taken blood and urine samples from approximately 350 of its firefighters, as part of an ongoing national study, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to examine the biomarkers of firefighters and exposure to cancer cancer substances. This study – which is different from the study on the health of the and that mentioned by Gillotte – includes more than 7,000 firefighters from across the country.

After the fires, said Frank, several firefighters who went to Altadena and Pacific Palisades reported health problems, such as difficulties in breathing. Nadeau, who is working on the Fire health study, but not the national study funded by FEMA, noted that exposure to heavy metals can contribute to long -term health results.

Firefighters are already confronted at higher levels of certain diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, asthma and certain cancers, she said. Fire managers said that the life expectancy of a firefighter was about 10 years younger than that of the average person.

The Fire health study is still in its infancy. Nadeau says that she and her colleagues plan to seek evidence of exposure to other heavy metals in addition to mercury and lead. “We are going to study toxins that have not been studied” in firefighters before, she said.

As a rule, the results of studies like these are not made public as long as they have been assessed and published by a scientific journal. Nadeau said the consortium decided to share some of the preliminary data early, hoping to help residents, civic leaders and first stakeholders understand the impacts of fires.

“You really want to know:” What’s in the air, what’s in the water, what’s in the ashes that have blown in my kitchen cabinet? Do I leave my dog ​​outside? “” She said. “All these questions arose and we thought:” We must really serve the community “.

Nadeau is also looking to the future: information, she said, could help the fire managers because it faces the possibility of another similar fire by helping them better understand the source of chemicals, how safety equipment was used during fires and the efficiency of this equipment.

“I would like to say that this is the last one, but we know that it will not be the case,” she said. “It is not a question of if, but a question of when people undergo a fire like that at”